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Scott Wimmer celebrated his victory at Nashville with his parents, Ron and Joan Wimmer.

Wimmer is a winner at Nashville, and much more

By Jarrod Breeze, NASCAR.COM
April 15, 2009
07:41 PM EDT
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Scott Wimmer hadn't won a race since 2003 when he beat out eventual Nationwide Series champion Clint Bowyer to win at Nashville Superspeedway last spring (and that, in itself, is no small accomplishment, as you will find out later). But a closer look at the numbers show Wimmer's victory shouldn't have been all that surprising.

Statistically, Nashville has proven to be one of Wimmer's better tracks, and that success ranks him among the top series drivers there. In nine previous starts, Wimmer has:

4Top-fives, second-best among drivers entered in this week's race (Carl Edwards 6) and tied for most among the tracks at which he has run (Kentucky and Dover).
5.6Average Running Position, best among all drivers entered in this week's race. His Green Flag Speed of 155.766 mph also is tops among all drivers entered. Both are third overall.
8Top-10s, tops among all drivers entered in this week's race and second among his tracks (Richmond 9).
8.6Average finish, second among drivers entered in this week's race (Edwards 4.0) and second among his tracks (Kentucky 6.4).
90Laps led, fourth among drivers entered in this week's race (Edwards 247, Jason Keller 123 and Jason Leffler 99) and second among his tracks (Memphis 93).

Note: Wimmer's victory a year ago came in the No. 29 Chevrolet of Richard Childress Racing. This year, he drives the No. 40 Chevrolet of Key Motorsports.

Coverage of the Nashville 300 (Entry List | Ticketsexternal link ) begins at 3 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN.

1Races won from the pole. Reed Sorenson led 197 of 225 laps in March 2006, the most of any winner. Eight races have been won from a top-five starting position and 12 of 15 from the top 10. Sorenson's win is the only one for Dodge.
2Laps led by Michael Waltrip in his April 2004 win at Nashville, the fewest of any winner. Waltrip will be making his first start there since April 2006 and just his third overall. He is one of five Cup regulars (Edwards, Kyle Busch, David Ragan and Joey Logano) entered in this race.
3Wins by Carl Edwards, most of any driver. Edwards also is the only driver to win back-to-back races at Nashville, his three victories coming consecutively. His 13th-place finish in June 2008 is his only non-top-10 in seven starts.
7Drivers to post their first career win at Nashville: Greg Biffle, Clint Bowyer, Brad Keselowski, Jason Leffler, Scott Riggs, Reed Sorenson and Jack Sprague. For Sprague, it's his only victory in 108 series starts. Keselowski is the most recent, having won in June 2008.
31Place of finish for Joey Logano in his only start at Nashville. Making just his second career series start, in June 2008, Logano won the pole and led 64 of the first 87 laps before getting caught up in a four-wide wreck.

The Wow Factor

1Top-10s for Kyle Busch in six starts. He finished sixth in his first start at Nashville in April 2004, but hasn't finished on the lead lap since. Busch started from the pole in this race last year and led the most laps (125). Then he got loose and spun out, and eventually finished two laps down in 16th place. His average finish is 20.0.

The Super Looper

117.6Driver Rating for Brad Keselowski in last year's two races in which he finished fourth and first. His Driver Rating for the two starts he made at Nashville in 2007 was 38.1, when engine (after 26 laps) and handling (23 laps) issues resulted in DNFs in the No. 23 Chevrolet of the former Keith Coleman Racing.

Driver Rating at Nashville (since 2005, eight races)
Pos. Driver Rating Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Led
1. Clint Bowyer 130.2 7 1 7 7 432
2. Kevin Harvick 125.7 2 1 2 2 66
3. Carl Edwards 118.2 7 3 6 6 247
4. Scott Wimmer 117.5 4 1 2 4 88
5. Denny Hamlin 110.0 5 0 2 5 120
6. Joey Logano 108.7 1 0 0 0 64
7. David Reutimann 99.8 6 0 2 5 78
8. Tony Raines 98.8 2 0 1 2 0
9. Stephen Leicht 92.9 3 0 0 1 10
10. Kyle Busch 90.6 4 0 0 0 125
• Loop Data Statistics: Season-to-Date Box Score

Blast from the (recent) Past

9Top-fives for Clint Bowyer in as many starts. He's led 536 laps, more than double the next driver, and his average finish is 2.8.

Note: Series racing at this track dates only to 2001, and all the former winners currently are active in NASCAR. Bowyer is not entered in this week's race.

Series winners at Nashville
Year Winner Make   Year Winner Make
2001 Greg Biffle Ford   2005 Reed Sorenson Dodge
2002 Scott Riggs Ford     Clint Bowyer Chevrolet
  Jack Sprague Chevrolet   2006 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet
2003 David Green Pontiac     Carl Edwards Ford
  Scott Riggs Ford   2007 Carl Edwards Ford
2004 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet     Carl Edwards Ford
  Jason Leffler Chevrolet   2008 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet
          Brad Keselowski Chevrolet

The End

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Scott Wimmer

Nationwide: Career Results
Starts 172
Wins 6
Top-5s 29
Top-10s 68
Poles 1
Avg. Start 20.2
Avg. Finish 14.7
Best Points Finish 3*
* 2002: 4 wins, 11 top-fives, 17 top-10s

Nationwide Series

Official Standings
Pos. +/- Driver Points Behind
1. -- Carl Edwards 799 --
2. +1 Kyle Busch 761 -38
3. +2 David Ragan 653 -146
4. +2 Jason Leffler 612 -187
5. +3 Justin Allgaier 600 -199
6. -4 Kevin Harvick 576 -223
7. +8 Brad Keselowski 568 -231
8. -4 Brendan Gaughan 564 -235
9. +2 Jason Keller 540 -259
10. -- Scott Lagasse Jr. 538 -261

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