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Jason Keller has three top-10s in 2009 including two in a row going into Darlington.

Keller miles from ordinary on Darlington's familiar turf

By Jarrod Breeze, NASCAR.COM
May 7, 2009
10:08 AM EDT

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Jason Keller is approaching a milestone this week no driver in the history of the Nationwide Series has ever reached: 5,000 miles at Darlington Raceway. Keller has covered 4,914.8 miles in 26 races at the venerable South Carolina track.

For Keller, who has made more starts than anyone, anywhere in series history, with 465, Darlington represents his home track and an opportunity for the Greenville, S.C., native to improve upon his position in the standings; he currently sits seventh in points in his first full season driving the No. 27 Ford of Baker Curb Racing.

2Place of finish in Aug. 2002, his best at Darlington. It came during a stretch of seven consecutive top-10s he posted at the track.

9.6Average finish in his past nine races. Keller's posted five top-fives during that span including a seventh-place finish last year.

1,245 Points accumulated in the past 10 races at Darlington, a track high. Keller has the most starts during that span, with nine.

3,598 Laps completed, most in track history.

Overall, Keller has three top-fives and 10 top-10s with a 14.8 average finish at Darlington. Coverage of the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 (Entry List | Tickets) begins at 7 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN2.

2Last-place finishes for Carl Edwards in 150 series starts. Edwards started on the pole last year at Darlington, but crashed out after three laps. In three other starts he has never finished worse than 11th.

3Consecutive wins for Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 20 car. Denny Hamlin won in 2006 and '07, both from the pole, and Tony Stewart won last year. Joey Logano, who's never made a start at Darlington, is in the car this year.

4Consecutive top-10 finishes for Tony Raines, who last raced at Darlington in 2005. Raines, who has one top-10 (fourth at Talladega) in nine races this year in the No. 34 Chevrolet of Front Row Motorsports, has made nine career starts at Darlington but just one since '02.

11Top-10s for Matt Kenseth in 14 starts. After finishing 12th in his first start, Kenseth ran off 11 consecutive top-10s including eight top-fives and a victory before crashing out in the past two races.

The Wow Factor

21Place of finish in last year's race for Jeff Burton, ending a run of eight consecutive top-fives and 13 top-10s in a row. Burton leads all drivers entered in this year's race in wins (four), top-fives (11) and top-10s (15) at Darlington.

Note: All-time, Burton is second in top-10s and tied for second in wins and top-fives with Harry Gant. Mark Martin is the track leader in all three categories.

The Super Looper

9.643Average Running Position for Jason Leffler, eighth-best at Darlington but better than the two drivers ahead of him this year in series points: Kyle Busch, 10.201 (ninth) and Carl Edwards, 21.034 (21st). Leffler is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in the past three races.

Driver Rating at Darlington (since 2005, four races)

Pos.	Driver	Rating	Starts	Wins	Top-5s	Top-10s	Led

1.	Denny Hamlin	122.8	3	2	2	3	117
2.	Greg Biffle	115.4	3	0	2	3	46
3.	Matt Kenseth*	114.6	4	1	2	2	142
4.	Tony Stewart	110.9	3	1	1	2	102
5.	Kyle Busch*	104.1	2	0	0	1	6
6.	Jeff Burton*	103.7	3	0	2	2	22
7.	Mark Martin	103.4	3	0	2	2	0
8.	Jason Leffler*	102.6	3	0	0	3	17
9.	Clint Bowyer	97.2	4	0	2	3	13
10.	Ryan Newman*	96.9	2	0	0	0	0

• Loop Data Statistics: Season-to-Date Box Score | * Entered in this race

Blast from the Past

2Career series wins for Ron Bouchard, both in 1984 at Darlington in the No. 47 Pontiac of owner Jack Beebe. He won both races from the pole. Bouchard made only eight starts that year and 20 in his career, his last coming in '87. Bouchard made five series starts at Darlington with three top-10s, but his winning '84 was followed by two DNFs (rear end and head gasket) in '85.

Series winners at Darlington

Year	Winner	Make	Year	Winner	Make

1982	Geoffrey Bodine	Pontiac	1995	Larry Pearson	Chevrolet
1983	Neil Bonnett	Pontiac		Mark Martin	Ford
1984	Ron Bouchard	Pontiac	1996	Mark Martin	Ford
	Ron Bouchard	Pontiac		Terry Labonte	Chevrolet
1985	Jack Ingram	Oldsmobile	1997	Randy LaJoie	Chevrolet
	Darrell Waltrip	Chevrolet		Jeff Burton	Ford
1986	Darrell Waltrip	Pontiac	1998	Bobby Labonte	Pontiac
	Dale Earnhardt	Pontiac		Dick Trickle	Chevrolet
1987	Dale Earnhardt	Chevrolet	1999	Matt Kenseth	Chevrolet
	Harry Gant	Buick		Mark Martin	Ford
1988	Geoffrey Bodine	Chevrolet	2000	Mark Martin	Ford
	Harry Gant	Buick		Mark Martin	Ford
1989	Geoffrey Bodine	Chevrolet	2001	Jeff Green	Ford
	Harry Gant	Buick		Jeff Burton	Ford
1990	Harry Gant	Buick	2002	Jeff Burton	Ford
	Dale Jarrett	Pontiac		Jeff Burton	Ford
1991	Dale Jarrett	Pontiac	2003	Todd Bodine	Chevrolet
	Dale Earnhardt	Chevrolet		Brian Vickers	Chevrolet
1992	Robert Pressley	Oldsmobile	2004	Greg Biffle	Ford
	Michael Waltrip	Pontiac		Jamie McMurray	Dodge
1993	Robert Pressley	Chevrolet	2005	Matt Kenseth	Ford
	Mark Martin	Ford	2006	Denny Hamlin	Chevrolet
1994	Mark Martin	Ford	2007	Denny Hamlin	Chevrolet
	Mark Martin	Ford	2008	Tony Stewart	Toyota

Also

Travel Log: Darlington a Southern tradition

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Standings

Pos.	+/-	Driver	Points	Behind

1.	--	Kyle Busch	1414	--
2.	--	Carl Edwards	1332	-82
3.	+1	Jason Leffler	1216	-198
4.	+1	Joey Logano	1213	-201
5.	+1	Brad Keselowski	1201	-213
6.	-3	David Ragan	1139	-275
7.	--	Jason Keller	1063	-351
8.	+2	Michael McDowell	1021	-393
9.	-1	Scott Lagasse Jr.	998	-416
10.	+2	Steve Wallace	967	-447