Fellows' series stats are jolly good at Watkins Glen

By Jarrod Breeze, NASCAR.COM
August 6, 2009
11:25 AM EDT

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The Nationwide Series races on a road course for the first time in 2009 and you know what that means. The ringer with the best track record at Watkins Glen International is Ron Fellows.

3Wins, which represent all but one of his career series victories and rank second-most in track history.

4Team owners for whom Fellows has driven in his eight races: James Finch, Joe Nemechek, Mike Curb and, most recently, Kevin Harvick. This year he's entered in the No. 5 Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports.

5Top-10s, tied for most among drivers entered in this year's race. His last top-10 came in 2006 when he finished ninth.

189Laps led. He led the most laps in four consecutive races from 1998-2001.

Fellows, who finished 24th the last time he raced at The Glen, in 2007, is one of four drivers entered in this year's race who have won there: Marcos Ambrose (2008), his first and, to date, only NASCAR victory; Kevin Harvick (2007); and Ryan Newman (2005), who will drive the No. 1 Chevrolet of Phoenix Racing after the team and Mike Bliss parted ways earlier this week.

Coverage of the Zippo 200 at The Glen (Entry List | Tickets) begins at 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN2.

2Top-10s in six starts for Boris Said, filling in this week in the No. 09 Ford in place of John Wes Townley. Said finished fourth in 2001 but has only one top-10 in the four races since the series returned to The Glen in '05.

3Different manufacturers for which Robby Gordon has driven his own No. 55 in as many races he has entered the car at Watkins Glen. In 2005, Gordon finished second under the Chevrolet banner. In '07, representing Ford, he didn't finish (transmission) and in '08 he finished 19th with Dodge. This year, the No. 55 is a Toyota. Overall, Gordon has three top-fives at The Glen including consecutive runner-up finishes (he drove his No. 7 Chevrolet in '06).

5Top-10s in as many starts for Kevin Harvick. He has four top-fives and an average finish of 3.6.

7Races won from a front-row starting position including four from the pole. Ten of the 15 races have been won from a top-six starting position. Only twice has the winner started farther back than 12th.

8Place of finish in last year's race for Jason Leffler, his first top-10. He hadn't finished better than 27th in three previous starts.

25Race-high laps led by Jeff Burton in last year's event. He finished 14th. Overall, Burton has four top-10s in six starts including a runner-up finish in 2007.

THE BUSCH WATCH

Kyle Busch finished second last week at Iowa, tying Jack Ingram's series record of nine consecutive top-two finishes.

1Top-two finishes at Watkins Glen for Kyle Busch. He finished second there last year, leading 12 laps. He finished 37th in his only other start at The Glen, in 2006.

THE WOW FACTOR

8Top-fives for Joe Nemechek's No. 87 Chevrolet during a 10-race stretch from 1991-2001. Nemechek finished no worse than fourth in four of six races -- the other two starts resulted in DNFs (engine) -- and Ron Fellows won three times and finished second in the other in four starts. The car has made one start at The Glen since, with Nemechek finishing seventh in '05.

THE SUPER LOOPER

0Fastest Laps Run at Watkins Glen for Carl Edwards, who has a Driver Rating of 76.7 and an Average Running Position of 17.0. He has spent only 52 percent of the Laps in the Top 15. Watkins Glen is the only current series track at which Edwards has failed to post a top-10. He finished 11th in his first start in 2005, but hasn't finished on the lead lap since with three finishes of 25th or worse.

Driver Rating (since 2005, four races)

Pos.	Driver*	Starts	Rating	Pct. Laps / Top 15	Avg. Run Pos.	Avg. Fin.

1.	Brian Vickers	1	131.0	95.1	4.2	3.0
2.	Kevin Harvick	3	121.7	91.5	6.7	4.0
3.	Jeff Burton	3	110.8	81.3	8.0	7.3
4.	Ryan Newman	4	106.2	77.5	12.8	15.8
5.	Marcos Ambrose	2	104.6	78.0	10.0	7.0
6.	Brad Keselowski	1	100.9	61.0	13.2	6.0
7.	Paul Menard	3	100.6	72.9	9.1	10.0
8.	Robby Gordon	4	100.5	67.8	12.6	14.8
9.	Greg Biffle	3	96.6	77.7	12.6	9.0
10.	Joe Nemechek	1	92.7	61.0	15.0	7.0

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

BLAST FROM THE PAST

4Wins at Watkins Glen for Terry Labonte, most in track history. Labonte won the first race in 1991 and three in a row from '94-96. Labonte posted a top-five finish in each of his seven starts at The Glen for a 2.0 average finish.

Series winners at Watkins Glen

Year	Driver	Make	Year	Driver	Make

1991	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	1999	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet
1992	Ernie Irvan	Chevrolet	2000	Ron Fellows	Chevrolet
1993	Bill Elliott	Ford	2001	Ron Fellows	Chevrolet
1994	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	2005	Ryan Newman	Dodge
1995	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	2006	Kurt Busch	Dodge
1996	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	2007	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet
1997	Mike McLaughlin	Chevrolet	2008	Marcos Ambrose	Ford
1998	Ron Fellows	Chevrolet

Also

Said to drive for Townley in No. 09 Ford at The Glen

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Nationwide Series

Standings

Pos.	+/-	Driver	Points	Behind

1.	--	Kyle Busch	3,471	--
2.	--	Carl Edwards	3,264	-207
3.	--	Brad Keselowski	3,099	-372
4.	--	Jason Leffler	2,955	-516
5.	+1	Justin Allgaier	2,493	-978
6.	+1	Mike Bliss	2,479	-992
7.	+1	Steve Wallace	2,423	-1,048
8.	-3	Joey Logano	2,395	-1,076
9.	+1	Jason Keller	2,394	-1,077
10.	-1	Brendan Gaughan	2,365	-1,106