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StatChat 2024 - South Point 400 at Las Vegas


By Adam Carabine


Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Las Vegas, NV for the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

 

Vegas is a 1.5-mile tri-oval, with 20 degrees of banking in the corners.  While the track facility opened in 1971, NASCAR didn’t make their way there until 1998, where Mark Martin won the first race.

 

Tomorrow’s race will be 267 laps long (for a total of 400.5 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 80 – 165 – 267.  Pit road speed is 45 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 55 mph. 

 

This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 8,398 laps, for 11,355.36 miles so far this season.  No driver has completed 100% of them, but Daniel Hemric is the closest, having driven 99.37% of them. 

 

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Las Vegas:

Kyle Larson

9.31 over 16 races (3 wins)

Martin Truex Jr.

9.84 over 25 races (2 wins)

Joey Logano

9.91 over 22 races (3 wins)

Kyle Busch

11.23 over 26 races (1 win)

Ryan Blaney

11.44 over 16 races

 

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Las Vegas:

Zane Smith

36.00 over 1 race

Michael McDowell

29.14 over 21 races

Todd Gilliland

26.00 over 5 races

Carson Hocevar

25.50 over 2 races

Corey LaJoie

25.38 over 13 races

 

Las Vegas is an Intermediate Track.

 

Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediates:

Denny Hamlin

12.05 over 332 races (27 wins)

Kyle Larson

12.28 over 170 races (26 wins)

Kyle Busch

12.33 over 348 races (29 wins)

Chase Elliott

12.44 over 151 races (6 wins)

Joey Logano

12.47 over 278 races (17 wins)

 

Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers Intermediates:

Ryan Preece

22.93 over 84 races

Josh Berry

22.83 over 19 races

Harrison Burton

22.52 over 43 races

Zane Smith

21.50 over 12 races

Todd Gilliland

20.85 over 43 races

 

Jimmie Johnson is the winningest driver at Las Vegas, having scored 4 victories there.  Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson are all tied for 2nd with 3 victories each.

 

Notable drivers who have not won at Las Vegas:

Chase Elliott

(has won at 15 other tracks)

Ryan Blaney

(has won at 9 other tracks)

Christopher Bell

(has won at 8 other tracks)

Tyler Reddick

(has won at 7 other tracks)

Chris Buescher

(has won at 6 other tracks)

 

No driver has scored their first Cup Series win at Las Vegas.

 

Based on average finish, Martin Truex Jr. lists Las Vegas as his BEST track, meanwhile Zane Smith lists it as his WORST.

 

Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:

 

Drivers Faring Better than in 2023

Noah Gragson

+419 pts (incomplete 2023 season)

Chase Elliott

+328 pts (incomplete 2023 season)

Alex Bowman

+204 pts

Ty Gibbs

+180 pts

Austin Cindric

+132 pts

 

Drivers Faring Worse than in 2023

William Byron

-172 pts

Martin Truex Jr.

-171 pts

Kyle Busch

-141 pts

Erik Jones

-128 pts

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

-121 pts

 

While some drivers may be doing better this year than they did in 2023, how does this year stack up against their entire career?  This statistic does not include rookies, as this is their first full year in the Cup Series.

 

Drivers Having their BEST Career Year

Tyler Reddick

12.47

Ty Gibbs

15.28

Bubba Wallace

15.47

Todd Gilliland

20.44

 

Drivers Having their WORST Career Year

Harrison Burton

26.09

Erik Jones

23.03

Justin Haley

22.97

Austin Dillon

22.34

 

Here is the current battle for Rookie of the Year:

Carson Hocevar

604

Josh Berry

506

Zane Smith

460

Kaz Grala

185

 

The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (40 for 1st, 35 for 2nd, 34 for 3rd, etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.

 

Manufacturer Standings        

Chevrolet

1174

Ford

1120

Toyota

1119

 

Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:

 

Chartered Team Standings

Hendrick

1087

Joe Gibbs

1061

23XI

949

RFK

919

Penske

900

Trackhouse

862

Stewart-Haas

844

RCR

755

Spire

739

Front Row

659

Kaulig

601

Rick Ware

552

Legacy Motor Club

530

JTG-Daugherty

491

Wood Bros

360

 

At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:

 

Stage Point Leaders

Kyle Larson

292

Denny Hamlin

254

Ryan Blaney

246

Christopher Bell

213

William Byron

212

Martin Truex Jr.

209

Chase Elliott

199

Tyler Reddick

196

Joey Logano

163

Alex Bowman

159

 

Milestone Watch

Chase Elliott

Looking for his 20th Career Win

Kyle Larson

Looking for his 30th Career Win

Christopher Bell

Looking for his 10th Career Win

Austin Cindric

Looking for his 10th Career Top 5

Alex Bowman

Looking for his 40th Career Top 5

Austin Dillon

Looking for his 80th Career Top 10

 

Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:

 

Winless Streaks

Justin Haley

137 races

Erik Jones

77 races

Bubba Wallace

75 races

Kyle Busch

53 races

Martin Truex Jr.

48 races

Michael McDowell

44 races

Daniel Suarez

30 races

William Byron

24 races

Chase Elliott

23 races

Denny Hamlin

21 races

 

The race begins Sunday, October 20th at 2:30 pm EST (11:30 am PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!

 

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @RacingRefresh

 

Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!

 

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