Adam Carabine

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of O’Reilly Stats Friday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Avondale, Arizona for the GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway.   Phoenix is a 1-mile oval with a signature dogleg just past the start/finish line.  It served as the Championship Race for the past six years, though that has changed in 2026.  The track opened in 1964, but the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series didn’t start racing there until 1999.  Jeff Gordon...

By Adam Carabine Welcome to the StatChat NASCAR Games!   We are now three races into the 2026 season, and I thought it might be fun to share some of the silly little games I play on my NASCAR Excel Sheet.   BRACKET GAMES These games are similar to NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament, as created by Denny Hamlin, but it lasts all season long.    Drivers are originally seeded by a mixture of performance from last year, with some creative discretion from myself.  Each week, whichever driver finishes...

Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture.  StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10:   Michael McDowell – This week: 10 – Last week: 23 McDowell is great at the drafting tracks, and at road courses.  After the first two races of the year didn’t go his way (he finished P22 and P20), he...

Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images By Adam Carabine Tyler Reddick became the first driver in NASCAR history to make it back-to-back-to-back wins to start the NASCAR Cup Series Season!   Reddick started strong, earning the pole in qualifying.  Through Stage One, he maybe went too easy on his car, trying to save tires, but was able to adjust his pace and eventually held off road-course wizard, Shane Van Gisbergen (SVG) for the win.    Lap 1: Reddick started the race on pole, but lost the lead at...

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Austin, Texas for the DuraMAX Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, or COTA.   The portion of the track that NASCAR uses at COTA is a 17-turn 2.4-mile road course.  The facility opened in 2012, and NASCAR first visited in 2021. Christopher Bell won this race last year.   Tomorrow’s race will be 95 laps long (for a total of 223.82 miles), with stage...

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of O’Reilly Stats Friday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Austin, Texas for the Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas, or COTA.   The portion of the track that NASCAR uses at COTA is a 17-turn 2.4-mile road course.  The facility opened in 2012, and NASCAR first visited in 2021.  Kyle Busch won the first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (Xfinity) race there that year.  Connor Zilisch won this race...

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, you might be familiar with the Cup Series’ Stats Saturday article, but this year we are branching it out to the Top 3 Series.  It’s now time for another Truck Stats Thursday. This weekend the Craftsman Truck Series travels to St. Petersburg, Florida for the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 at the St. Petersburg Street Circuit.   The Street Circuit at St. Petersburg is a 14-turn 1.8-mile course that takes over some streets, as well as one of the runways at...

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture.  StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10:   Joey Logano – This week: 10 – Last week: 8 Logano might not have finished as well as his P3 at Daytona the previous week, but he had a solid day in Atlanta.  He led 26 laps, earned some stage points, and was...

Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images By Adam Carabine Tyler Reddick makes it back-to-back wins to start the 2026 NASCAR Cup Season!   Despite some earlier damage, and no front right fender, Reddick was able to make his way back up to the front for a Double-Overtime win at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta.   Lap 1: Due to rained out qualifying, the math-based qualifying metric was used, and last week’s winner Tyler Reddick started on the pole.   Lap 4: Joey Logano and Reddick were trading the...

Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture.  StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10:   Noah Gragson – This week: 10 – Last week: -- How about a nice start to the season for Noah Gragson? He started with screwing up his qualifying attempt, but rebounded nicely.  He earned points in Stage One,...

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images By Adam Carabine Tyler Reddick reigned supreme at The Great American Race.  Time for a quick recap of the notable moments!   The Daytona 500 initially got moved up an hour to avoid some potential inclement weather.  They were able to get the entire race in with no rain.   Lap 3 In honour of the 25 th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s passing, the fans stood silently with three fingers in the air.  Commentary on FOX was quiet for the whole lap as well.   Lap...

By Adam Carabine Counting down the final 30 days to the 2026 Daytona 500, we are looking at last year's Top 30 drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series. Today's driver: Kyle Larson Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images No. 5 Car – Hendrick Motorsports   2025 Stats Standings 1 st Wins 3 Points 5,034 Stage Points 297 Stage Wins 10 Laps Led 1,126 Lead Lap Finishes 30 Average Finish 13.2 DNFs 2 Races since last win 24   What Does Success Look Like in 2026? Kyle Larson is widely seen as one of the most...