The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity
Series compete this weekend at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, with the
fourth race of their respective seasons. The Xfinity Series race is Saturday
while the Cup Series race is Sunday.
Here’s a quick look at some interesting statistics and
tidbits heading into the weekend.
- This weekend’s race marks the 49th for the series in the
state of Arizona, and 44th at ISM Raceway. Marshall Teague won the first Cup
Series race in Arizona in 1951, at the one-mile Arizona State Fairgrounds dirt
track. Alan Kulwicki won the first Cup Series race at ISM in 1988 in a Ford.
- The winner of the most series races at ISM Raceway is
Kevin Harvick, who owns eight victories. Harvick swept the 2006 and 2014 races
at the track, and won a track-high four consecutive races from the 2013 fall
race through the 2015 spring race. His last victory came in the 2016 spring
race.
- Overall, a total of 24 drivers have won a Cup Series race
at ISM Raceway.
- Ryan Newman is the defending race winner of the spring
event at ISM Raceway, last March. It marked his 18th and most recent Cup Series
victory overall and his second at the track (2010 spring) in the Cup Series.
- Drivers who have won at least one race at Phoenix and gone
on to win the series championship in the same season are: Dale Earnhardt
(1990); Jimmie Johnson (2007 fall; 2008 both; and 2009 fall); and Kevin Harvick
(2014 both).
- Drivers who have won the Cup Series race and the Xfinity
Series race at Phoenix include: Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Matt
Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano.
- The last driver to win consecutive races at Phoenix was
Kevin Harvick, who won four straight between the 2013 fall race and 2015 spring
race. Davey Allison, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson have
also won consecutive races at the track.
- Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson are the only two drivers to
lead laps in each of the last two races at Phoenix, as they both led laps in
the two 2017 events.
- A different manufacturer has won each of the last three races:
Ford (2016 fall); Chevrolet (2017 spring) and Toyota (2017 fall). Chevrolet has
a track-high 23 wins at Phoenix in the Cup Series, followed by Ford (15),
Toyota (3) and Pontiac (2).
- Tony Stewart holds the record for race average speed,
winning the 1999 race at 118.132 mph.
- The driver to lead the most laps of a race at ISM Raceway
has gone on to win the race 22 of 43 events (most recently 2016 spring race won
by Kevin Harvick).
- Ryan Newman has led the fewest laps of a Phoenix race that
a driver went on to win, leading four laps in the 2010 fall race. He also only
led six laps in the 2017 spring race, giving him a total of 10 laps led in his
two Phoenix victories.
- Kyle Busch has led the most laps of a driver who did not
win the race, pacing 237 laps of the 2012 fall race before finishing third.
- Only two races have not gone the scheduled distance or
more: 1998 race won by Rusty Wallace (257 laps) and 2015 fall race won by Dale
Earnhardt Jr. (219 laps). Both races were cut short due to rain.
- Only five of the previous 43 races at Phoenix have been
won from the pole position. Jeff Gordon was the first to do so, in the 2007
fall race. Kevin Harvick was the most recent to do it, in the 2015 fall race.
Four of the five victories by a polesitter have come in a Chevrolet.
- Ricky Rudd started the furthest back of any race winner,
when he won from the 29th starting position in 1995. Four drivers have won the
race having started outside the top 20.
- Jimmie Johnson hasn’t finished in the top 10 in nine
consecutive races, the worst streak of his career. He is also on a 25-race
winless streak, also the worst of his career.
- Kevin Harvick has won the last two races in the Cup
Series, winning at Atlanta and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It marks the first
time a driver has won back-to-back races in the Cup Series since Kyle Busch won
last year’s playoff races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Dover
International Speedway. The last driver to win three races in a row was Joey
Logano in the 2015 playoff races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway
and Talladega Superspeedway.
- Martin Truex Jr. is the only driver to lead laps in each
of the past four races – the 2017 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway and
the first three races of the 2018 season. Truex and Joey Logano are the only two
drivers to lead each of the first three races in 2018. Truex has led only 11 laps
in those three races.
- Kevin Harvick has 100 career NASCAR national series
victories.
- Alex Bowman (Tucson) and Michael McDowell (Glendale) are
the only drivers in the Cup Series from Arizona. Bowman led 194 laps in the
2016 fall race, finishing sixth after starting on the pole position.
- Drivers entered for this weekend’s race that will be
competing for the first time at Phoenix are: Ross Chastain, William Byron and
Darrell Wallace Jr. Byron won the 2017 fall race at Phoenix in the Xfinity
Series.
- David Ragan is making his 400th consecutive series race
start this weekend. He has competed in every Cup Series race since the 2007
Daytona 500.
- Timmy Hill is the only driver on the entry list scheduled
to compete in his first Cup Series race of 2018 this weekend.
- Points leader Kevin Harvick leads all drivers in victories
(2), top threes (2), top fives (2), laps led (395) and stage victories (3) this
season.
- Joey Logano leads all drivers in top 10s this season (3),
and is tied with Ryan Blaney for laps completed in 2018 (both have finished all
799 laps so far).
***
NASCAR Xfinity Series
(DC Solar 200; 4 p.m. ET Saturday)
- This is the 33rd race at ISM Raceway. The first race came
in 1999, when Jeff Gordon scored the victory in a Chevrolet.
- Kyle Busch leads all drivers in Xfinity series victories
at Phoenix with 10, the most he owns at any track on the circuit. Mark Martin
holds the record for most Xfinity Series victories at any track – 11 at
Rockingham Speedway in North Carolina.
- William Byron is the defending race winner at Phoenix; he
now competes in the Cup Series. Overall, a total of 17 drivers have won at
Xfinity Series race at Phoenix.
- Both of the 2017 races were won by Xfinity Series regulars
– Justin Allgaier (spring) and William Byron (fall). Kyle Busch is the last Cup
Series regular to win at Phoenix, in the 2016 fall race, the third of his
three-race winning streak at the track.
- Kevin Harvick (2006 spring race) is the only driver to win
at phoenix and go on to win the series championship in the same season.
- Ford leads all manufacturers in Phoenix victories with 12,
followed by Toyota (10), Chevrolet (7), Dodge (2) and Pontiac (1).
- Drivers have won the Xfinity Series race from the pole
position 10 times at Phoenix – Carl Edwards (2005 fall); Matt Kenseth (2006
fall); Kyle Busch (2008 spring; 2011 spring; 2013 both; 2015 fall; and 2016
fall); and Joey Logano (2012 fall and 2015 spring).
- Drivers who have led the most laps in a race at Phoenix
have gone on to win the race 23 of 32 times.
- Kyle Busch is the only driver to lead every lap of an
Xfinity Series race at Phoenix, doing so in the 2011 spring race.
- Greg Biffle holds the record for most laps led at Phoenix
by a non-race winner, leading 185 laps before finishing third in the 2002 race.
On the opposite end, Stacy Compton has led the fewest laps of a race winner, 15
laps, also in the 2002 race.
- Greg Biffle started the furthest back of any race Xfinity
Series winner at Phoenix, when he won from the 20th position in 2005.
- Kyle Busch is the last driver to win consecutive races in
the Xfinity Series, when he won back-to-back events at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta
and New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon last July.
- Points leader Elliott Sadler leads the series in top fives
and top 10s this season with three each, though he has yet to win a race.
Sadler is also the only driver to complete every lap this season (506).
- Christopher Bell has two top threes and two pole positions
to lead all drivers.
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