Motor Racing Statistics – By The Numbers (April 17, 2018)

The latest edition of the all-encompassing Motor Racing Statistics “By The Numbers” blog, which looks at numbers throughout many forms of motorsports. This blog runs on Tuesdays through the year.

By The Numbers

1.83 – Kyle Busch has an average finish of 1.83 in his last six Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races, with two victories, three second-place finishes and a third. He’s won the last two Cup Series races, at Texas Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway.

2 – Portuguese drivers Filipe Albuquerque and Joao Barbosa earned their second IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory of the 2018 season in last Saturday’s BUBBA Burger Sports Car Grand Prix of Long Beach. 

2.33 – Alexander Rossi as an average finish of 2.33 in three Verizon IndyCar Series races this season, after winning Sunday’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Rossi has three podiums to start this season and podiums in six of the last nine races, after only one in his first 27 races podium (2016 Indianapolis 500).

4 – Sam Bird earned his seventh career FIA Formula E victory in the CBMM Niobium Rome ePrix on Saturday, giving him at least one victory in four seasons, the only driver to win in all four Formula E seasons so far.

4 – Tyler Courtney claimed his fourth career USAC P1 Insurance Midget National Championship race Friday at Kokomo Speedway in Indiana, leading 20 laps, including the final 18.

5 – The fifth round of the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season is this weekend with the annual NHRA SpringNationals at Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas, just outside of Houston. Defending race winners are Leah Pritchett (Top Fuel), Ron Capps (Funny Car) and Bo Butner (Pro Stock).

6 – Daniel Ricciardo won the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit on Sunday, his sixth Formula 1 World Championship victory.

7 – A total of seven drivers have won in the first seven NASCAR Xfinity Series races this season: Tyler Reddick, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Ryan Preece. The series will look to make it eight this weekend at Richmond International Raceway.

7 – Holden has won seven of the first eight Virgin Australia Supercars Championship races in 2018. The Australian manufacturer looks for more this weekend with rounds nine and 10 of the season at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria, though Holden hasn’t won a race at the 4.445-kilometer track since 2015.

8 – Santiago Urrutia leads Patricio O’Ward by eight points heading into this weekend’s two Indy Lights races at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. Both drivers won in the first event of the season, the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, with O’Ward winning the first race and Urrutia the second.

9 – Rain and inclement weather have pushed the total number of postponements and cancellations to nine for the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series, which had races at Jacksonville Speedway in Illinois and Tri-State Speedway in Indiana postponed. The Tri-State race was rescheduled for this weekend, April 22, while Jacksonville is now scheduled for June 27.

9 – The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series will make its first appearance at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Arkansas, in eight years. Tim Kaeding won the last race for the series in 2009.

9 – The IndyCar Series will make its ninth visit to Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, with the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama this weekend.

28 – Lewis Hamilton earned his record-setting 28th consecutive Formula 1 points-paying finish in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai, finishing fourth. His last finish outside the points was the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit.

56 – Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time CART champion Al Unser Jr. celebrates his 56th birthday on Thursday, April 19.

63 – Heading into Saturday’s race at Montpelier Motor Speedway in Indiana, it’s been 63 days since the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series has competed. The most recent race scheduled, on March 31 at Lawrenceburg Speedway, also in Indiana, was rained out.

71 – Alexander Rossi led 71 of the 85 laps of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the most a driver has led in the race since Will Power led 81 laps in the 2008 race.

124 – This weekend’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway will be the 124th race at the track for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, dating back to April 1953, when Lee Petty won a 100-miler at the track, which was then a half-mile dirt facility.

250 – Kevin Harvick is shooting for his 250th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race led in this weekend’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. Harvick led his 249th race at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this month.