Backstretch Motorsports

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 21, 2008) – Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Victory Lane has transformed itself into a Hall of Fame of sorts.
The list of winners reads like a who’s who of NASCAR. Of the 14 races, 12 have been won by NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions.
The only Brickyard winners who are not also series champions are Ricky Rudd (1997) and Kevin Harvick (2003).
Also, “Kissing the Bricks” – the traditional celebration of the winning team – often foreshadows a series championship. Six winners in the 14-race history of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard have gone on to win the series championship in the same year:

2006: Jimmie Johnson
2005: Tony Stewart
2001: Jeff Gordon
2000: Bobby Labonte
1999: Dale Jarrett
1998: Jeff Gordon
Additionally, each Indy winner was in the top 10 in points going into the Brickyard race.
Though not a past champion, all focus will likely be on points leader Kyle Busch.
Busch, winner of two consecutive races and seven overall in 2008, owns statistics that suggest an Indy win (the last driver to win three consecutive races was Jimmie Johnson last season, when he won four straight).
In his three Brickyard races – all top-10 finishes – Busch has a Driver Rating of 98.3, an Average Running Position of 11.9 and has run 70% of the laps among the top 15.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Top 12 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Driver Races Poles Wins Top Fives Top 10s DNFs Average Finish Driver Rating

1 Kyle Busch 3 0 0 1 3 0 7.0 98.3
2 Dale Earnhardt Jr 8 0 0 0 2 2 21.1 67.4
3 Jeff Burton 14 1 0 1 3 0 18.4 98.6
4 Carl Edwards 3 0 0 0 1 0 13.0 81.5
5 Jimmie Johnson 6 0 1 1 2 3 23.5 83.1
6 Jeff Gordon 14 3 4 8 11 1 8.9 89.9
7 Greg Biffle 5 0 0 0 1 0 19.2 84.4
8 Matt Kenseth 8 0 0 4 5 1 13.3 106.1
9 Kevin Harvick 7 1 1 3 5 0 7.7 108.7
10 Tony Stewart 9 1 2 4 6 0 7.6 121.4
11 Kasey Kahne 4 0 0 2 2 2 20.5 91.2
12 Denny Hamlin 2 0 0 0 1 0 16.0 92.1
Selected Driver Highlights
Note: All driver statistics that follow are from Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Loop Data statistics – Driver Rating, Average Running Position, etc. – in this release, however, cover the last three races at Indianapolis. NASCAR’s scoring loops began collecting data for statistical purposes in 2005.

Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniel’s Chevrolet)
• One top five
• Average finish of 8.5
• Average Running Position of 12.7, ninth-best
• Driver Rating of 90.3, 10th-best
• 242 (75.6%) Laps in the Top 15, sixth-best percentage
• 56 Quality Passes (average of 28 per race), fourth-best average (passes of cars in the top 15 under green)

Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet)
• One top five, three top 10s; one pole
• Average finish of 18.4
• Average Running Position of 10.9, sixth-best
• Driver Rating of 98.6, sixth-best
• 30 Fastest Laps Run, second-most
• 343 (71.5%) Laps in the Top 15, fifth-most
• 60 Quality Passes, ninth-most

Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M’s Toyota)
• One top five, three top 10s
• Average finish of 7.0
• Average Running Position of 11.9, seventh-best
• Driver Rating of 98.3, seventh-best
• 12 Fastest Laps Run, tied for eighth-most
• 129 Green Flag Passes, tied for seventh-most
• 336 (70.0%) Laps in the Top 15, sixth-most
• 76 Quality Passes, fourth-most

Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet)
• Four wins, eight top fives, 11 top 10s; three poles
• Average finish of 8.9
• Driver Rating of 89.9, 11th-best
• Eight Fastest Laps Run, 14th-most
• 150 Green Flag Passes, fourth-most
• 255 (53.1%) Laps in the Top 15, 10th-most
• 66 Quality Passes, fifth-most

Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota)
• One top 10
• Average finish of 16.0 in two races
• Average Running Position of 12.4, eighth-best
• Driver Rating of 92.1, eighth-best
• 10 Fastest Laps Run, 12th-most
• 246 (76.9%) Laps in the Top 15, seventh-best percentage
• 67 Quality Passes (average of 33.5 per race), series-best average

Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet)
• One win, three top fives, five top 10s; one pole
• Average finish of 7.7
• Average Running Position of 8.1, second-best
• Driver Rating of 108.7, third-best
• 22 Fastest Laps Run, sixth-most
• Average Green Flag Speed of 170.145 mph, third-fastest
• Series-high 432 (90.0%) Laps in the Top 15
• 84 Quality Passes, third-most

Matt Kenseth (No. 17 DEWALT Ford)
• Four top fives, five top 10s
• Average finish of 13.3
• Average Running Position of 8.5, fourth-best
• Driver Rating of 106.1, fourth-best
• Average Green Flag Speed of 170.048 mph, fifth-fastest
• 404 (84.2%) Laps in the Top 15, fourth-most
• 62 Quality Passes, tied for seventh-most

Mark Martin (No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet)
• Five top fives, nine top 10s
• Average finish of 14.4
• Average Running Position of 9.6, fifth-best
• Driver Rating of 102.9, fifth-best
• Average Green Flag Speed of 170.056 mph, fourth-fastest
• 419 (87.3%) Laps in the Top 15, second-most
• Series-high 92 Quality Passes

Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota)
• Two wins, four top fives, six top 10s; one pole
• Average finish of 7.6
• Average Running Position of 8.2, third-best
• Series-high Driver Rating of 121.4
• Series-high 76 Fastest Laps Run
• Average Green Flag Speed of 170.751 mph, second-fastest
• 406 (84.6%) Laps in the Top 15, third-most
• 86 Quality Passes, second-most

At Indianapolis Motor Speedway:

History
• Indianapolis Motor Speedway has existed since 1909, and is the original “Speedway,” the first racing facility historically to incorporate the word into its name.
• With a permanent seating capacity for more than 257,000 people and infield seating that raises capacity to an approximate 400,000, it is the largest and highest-capacity sporting facility in history.

Notebook
• There have been 14 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway since the first race was held there in 1994.
• Five drivers have competed in all 14 races at IMS: Jeff Burton, Bill Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Mark Martin.
• Rick Mast won the first pole in 1994.
• Jeff Gordon won the 1994 inaugural race.
• Jeff Gordon leads all pole winners with three.
• Nine drivers have won, led by Jeff Gordon with four.
• Dale Jarrett (two) and Tony Stewart (two) are the other multiple winners.
• Hendrick Motorsports has won five races, more than any other organization.
• Seven races have been won from a top-five starting position.
• The furthest back a race winner has started at Indianapolis was 27th, by Jeff Gordon in 2001.
• There has been one green-white-checkered finish at Indianapolis: 2004 (161/160).
• The only time in the modern era that three brothers led at least one lap in the same race occurred in the inaugural race at Indianapolis (1994): Geoffrey, Brett and Todd Bodine.
• Dale Jarrett (1996) and Jimmie Johnson (2006) are the only drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and the Allstate 400 in the same season.
• Kyle Busch has an average finish of 7.0 in three Indianapolis races, the best of any driver with more than one race.
• The winner of the Indianapolis race has won the championship in the same year six times in the 14 years the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series has raced at Indy:
2006: Jimmie Johnson
2005: Tony Stewart
2001: Jeff Gordon
2000: Bobby Labonte
1999: Dale Jarrett
1998: Jeff Gordon

NASCAR in Indiana
• There have been 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in Indiana.
• 75 NASCAR national series drivers (all-time) have their home state recorded as Indiana.
• There have been 10 race winners from Indiana in NASCAR’s three national series:
Driver NSCS NNS NCTS
Tony Stewart 32 7 2
Ryan Newman 13 7 0
Darel Dieringer 7 0 0
Charlie Glotzbach 4 0 0
John Andretti 2 0 0
Earl Balmer 1 0 0
Larry Frank 1 0 0
Dick Passwater 1 0 0
Tony Raines 0 0 4
Kenny Irwin Jr. 0 0 2

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Data
Race # 20 of 36 (7-27-08)
Track Size: 2.5 miles
Race Length: 400 miles (160 laps)
Banking/Corners: 9 degrees
Banking/Straights: 0 degrees

Driver Rating at Indianapolis
Tony Stewart 121.4
Juan Pablo Montoya* 120.7
Kevin Harvick 108.7
Matt Kenseth 106.1
Mark Martin 102.9
Jeff Burton 98.6
Kyle Busch 98.3
Denny Hamlin 92.1
Kasey Kahne 91.2
Clint Bowyer 90.3
Note: Driver Rating compiled from 2005-2007 races (3 total) at Indianapolis.
* — Montoya competed in one IMS race.

Qualifying/Race Data
2007 pole winner: Reed Sorenson (184.207 mph, 48.858 seconds)
2007 race winner: Tony Stewart, 117.379 mph, 7-29-07)
Track qualifying record: Casey Mears (186.293 mph, 48.311 secs., 8-7-04)
Track race record: Bobby Labonte (155.912 mph, 8-5-00)
Estimated Pit Window: Every 30-32 laps, based on fuel mileage