NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Subway Fresh Fit 500
Phoenix International Raceway
Qualifying Fast Facts
Pole Winner: Ryan Newman
Age: 30
Team: No. 12 alltel Dodge
Owner: Roger Penske
Crew Chief: Roy McCauley
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 7, 2008) – With his win at Texas Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards joined Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Bill Elliott as active NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers to win three of the first seven races of a season.
Johnson did it last year, and went on to win the championship.
Gordon has accomplished the feat three times, following it up with championships in two of those seasons – 1995 and 1997 (he finished second in the final points standings in 1996, the other year he won three of the first seven).
Elliott has done it twice – in 1985 and 1992 – and finished second in the final standings both times.
In other words, Edwards’ performance could lead to the title – it has happened before.
FORT WORTH, TX. — Carl Edwards must know how the West was won… state by state.
He won in California. He won in Nevada. And, Sunday, he won in Texas.
The back-flipping Edwards is on a roll.
And he’s doing it without his regular crew chief, who is sitting out a suspension for rules violations earlier in the year.
Running either at the front, or just behind Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch most of the race, Edwards took the lead on lap 214 of the 339-lap Samsung 500 and practically held it the remaining distance.
Chad McCumbee Fast Facts
In 2007, McCumbee competed in two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races for Petty Enterprises, with a high finish of 25th coming in the “spring” race at Pocono.
McCumbee is currently 13th in the Craftsman Truck Series point standings. He has had a strong start to 2008, finishing seventh in the season opener at Daytona and securing a fifth-place finish in Atlanta.
On Wednesday, McCumbee will test the #45 Dodge at Kentucky Speedway.
This is McCumbee’s third season of Truck Series competition; in 50 races he has scored one top-5 finish and six top-10s, his average start is 21.7 and average finish is 20.2.
McCumbee, 23, won an ARCA event last June at Pocono Raceway on the same weekend that he made his Sprint Cup Series debut in the #45 Petty Enterprises Dodge.
In the Truck race at Texas Motor Speedway last fall, McCumbee started second and led four laps but finished thirteenth after an accident forced him out of the race.
Prior to Martinsville, the statistics suggested Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson would finally make their way back into the top 12. Both notched top-five finishes at the Virginia short track, and both now reside in the top 12 of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings.
Now the stats say it might be Matt Kenseth’s turn.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Goody’s Cool Orange 500
Martinsville Speedway
Fast Facts
Race Winner: Denny Hamlin
Age: 27
Team: No. 11
Owner: J.D. Gibbs
Crew Chief: Mike Ford
NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES : GOODY’S COOL ORANGE 500 STATISTICAL PREVIEW
Below is a statistical preview of next Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
The bullets include drivers who have earned high Loop Data statistics (2005-2007) at Martinsville Speedway.
Tony Stewart ranks first in Average Running Position with 5.946 and ranks first in Speed in Traffic at 91.019 mph.
First Sunday victory for Toyota; First Busch victory for JGR
HAMPTON, GA. — His nickname is “Rowdy.” They call him that because he runs his Joe Gibbs Toyota wide open…. all the time.
“Go or Blow!” That’s Kyle.
And he did just that Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Start to finish, the young driver from Las Vegas kept his foot in the gas to win the Kobalt Tools 500. He became the first driver to win a NASCAR Craftsman Truck and a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in the same weekend.
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