Streaking at Indianapolis

July 17, 2008 12:58pm CDT

2008 Streaks

When it's your year, nothing stands in the way. Kyle Busch has won the last two races of the year and three of the last four.

If not for the rain-altered finish at New Hampshire, Matt Kenseth might have a nine-race streak of top-10s; instead, he's finished that well in eight of the last nine events.

For the first time in his career, David Ragan posted back-to-back top-10s with a fifth at Daytona and an eighth at Chicagoland.

It's a streak—but not a good one—Bill Elliott has finished in the 30s in eight consecutive races.

Negative Streaks

Momentum is fickle. When it abandons a driver he often finds it difficult to recapture.

The following drivers have failed to earn a top-10 finish in at least 10 consecutive attempts (including failures to qualify):

63: Paul Menard
55: Bill Elliott
51: Joe Nemechek
47: A.J. Allmendinger *
46: Scott Riggs
39: Jason Leffler
28: Kyle Petty
27: Sam Hornish Jr. *
26: Regan Smith *
20: Patrick Carpentier *
17: Johnny Sauter
16: Terry Labonte
14: Michael McDowell *
10: Tony Raines

* entire career

Running at the End

A team can’t earn a good finish in the garage; the following drivers have avoided that fate for at least the last 10 races.

Last week, 42 of the 43 starters were still running at the end of the LifeLock.com 400. Only David Gilliland failed to finish after blowing an engine barely eight laps from the end of the race.

63: Kevin Harvick (and 102 of 103)
56: Clint Bowyer
25: Regan Smith
24: Matt Kenseth
20: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
20: Kasey Kahne
16: Mark Martin
15: Carl Edwards
12: Jeff Gordon
10: Dave Blaney
10: Martin Truex Jr.

Finishing on the Lead Lap

More important still, a driver needs to finish on the same lap as the leader in order to have a chance at victory. The following drivers have at least three consecutive finishes on the lead lap.

11: Jeff Gordon
9: Matt Kenseth
7: Martin Truex Jr.
6: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (and 11 of 12)
6: Kevin Harvick
6: Jimmie Johnson
6: Brian Vickers
5: Kyle Busch (and 12 of 13)
5: Tony Stewart
4: Clint Bowyer
3: Kurt Busch
3: Robby Gordon
3: Bobby Labonte
3: David Reutimann

A broken splitter sent Carl Edwards into the pits from the lead. He could never regain the lead lap and finished off the pace for the first time in nine races.

Denny Hamlin had a miserable time at Chicagoland, slipped four laps off the pace and finished 40th. It was the first time he failed to go the distance in six weeks.

Flat track streaks

Flat tracks require heavy braking and special skill to navigate the corners. The following drivers have excelled at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway, Phoenix International Raceway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway in recent races.

Jimmie Johnson has won three of the last eight flat track races and finished in the top 10 in all.

Denny Hamlin is a flat track master. He's finished worse than 16th only once in the last 20 races and was in the top 10 in four consecutive events.

Mark Martin loves the minimally-banked courses. He's finished on the lead lap in 13 consecutive races there and in the top-10 in his last five.

It took a little luck to win at New Hampshire, but that was Kurt Busch's second consecutive top-10 on a flat track following an eighth at Pocono.

It has been two weeks since Jeff Burton finished among the top 15, but his fans will take hope in the fact that he has run that well in 13 of his last 14 attempts on the flat tracks, which includes a 12th at New Hampshire three weeks ago.

Jeff Gordon has struggled a bit on the flat tracks, with a 13th at Phoenix, a 14th at Pocono and an 11th at New Hampshire, but prior to that he had 13 consecutive top-10s on this track type.

The following active drivers have won on the flat tracks (driver's name is followed by the number of victories):

Jeff Gordon, 19
Jimmie Johnson, 11
Tony Stewart, 8
Jeff Burton, 7
Kurt Busch, 7
Bill Elliott, 7
Bobby Labonte, 5
Denny Hamlin, 4
Kevin Harvick, 4
Terry Labonte, 3
Mark Martin, 3
Ryan Newman, 3
Kyle Busch, 2
Dale Earnhardt Jr., 2
Clint Bowyer, 1
Carl Edwards, 1
Robby Gordon, 1
Kasey Kahne, 1
Matt Kenseth, 1
Joe Nemechek, 1
Kyle Petty, 1

The following active drivers have earned "cookie-cutter" track top-fives:

Jeff Gordon, 62
Mark Martin, 52
Tony Stewart, 32
Jeff Burton, 30
Bill Elliott, 28
Terry Labonte, 25
Bobby Labonte, 23
Jimmie Johnson, 22
Dale Earnhardt Jr., 20
Matt Kenseth, 19
Ryan Newman, 19
Kurt Busch, 17
Denny Hamlin, 12
Kevin Harvick, 10
Kyle Busch, 9
Kyle Petty, 8
Kasey Kahne, 7
Brian Vickers, 7
Michael Waltrip, 7
Greg Biffle, 6
Carl Edwards, 6
Joe Nemechek, 5
Clint Bowyer, 4
Martin Truex Jr., 4
Jamie McMurray, 3
Elliott Sadler, 3
Robby Gordon, 2
Casey Mears, 1
Juan Montoya, 1
Reed Sorenson, 1
J.J. Yeley 1

Indy streaks

This is Tony Stewart's home track and he's pleased his fans with two victories in the last three races there. In nine attempts, he's never finished worse than 17th.

Kyle Busch has a perfect record of top-10s at Indy, with a worst of 10th in his inaugural attempt and a best of fourth last year.

Five of Matt Kenseth's last six races at Indy have ended in top-10s and his worst result in that span is only 16th. In eight career starts there, however, he has never qualified better than 17th.

Mark Martin has finished among the top 10 on this track in his last three starts as well as four of the last five.

Kevin Harvick has finished worse than 11th only once in seven career Indy starts.

Jeff Gordon has a worst finish of 16th and six top-10s at Indy in his last seven attempts, but during that span he has started in the top 10 only once. His latest of four victories there came in 2004 after starting 11th.

In two starts, Clint Bowyer has not finished worse than 13th at Indy.

Kasey Kahne finished fourth and second in his first two Indy starts; his last two attempts have ended in accidents, however.

Ryan Newman has qualified on one of the first four rows in all eight of his attempts, but he's earned only one top-10 in those events.

Indy's three-year average finish