By the Numbers: On hot streak, Busch hopes to break through at AMS (NASCAR.com)
September 2, 2010
Race No. 26—Great Clips 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (6:30 p.m. ET Saturday, ESPN2). Green flag set for 7:16 p.m. ET.
0.012—The margin of victory at Montreal, when Boris Said edged Max Papis. It was the fifth-closest margin since the advent of electronic timing and scoring, and the closest ever on a road course.
1—Final-lap pass in 18 Nationwide races at Atlanta, coming in Oct. 2002 when Jamie McMurray passed Joe Nemechek. McMurray led only that final lap in his first Nationwide victory.
2—Races this season in which the driver leading the most laps finished outside the top 10. It happened last weekend at Montreal, when Carl Edwards finished 20th.
3—Races won from the pole at Atlanta. The most recent was Carl Edwards in March 2005. Two of those three races won from the pole were inaugural series victories for the drivers: Edwards, and Jeff Gordon in March 1992.
4—Races out of the 18 held at Atlanta which have been won by non-Cup Series regulars.
4—Races of the past six this season in which the leader at the halfway point went on to win.
5—Consecutive races at Atlanta won from a top-10 starting position. In fact, nine of the past 10 races were won by a car starting in the top 10. The worst starting position of a winner at Atlanta? Matt Kenseth began the race 28th in Oct. 2004.
7—Top-five finishes for Matt Kenseth at Atlanta, the most in series history. Kenseth also leads in top-10s, with eight.
10—Races out of the past 11 in which the final green-flag stretch has been fewer than 25 laps. The longest to end a race this season was 42 laps at Iowa in July.
30—Lap marker before which the first caution has come out in the past 10 races at AMS.
75—Nationwide starts for Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing if he takes to the track this weekend in Atlanta. He has won 28 of his previous 74 starts for JGR (38 percent).
250—Point advantage Kyle Busch would have over current series leader Brad Keselowski if Busch competed in every race this season, based on average points earned per race.
341—Laps led (of 588) by Kyle Busch at Atlanta in the past three years (58 percent). His best finish in six starts there, however, is second: Oct. 2004 and Sept. 2009. Busch led 153 laps in 2008, the most led by a driver who did not win. He blew a tire while leading and slammed into the wall with just more than 20 laps remaining.
365—Brad Keselowski’s points lead over Carl Edwards, the largest lead of the season.
