All-Time Cup Track Stats: Indianapolis

Jeff Gordon holds the record for worst starting position by a winner at Indianapolis above, but he also holds the record for worst finish by a Pole winner at Indianapolis below. Image Credit: Jonathan Ferrey — Allsport

– It took 10 races for a Pole winner to win the race at Indianapolis, but in the last 16 races qualifying was held here the Pole winner has won the race 5 times.

There have only been 5 races at Indianapolis to feature stages, but in the first of these races Kyle Busch swept both stages. However, this was how his race ended that day. Photo by Michael Allio — Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

– Last year Kyle Larson set the record for the least amount of laps led by a winner in an Indianapolis Cup race.

Only 4 times has a driver led over half the race here at Indianapolis and not went on to finish Top 10, but two of those times were by Juan Pablo Montoya (not mentioned in table above, but in picture above, he led 53.75% of the laps and finished 32nd in 2010). Photo by Tom Pennington — Getty Images for NASCAR

– In the 17 races here since Driver Rating was introduced to the sport 3 times a driver has gotten a perfect Driver Rating (150.0), which is the same as drivers to get between 140 and 149.9.

– Only twice in the last 8 Indianapolis Cup races has a driver ran every lap in the Top 15 here, so don’t expect anyone to do so this weekend.

– Based on the tables above expect a lot of cars to be on the lead lap at the end of the Cup race this weekend as 22 of the 28 Cup races here have seen 20+ drivers finish on the lead lap.

– Starting out of the Top 30 is not ideal here at Indianapolis, but the better you start in the Top 10 doesn’t make much difference as starting 1st only has the 3rd best Avg. Finish here.

– Kevin Harvick was great in his career at Indianapolis as he is the only driver that is top 5 in both tables above and both tables below.

In 18 starts here at Indianapolis Tony Stewart incredibly never finished a lap down, the only driver with 5+ starts here to accomplish that feat. Photo by Rusty Jarrett –Getty Images

– Jeff Gordon was the best at finishing first here at Indy as he has the most Wins and is tied for most Poles as well. Furthermore, since Jimmie Johnson started and didn’t win last year Gordon also has the best Win% here now.

– Dale Jarrett may have invented kissing the bricks at Indianapolis, but that’s not all he did here as he also has the best Top 3% all-time at the Brickyard.

– Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth are the only drivers with 5+ starts at Indianapolis to finish at least half of their races here in the Top 5.

– After last years race Kyle Busch fell from a tie for best Top 10% at Indy to 4th place, and Kyle Larson jumped up to the 10th best Top 10% all-time.

– There are only 5 active drivers that have won a stage at Indy, so the likelihood of getting a different stage winner here this weekend is pretty high.

With 2 Stage T10’s this weekend Denny Hamlin would take over the top spot for best Stage T10% all-time at Indianapolis. Photo by Sean Gardner — Getty Images

– Without a win this weekend Denny Hamlin would tie Martin Truex Jr. for most starts at Indy without a win, among active drivers.

– This weekend Tyler Reddick is looking to become just the 4th driver to win back-to-back Poles at Indy.

– Bobby Labonte holds the longest Top 3 streak (table above) and Top 5 streak (table below) at Indianapolis with a 4 race streak that spanned the late 90s/early 2000s.

Joe Nemechek never had much success at Indianapolis as he is the only driver that is on every “without” list above. Photo by Harold Hinson — Sporting News via Getty Images via Getty Images

– Last year there were 6 drivers that had dropped from the “Most Indy Stages without a Stage Win” table above, this year of the 13 drivers tied only 10 will be in the race this weekend.

– With B.J. McLeod and Corey LaJoie not racing this weekend Ty Dillon will be the only driver to run every Indy Cup race with stages and not have a Stage T10, unless he can get one this weekend.