Mark Martin would grab his 39th victory of 741 races in last year’s LifeLock 400 from Chicagoland. Jeff Gordon would snatch 2nd and Kasey Kahne would finish in 3rd.

Tony Stewart, the points leader at the time, would finish 4th and move to 175 points over Jeff Gordon in the standings. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 5.

It was not the best day to drive a Ford, but Carl Edwards would finish the best in 14th.

Let’s crunch the numbers and see who’s hot and who to avoid at Chicago.

2009 Chicagoland Race Stats

Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 59 Mins, 39 Secs.

Average Speed: 133.804 MPH

Margin of Victory: 0.415 Seconds

Caution Flags: 7 for 30 laps:

Laps: 40-43 (Debris [07]); 132-136 (Debris [42]); 212-215 (Debris [00]); 220-223 (#77 accident backstretch [1]); 228-232 (#26, 31, 82, 98 accident Turn 1 [44]); 247-250 (Debris [47]); 262-265 (Fluid [20]).

Lead Changes: 10 among 6 drivers: B. Vickers 1-9; J. Johnson 10-40; E. Sadler 41; M. Martin 42-95; T. Stewart 96; M. Martin 97-186; K. Kahne 187-188; M. Martin 189-223; J. Johnson 224-250; B. Vickers 251; M. Martin 252-267.

Track Numbers

9 – Races

2,406 – Laps

387 – Cars

88 – Leaders

68 – DNF’s @ 2.33% Since 2001

Track Specs

1.5 Mile tri-oval

267 laps – 400.5 miles

Banking

18 degree – turns

11 degree – frontstretch

5 degree – backstretch

2,400 feet – frontstretch

1,700 feet – backstretch

Average Running Positions @ Chicago (Last 5 Races)

7.322 – Jimmie Johnson

7.353 – Tony Stewart

7.491 – Brian Vickers

7.851 – Kevin Harvick

9.903 – Matt Kenseth

10.234 – Kyle Busch

11.162 – Jeff Gordon

11.560 – Dale Jr.

12.920 – Mark Martin

13.379 – Kurt Busch

Top Driver Ratings @ Chicago (Last 5 Races)

112.8 – Jimmie Johnson

112.1 – Tony Stewart

107.8 – Mat Kenseth

107.3 – Brian Vickers

106.8 – Kevin Harvick

104.6 – Kyle Busch

96.3 – Jeff Gordon

94.0 – Dale Jr.

93.0 – Mark Martin

89.8 – Greg Biffle

Fastest Early In A Run @ Chicago (Last 5 Races)

170.228 – Tony Stewart

170.192 – Jimmie Johnson

170.067 – Matt Kenseth

169.789 – Brian Vickers

169.750 – Kevin Harvick

169.735 – Kyle Busch

169.328 – Jeff Gordon

169.182 – Denny Hamlin

169.131 – Greg Biffle

169.004 – Mark Martin

Fastest Late In A Run @ Chicago (Last 5 Races)

166.311 – Tony Stewart

166.141 – Matt Kenseth

166.086 – Jimmie Johnson

166.021 – Dale Jr.

165.915 – Kevin Harvick

165.708 – Martin Truex Jr.

165.639 – Kyle Busch

165.596 – Brian Vickers

165.550 – Jeff Burton

165.547 – Kurt Busch

Fastest Laps Run @ Chicago (Last 5 Races)

156 – Matt Kenseth

142 – Jimmie Johnson

115 – Tony Stewart

72 – Kyle Busch

66 – Mark Martin

60 – Dale Jr.

60 – Carl Edwards

58 – Jeff Gordon

50 – Greg Biffle

41 – Brian Vickers

37 – Kevin Harvick

Fastest On Restarts @ Chicago (Last 5 Races)

165.504 – Jimmie Johnson

165.463 – Tony Stewart

165.190 – Matt Kenseth

164.951 – Kevin Harvick

164.844 – Kyle Busch

164.578 – Brian Vickers

164.435 – Jeff Gordon

164.382 – Clint Bowyer

164.332 – Kurt Busch

164.185 – Denny Hamlin

Laps In Top 15 @ Chicago (Last 5 Races)

1,190 – Jimmie Johnson

1,183 – Tony Stewart

1,162 – Kevin Harvick

1,065 – Jeff Gordon

1,024 – Dale Jr.

1,021 – Matt Kenseth

977 – Matt Kenseth

936 – Brian Vickers

931 – Kurt Busch

795 – Mark Martin

Laps Led @ Chicago (Last 5 Races)

296 – Matt Kenseth

196 – Mark Martin

176 – Jimmie Johnson

167 – Kyle Busch

121 – Tony Stewart

94 – Kevin Harvick

77 – Greg Biffle

60 – Jeff Burton

40 – Dale Jr.

26 – Jeff Gordon

Quality Passes @ Chicago (Last 5 Races)

199 – Jeff Gordon

176 – Dale Jr.

165 – Jimmie Johnson

159 – Carl Edwards

154 – Tony Stewart

151 – Kurt Busch

151 – Kyle Busch

148 – Mat Kenseth

135 – Martin Truex Jr.

133 – Denny Hamlin

Top Teams At Chicago

5.00 – Stewart-Haas – 2 races

11.00 – JTG Daughtery – 1 race

13.00 – Earnhardt Ganassi = 2 races

13.33 – Hendrick – 9 races

15.50 – Team Red Bull – 4 races

17.00 – Joe Gibbs – 6 races

17.71 – Richard Petty – 7 races

Similar Track Stats (2008 – Present)

Fontana, Michigan, Kansas & Chicago

Average Rating

128.2 – Jimmie Johnson

105.6 – Jeff Gordon

104.6 – Carl Edwards

101.5 – Greg Biffle

96.6 – Mark Martin

96.1 – Matt Kenseth

95.8 – Brian Vickers

94.9 – Tony Stewart

91.8 – Kyle Busch

91.6 – Denny Hamlin

Average Laps Led @ Similar Tracks

87 – Jimmie Johnson

19 – Mark Martin

17 – Kyle Busch

17 – Greg Biffle

16 – Carl Edwards

14 – Matt Kenseth

11 – Denny Hamlin

11 – Jeff Gordon

8 – Juan Montoya

7 – Dale Jr.

7 – Brian Vickers

Average % In Top 15 @ Similar Tracks

94.9 – Jimmie Johnson

84.3 – Jeff Gordon

81.6 – Carl Edwards

79.9 – Greg Biffle

72.7 – Tony Stewart

72.1 – Mark Martin

67.7 – Matt Kenseth

67.5 – Brian Vickers

66.5 – Denny Hamlin

66.0 – Kyle Busch

Average Running Positions @ Similar Tracks

4.4 – Jimmie Johnson

9.3 – Jeff Gordon

9.9 – Greg Biffle

10.0 – Carl Edwards

11.3 – Mark Martin

11.8 – Tony Stewart

12.3 – Brian Vickers

12.9 – Matt Kenseth

13.2 – Kyle Busch

13.4 – Kevin Harvick

13.4 – Kasey Kahne

Average Finish @ Similar Tracks

8.4 – Jimmie Johnson

8.5 – Carl Edwards

9.2 – Jeff Gordon

10.5 – Tony Stewart

10.7 – Greg Biffle

11.5 – Matt Kenseth

12.3 – Brian Vickers

13.1 – Kevin Harvick

14.1 – Kyle Busch

14.3 – Mark Martin

2010 Laps Leaders

807 – Kurt Busch

725 – Jeff Gordon

695 – Kyle Busch

690 – Jimmie Johnson

562 – Denny Hamlin

379 – Jeff Burton

294 – Kasey Kahne

219 – Juan Montoya

165 – Kevin Harvick

140 – Jamie McMurray

128 – Clint Bowyer

126 – Greg Biffle

Top Winners Of 2010

5 – Jimmie Johnson

5 – Denny Hamlin

2 – Kevin Harvick

2 – Kurt Busch

2 – Kyle Busch

Drivers To Watch

Jimmie Johnson – 8.1 average finish with 7 of 8 races ending in top 10’s. He’s had some near misses here placing 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 37th, 2nd and 8th.

Kevin Harvick – Coming off of last week’s win, he is riding on a wave of momentum coming in. He also has 2 wins and a total of 6 top 10’s out of 9 races. Last 4 here – 4th, 4th, 3rd and 19th.

Jeff Gordon – His 9.2 finishing average and 7 top 15’s out of 9 races shows he knows his way around the track. Last 4 races here – 1st, 9th, 11th and 2nd.

Tony Stewart – He has a 9.6 average finish with 7 top 5 finishes in his 9 races. Two came as wins, the other near misses were – 3rd, 2nd, 5th, 5th and 4th.

Matt Kenseth – 11.2 average finish with 7 of 9 being 14th or better. His last 3 were – 2nd, 7th and 23rd.

Clint Bowyer – Four races here – 9th, 10th, 22nd and 9th.

Mark Martin – 6 of 9 have been 14th or better. His last 5 here – 10th, 18th, 14th, 17th and 1st.

Kyle Busch – Out of 5 races – 14th, 3rd, 13th, 1st and 3rd.

Notables

Allmendinger – 2 races here and both finishes were 13th.

Juan Montoya – 3 races here and they were 15th, 18th and 10th.

Greg Biffle – Last 5 here – 11th, 11th, 11th, 4th and 31st.

Ryan Newman – Last 3 here – 8th, 10th and 6th.

Not So Hot

Brad Keselowski – 1 race – 32nd

David Gilliland – Last 2 races – 42nd and 42nd.

Paul Menard – 42nd, 26nd and 35th.

Scott Speed – Last race 36th.

I picked Dale Jr last week and he finished 4th, bringing me to a 7.12 average winner. I am thinking of letting it roll on Jimmie Johnson. Will still wanna see the practices first before my final decision.

I also like Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon as winners.

Good Luck and enjoy the race!

Chicagoland Loop Data

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