Jeff Gordon ended a 47-race winless drought with his victory at Texas two weeks ago. Now the statistics suggest it could be Kevin Harvick’s or Mark Martin’s turn to do the same.
Both drivers are solid at Phoenix International Raceway – site of Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 – and both carry a hefty winless drought with them into the desert.
(Photo by ICON Sports Media)
Harvick’s last win came in the 2007 Daytona 500 – 78 races ago. Martin has gone 97 starts without a victory (121 races). His last win came at Kansas in 2005.
But both have wins at Phoenix, and both have been strong recently at the quirky one-mile track. Below is each driver’s race log at Phoenix since the inception of Loop Data in 2005:
Kevin Harvick at Phoenix International Raceway (Last Eight Races)
Date Finish ARP FLR LT15% DR Led
4/05 19 5.9 11 97.8 92.5 0
11/05 23 10.7 10 67.9 96.5 0
4/06 1 6.3 10 99.7 119.7 10
11/06 1 1.2 72 100.0 150.0 252
4/07 10 4.8 19 100.0 110.2 54
11/07 6 12.9 5 69.6 92.7 0
4/08 19 11.2 3 62.8 85.2 0
11/08 7 10.4 4 79.2 96.6 0
Total 10.8 7.9 134 84.6 105.4 316
ARP: Average Running Position; FLR: Fastest Laps Run; LT15%: Percentage of Laps in the Top 15; DR: Driver Rating
Mark Martin at Phoenix International Raceway (Last Seven Races)
Date Finish ARP FLR LT15% DR Led
4/05 16 15.1 3 53.8 80.1 0
11/05 14 17.6 5 44.9 76.1 0
4/06 11 5.7 56 96.5 118.7 111
11/06 6 11.8 11 80.1 96.5 26
4/07 12 17.0 1 26 79.1 0
4/08 5 4.3 42 100 126.3 68
11/08 14 17.7 2 36.7 95.1 0
Total 11.1 12.7 120 62.6 96.0 205
In the second Phoenix race in 2006, Harvick registered a perfect Driver Rating of 150.0, at the time the fourth perfect Driver Rating recorded since the inception of the statistic in 2005. Since then, there have been four more perfect 150.0s, most recently by Kurt Busch in this season’s Atlanta race. Below are the eight perfect Driver Ratings since 2005:
Perfect Driver Ratings
Driver Date Track
Kurt Busch 4/23/05 Phoenix
Kurt Busch 7/24/05 Pocono
Tony Stewart 8/14/05 Watkins Glen
Kevin Harvick 11/12/06 Phoenix
Kurt Busch 8/5/07 Pocono
Clint Bowyer 9/16/07 New Hampshire
Jimmie Johnson 8/31/08 Auto Club
Kurt Busch 3/8/09 Atlanta
Jimmie Johnson has not scored a perfect Driver Rating at Phoenix, but came as close as possible. In last season’s November Phoenix race, Johnson had a Driver Rating of 149.9, one-tenth of a point from a perfect 150.0. In that race, Johnson had an Average Running Position of 1.5, which improved his overall Phoenix Average Running Position to 4.992. That is the second best at any track on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series since 2005:
Best Overall Average Running Positions
Track Driver ARP Races
Watkins Glen Tony Stewart 3.567 4
Phoenix Jimmie Johnson 4.992 8
Richmond Denny Hamlin 5.367 6
Chicagoland Kevin Harvick 5.559 4
Darlington Jimmie Johnson 5.666 4
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