By the Numbers: Michigan

Stewart looking to stop slump in his prime time of season

By Josh Pate, NASCAR.COM
June 12, 2008
11:01 AM EDT

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Seven races ago, Tony Stewart was fifth in the Cup Series standings. He was coming off a runner-up at Atlanta, his most dominant performance of the season at Bristol (267 laps led, 14th-place finish) and consecutive top-10s at Martinsville and Texas.

Since then, it's been downhill.

TNT Summer Series

Date	Race	Time

June 8	Pocono	12:30 p.m. ET
June 15	Michigan	12:30 p.m. ET
June 22	Infineon	3:30 p.m. ET
June 29	N. Hampshire	12:30 p.m. ET
July 5	Daytona	6:30 p.m. ET
July 12	Chicagoland	6:30 p.m. ET

TNT Summer Series

In the last seven races, Stewart has notched just two finishes of 15th or better -- a 14th-place showing at Phoenix and a fourth-place finish at Richmond -- and has finished on the lead lap just once.

Two of the races ended in DNFs (Talladega and Dover). Two more were misjudgments by others (Elliott Sadler collected him at Darlington) or by himself (pit-road speeding penalty at Pocono). At Charlotte, he was cruising to victory by more than five seconds before cutting a tire and hitting the wall.

The results have left him clinging to the 12th and final spot for the Chase with 12 races remaining before the cutoff. Can Michigan heal the wounds?

Stewart went to Victory Lane there in June 2000, leading just 13 laps and beating Dale Earnhardt in the race that was shortened by six laps due to rain and darkness. Of course, that was pre-Chase, and even pre-Chevrolet and pre-Toyota (Joe Gibbs Racing ran Pontiacs).

But in the last 11 races at Michigan, Stewart has nine top-10 finishes. He was 10th there last August, and before that he scored consecutive third-place finishes. Any of that would be a Band-Aid considering his recent run of luck.

657Points scored by Tony Stewart in the last seven races, dropping him from fifth to 12 in the standings. Teammate and points leader Kyle Busch has scored 1,083 points during that span.

Tony Stewart

Last seven races

Race	Start	Finish	Laps/Total	Status	Led	Points	Rank

Phoenix	12	14	311/312	Running	0	121	5
Talladega	2	38	173/188	Crash	61	59	9
Richmond	15	4	410/410	Running	0	160	8
Darlington	4	21	366/367	Running	0	100	8
Charlotte	31	18	399/400	Running	23	114	8
Dover	22	41	199/400	Crash	0	40	11
Pocono	12	35	199/200	Running	14	63	12

Back in Time

June 16, 1974The Motor State 360 at Michigan runs its scheduled 360 miles as opposed to the traditional 400 miles. NASCAR shortened a handful of races on the schedule by 10 percent due to an energy crisis, and Michigan was among them. Cup champion Richard Petty won the race, while Canadian driver and ultimately rookie of the year Earl Ross finished second. Country singer Marty Robbins recorded his best career finish of fifth.

10 Key Facts

2Finishing position for Martin Truex Jr. in both Michigan races last year. Truex scored more points (345) at the track than last year's winners Carl Edwards (341) and Kurt Busch (288).

2Drivers who are from Michigan and have won in the Cup Series: Paul Goldsmith (9) and Johnny Benson (1).

6Victories for Roush Fenway Racing in the last 12 Michigan events: Matt Kenseth (June 2002), Kurt Busch (June 2003), Greg Biffle (both 2004), Kenseth (August 2006) and Carl Edwards (June 2007).

11Former Michigan winners who are on this week's entry list, eight of which have won more than one race at the track.

13Consecutive Michigan races won by Dodge (6) or Ford (6). Chevrolet's last victory there was in June 2001 with Jeff Gordon.

26.3Average finish for Clint Bowyer in his four starts at Michigan, with a best performance of 16th (June 2007). He ranks last among the top 12 drivers in points. Leader Kyle Busch is next-to-last with a 20.7 average finish.

52Consecutive races that Carl Edwards went between victories before he won the Michigan race last June. In the 35 races since then, he has five victories.

61Michigan races that have been won from a top-10 starting position, or 79.2 percent. Five of the last seven winners started 11th or worse.

154Laps led by Jimmie Johnson at Michigan, the most by a driver who has not won at the track. Johnson's best finish there was third in August 2007.

2005Last time a driver won the February race at California and the June race at Michigan (Greg Biffle), both 2-mile, D-shaped ovals that carry high speeds.

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Michigan International Speedway

Active drivers, based on victories

Driver	Starts	Wins	Top-5	Top-10

Bill Elliott	56	7	17	29
Mark Martin	44	4	16	27
Bobby Labonte	31	3	9	16
Greg Biffle	10	2	4	6
Ryan Newman	13	2	4	4
Matt Kenseth	17	2	7	11
Kurt Busch	14	2	2	6
Jeff Gordon	30	2	15	20
Tony Stewart	18	1	8	12
Kasey Kahne	8	1	4	4
Carl Edwards	7	1	4	6

Active drivers, based on average finish

Driver	Starts	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish

Carl Edwards	7	19.1	7.3
Matt Kenseth	17	21.3	9.7
Denny Hamlin	4	11.2	10.0
Jeff Gordon	30	8.7	10.5
Martin Truex Jr.	4	12.8	12.5

Sprint Cup Series

Official Standings

Pos.	+/-	Driver	Points	Behind

1.	--	Kyle Busch	2084	Leader
2.	--	Jeff Burton	2063	-21
3.	--	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	1939	-145
4.	--	Carl Edwards	1856	-228
5.	+4	Denny Hamlin	1800	-284
6.	+1	Jimmie Johnson	1799	-285
7.	-2	Greg Biffle	1781	-303
8.	-2	Jeff Gordon	1767	-317
9.	+3	Kasey Kahne	1719	-365
10.	--	Kevin Harvick	1690	-394
11.	-3	Clint Bowyer	1679	-405
12.	-1	Tony Stewart	1614	-470