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Will someone join David Gilliland, Stephen Leicht and Joey Logano by making history at Kentucky?Kentucky riding streak of three first-time winners
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Kentucky Speedway has hosted eight Nationwide Series races since 2001 and there has been a different winner every single year. The past three years have produced first-time series winners: David Gilliland (2006), Stephen Leicht (2007) and Joey Logano (2008), who was making just his third career start.
Two drivers who won the first time they raced at Kentucky in the series have encountered some misfortune since.
22.5Average place of finish for Carl Edwards in four starts since his win in 2005. Edwards led a race-high 96 laps in '07 before a late wreck took him out of contention.
85Race-high laps led by Kyle Busch in last year's race. Busch crashed out late. Busch, who won at Kentucky in 2004 leading only three laps, led a race-high 61 laps in his only other start there in '06 but finished 13th.
Runner-up to Logano last year was Scott Wimmer, who could lay claim to being the best driver at Kentucky without a victory.
4Top-fives for Scott Wimmer, most of any driver. After finishing fifth in both 2002 and '03, Wimmer didn't race at Kentucky again until 2007 when he finished third. Wimmer is the only driver with top-five finishes in the past two races and is just one of three drivers entered in this year's race with more than one top-five there: Tony Raines and Jason Keller each have two. The four top-10s in five starts overall are tied for second-most in track history -- Greg Biffle has five -- but tops among drivers entered this week.
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2Top-10s for Casey Atwood in three starts. Atwood hasn't raced at Kentucky since finishing ninth in 2005, but is entered in the race this week. Atwood is just one of five drivers entered with more than one top-10 at Kentucky: Scott Wimmer (4), Mike Bliss (3), Jason Keller (3) and Stephen Leicht (2).
11Starting position of Kevin Harvick when he won the inaugural race at Kentucky. No winner has started worse than sixth since. Four races have been won from the front row including two from the pole: Carl Edwards (2005) and Joey Logano (2008).
12.8Average starting position and average finish in four starts for Mike Bliss. He's made two starts since 2004, finishing ninth and eighth the past two years, respectively, one of only three drivers with top-10 finishes in both races.
19Place of finish for Regan Smith in 2007, the worst by a pole winner. The other seven pole winners have each posted a top-10 and have an average finish of 4.0.
23.3Average place of finish for Jason Leffler in three starts at Kentucky in the No. 38 Toyota. Leffler currently is riding an eight-race, top-10 streak. He did finish seventh at Kentucky in 2004.
THE WOW FACTOR
1,990.5 Laps completed at Kentucky by Jason Keller, which ranks just 24th in the series on his all-time list of tracks. But if Keller can complete 235.5 of the scheduled 300 miles this week, or 157 of 200 laps, he will have logged 100,000 miles in the series. Keller, who finished 10th last year, has just once failed to complete at least 157 laps in seven starts at Kentucky.
THE SUPER LOOPER
2.1Average Running Position for Joey Logano in his victory at Kentucky last year. Logano started on the pole and led 76 laps. He spent all but one of the 200 Laps in the Top 15.
Driver Rating (since 2005, four races)
| Pos. | Driver* | Starts | Rating | Pct. Laps / Top 15 | Avg. Run Pos. | Avg. Fin. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Joey Logano | 1 | 139.2 | 99.5 | 2.1 | 1.0 |
| 2. | Kyle Busch | 2 | 124.6 | 84.3 | 7.2 | 21.5 |
| 3. | Brad Keselowski | 1 | 107.6 | 100.0 | 6.9 | 4.0 |
| 4. | Scott Wimmer | 2 | 107.4 | 80.5 | 8.2 | 2.5 |
| 5. | Stephen Leicht | 2 | 104.3 | 73.8 | 10.3 | 5.5 |
| 6. | Carl Edwards | 4 | 93.5 | 44.8 | 18.0 | 22.5 |
| 7. | Casey Atwood | 1 | 93.1 | 85.0 | 11.2 | 9.0 |
| 8. | Mike Bliss | 3 | 91.2 | 87.3 | 12.5 | 8.5 |
| 9. | Steve Wallace | 3 | 86.7 | 58.8 | 12.2 | 16.7 |
| 10. | Jason Keller | 3 | 82.5 | 44.7 | 18.2 | 20.3 |
• Loop Data Statistics: Season-to-Date Box Score | * Entered in this race only
BLAST FROM THE PAST
31Place of finish in the first race at Kentucky for Jeff Green, to date his only start there. Green, a native of Owensboro, Ky., started second and led 69 laps before getting involved in a two-car crash with Jimmie Johnson. Brother Mark finished 16th in that race, his best in four starts at the track. He finished 22nd there last year. Both are entered in this year's race.
Series winners at Kentucky
| Year | Driver | Make | Year | Driver | Make | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 2005 | Carl Edwards | Ford | |
| 2002 | Todd Bodine | Chevrolet | 2006 | David Gilliland | Chevrolet | |
| 2003 | Bobby Hamilton Jr. | Ford | 2007 | Stephen Leicht | Ford | |
| 2004 | Kyle Busch | Chevrolet | 2008 | Joey Logano | Toyota |
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Nationwide Series
Standings
| Pos. | +/- | Driver | Points | Behind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | -- | Kyle Busch | 2,031 | -- |
| 2. | -- | Carl Edwards | 1,966 | -65 |
| 3. | -- | Jason Leffler | 1,843 | -188 |
| 4. | +1 | Brad Keselowski | 1,838 | -193 |
| 5. | -1 | Joey Logano | 1,670 | -361 |
| 6. | +3 | Mike Bliss | 1,520 | -511 |
| 7. | -1 | Jason Keller | 1,519 | -512 |
| 8. | +2 | Justin Allgaier | 1,468 | -563 |
| 9. | +2 | Michael McDowell | 1,465 | -566 |
| 10. | -3 | Brendan Gaughan | 1,455 | -576 |
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