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Mark Martin and Juan Montoya are currently in the top 12, but with no room for error.By the Numbers: Daytona
Race for the Chase heats up at crapshoot 2.5-mile DIS
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With nine races until the Chase, 71 points is all that separates eighth from 14th in the point standings. For the seven drivers mired in a nine-race battle for a postseason berth, every finish is crucial, every point is valuable and racing becomes more and more mental.
And that's without the drama of a restrictor-plate race, where 43 cars are within inches of each other. Where one wrong move can wipe out 15-plus cars and ruin what could have been a great day. The Race for the Chase continues at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday with the Coke Zero 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, TNT) and drivers will tell you ... Saturday night will be loaded with fireworks -- and not just for celebrating the Fourth of July.
"I expect fireworks -- and not like those you'll pop with your family," David Reutimann said. "Honestly, [the double-file restarts] are going to make things really exciting for the fans, because you immediately have two rows of lead-lap cars together drafting. Also, I have a feeling there will be numerous lead changes. Just imagine if there's a green-white-checkered -- it'll be exciting for sure."
Here's how Kyle Busch (8th), Greg Biffle (9th), Matt Kenseth (10th), Mark Martin (11th), Juan Montoya (12th), Kasey Kahne (13th) and David Reutimann (14th) rank by average finish at Daytona and how they finished this year at Daytona and Talladega.
INSIDE THE DATA
1. Mark Martin, 17.7Martin has never won at Daytona in 48 career starts. He has nine top-fives and 17 top-10s with a best finish of second in the 2007 Daytona 500. Martin was 16th in this year's 500 and finished 43rd at Talladega after getting caught up in a crash six laps in.
2. Kasey Kahne, 18.1Kahne is winless in 11 starts at Daytona. In fact, Kahne has yet to post a top-five at the track. He has four top-10s with a best finish of seventh three times, including this race last year. His four top-10s have come in his last five starts. Kahne was 29th in this year's 500 and finished 36th at Talladega.
3. Matt Kenseth, 18.4Kenseth's first Daytona victory came this year in the Daytona 500. He has three top-fives and eight top-10s at Daytona and has finished eighth or better in three of the last four races at the track. Kenseth was a respectable 17th this year at Talladega.
4. Kyle Busch, 18.4Busch comes to Daytona as the defending champion of the Coke Zero 400, his only victory at DIS in nine starts. He has four top-fives at Daytona, including two second-place finishes. His four top-fives have come in his last six starts. In this year's Daytona 500 Busch finished 41st after crashing, and finished 25th at Talladega.
5. Greg Biffle, 22.5Biffle won in just his second start at Daytona back in 2003 and has just two top-10s since. In 13 starts, he has just one DNF but nine finishes of 20th or worse. In this year's 500 he finished 20th, and at Talladega he came home seventh.
6. David Reutimann, 23.4In five starts at Daytona, Reutimann has yet to post a top-10, but came close in this year's Daytona 500, finishing a career-high 12th at the track. Reutimann has finished on the lead lap in his last four starts at Daytona. At Talladega this season, he finished 26th.
7. Juan Montoya, 27.0Like Reutimann, Montoya has yet to finish in the top 10 at Daytona in five career starts and had his best finish at the track in this year's Daytona 500 with a 14th-place finish. At Talladega this year, Montoya started from the pole and finished 20th.
CELEBRATING 200
This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of Richard Petty's historic 200th Cup Series victory. Here are some numbers celebrating the occasion.
1Petty finished in the top five at Daytona just one more time in his career after his 200th win -- a third in the 1987 Daytona 500. Petty attempted 16 more races at Daytona after his milestone victory.
1The 1984 Firecracker 400 was the first time a sitting President of the United States attended a Cup race. Ronald Reagan gave the command to start the engines from Air Force One en route to the race.
5The win snapped a streak of five consecutive DNFs at Daytona for Petty.
10The win was Petty's seventh in the Daytona 500 and 10th overall, a track-high that has yet to be matched. Jeff Gordon is the leader among active drivers with six career wins at the track.
53Petty led 53 laps in the race, but it wasn't the most. Third-place finisher Cale Yarborough led a race-high 79 laps.
NECESSITOUS NUMBERS
0Number of drivers with an average finish inside the top 10 at Daytona entered in this week's race. Clint Bowyer has the best average finish among active drivers at 11.1.
1.6Average finish of Kyle Busch in the last three summer races at Daytona. Busch has finished second twice and won last year's event.
5Elliott Sadler has five top-six finishes in his last seven races. His two outside the top six were bad though, a 33rd and a 39th in the last two fall races at the track.
7There have been seven different race winners in the last seven races at Daytona.
11There have been 11 different race winners so far in 2009. Last year, there were a total of 12 all season.
13Kevin Harvick has finished outside the top 10 in 13 consecutive races. That streak could come to an end in Daytona. He won the Shootout earlier this season and finished second in the 2009 Daytona 500.
26It's been 26 years since a driver has won both races at Daytona. Bobby Allison was the last to do so back in 1982. Matt Kenseth hopes to match that feat this weekend. In all, four drivers have pulled off the feat (Fireball Roberts, Cale Yarborough, Lee Roy Yarbrough and Bobby Allison).
27.0Average finish for Jimmie Johnson in his last six races at Daytona. After winning in 2006, Johnson has one top-10 and five finishes of 23rd or worse.
39The starting position of Matt Kenseth in this year's Daytona 500. That is the furthest anyone has started a race at Daytona and gone on to win.
40Number of different drivers who have led a least one lap in 2009.
Also
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Daytona International Speedway
Drivers with multiple wins at track
| Driver | Starts | Wins | Top-fives | Top-10s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Petty | 74 | 10 | 28 | 37 |
| Cale Yarborough | 57 | 9 | 20 | 27 |
| David Pearson | 54 | 8 | 22 | 34 |
| Fireball Roberts | 17 | 7 | 8 | 10 |
| Jeff Gordon | 33 | 6 | 11 | 17 |
| Bobby Allison | 55 | 6 | 17 | 22 |
| Dale Jarrett | 42 | 4 | 9 | 17 |
| Junior Johnson | 20 | 4 | 7 | 9 |
| Bill Elliott | 57 | 4 | 15 | 24 |
| Bobby Isaac | 27 | 3 | 8 | 14 |
| Dale Earnhardt | 46 | 3 | 22 | 34 |
| Michael Waltrip | 45 | 3 | 6 | 13 |
| Sterling Marlin | 52 | 3 | 12 | 21 |
| A.J. Foyt | 54 | 3 | 15 | 17 |
| LeeRoy Yarbrough | 24 | 3 | 8 | 13 |
| Jack Smith | 15 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| Fred Lorenzen | 24 | 2 | 16 | 18 |
| Buddy Baker | 64 | 2 | 22 | 31 |
| Tony Stewart | 21 | 2 | 6 | 11 |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 19 | 2 | 6 | 11 |
| Davey Allison | 14 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Joe Weatherly | 15 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
| Pete Hamilton | 10 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Ernie Irvan | 21 | 2 | 6 | 11 |
• Bold: Active drivers
Sprint Cup Series
Driver Standings
| Pos. | +/- | Driver | Points | Behind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | -- | Tony Stewart | 2,524 | -- |
| 2. | -- | Jeff Gordon | 2,455 | -69 |
| 3. | -- | Jimmie Johnson | 2,355 | -169 |
| 4. | -- | Kurt Busch | 2,254 | -270 |
| 5. | -- | Carl Edwards | 2,157 | -367 |
| 6. | +1 | Denny Hamlin | 2,132 | -392 |
| 7. | -1 | Ryan Newman | 2,127 | -397 |
| 8. | +1 | Kyle Busch | 2,108 | -416 |
| 9. | -1 | Greg Biffle | 2,106 | -418 |
| 10. | -- | Matt Kenseth | 2,054 | -470 |
| 11. | -- | Mark Martin | 2,052 | -472 |
| 12. | -- | Juan Montoya | 2,049 | -475 |
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