Chastain jumps to Cup standings lead for the first-time in his career

If you thought Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain’s success last season was a fluke – think again. The Florida native is full throttle this season and following a dominate performance at Auto Club Speedway he now leads the NASCAR Cup Series point standings by one-point over Team Penske’s Joey Logano in second – this is the first time Chastain has held the series’ point standings lead in his career.

 

The 30-year-old, Chastain, is one of four drivers this season to finish in the top-10 in the first two races of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, along with Joey Logano, Alex Bowman and his Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suárez.

 

Chastain will look to hold on to the top spot this weekend at Las Vegas, where he has made nine career Cup Series starts posting two top-five finishes; including a runner-up finish back in October.

 

Busch grabs first win with RCR, becomes second driver to lock into the Playoffs

Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch didn’t take much time finding Victory Lane with his new team. The Las Vegas native scored his 61st career win last weekend at Auto Club Speedway – in just his second start with RCR. With the win, Busch is now the second driver to lock themselves into the Playoffs this season, joining JTG Daugherty Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who won the season-opening DAYTONA 500.

 

The Fontana victory also etched Busch’s name on another page of the series’ record books, bringing his consecutive seasons with a win total to 19 NASCAR Cup Series seasons (2005-2023), the most all-time, breaking the tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty (18 seasons, 1960-1977).

 

This weekend, Busch returns to his home track looking to keep the early season momentum going. Busch has made 23 series starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway putting up two poles, one win, 11 top fives and 14 top 10s. His average finish at the 1.5-mile track is 10.8 – third-best among active drivers.

 

Next Gen is off to another hot start statistically

The sophomore season of the NASCAR Next Gen car is off to a hot start.

 

This season the NASCAR Cup Series has produced an average of 17 different lap leaders through the first two races of the year; which is tied with the 2011 and 2010 seasons for the NASCAR Cup Series most in the Modern Era (1972-2023).

 

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season has produced and average of 40 lead changes through the first two races of the season – second-most in the Modern Era (1972-2023) behind the 2011 season with an average of 52 lead changes through the first two races. In total, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season has produced 80 lead changes in the first two events – Daytona (52) and Fontana (28).

 

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season has produced 239 Green Flag Passes for the Lead in the first two points-paying races of the year (Daytona 204 GFPL and Fontana 35 GFPL) - the series-most through the first two races since the Loop Data statistic was initially tabulated in 2007 (last 17 seasons). In a year-over-year comparison, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season with 239 Green Flag Passes for the Lead, has produced an increase of 74.5% over the 2022 season’s first two races with 137 Green Flag Passes for the Lead.

 

The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season has produced 15,050 Total Green Flag Passes in the first two points-paying races of the year (Daytona 11,538 GFP and Fontana 3,512 GFP) - the fourth-most through the first two races since the Loop Data statistic was initially tabulated in 2007 (last 17 seasons); behind 2015 (16,186), 2014 (15,903) and 2016 (15,305). In a year-over-year comparison, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season with 15,050 Total Green Flag Passes, has produced an increase of 64.3% over the 2022 season’s first two races with 9,158 Total Green Flag Passes.