GFT Facts & Stats Friday: NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark 400 at Texas Motor Speedway
12 April 2024
By Bob Francis, Managing Editor
Go Full Throttle Racing News
FORT WORTH, TX — Another triple-header weekend as all three NASCAR national touring series are competing this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. In the Cup Series, Texas also means 7-time NASCAR Cup Champion and 7-time Texas Motor Speedway winner Jimmie Johnson will be racing in the №84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota for the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 (Sunday, April 14 at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Seven-time Is Back: Johnson to make second start of the season
Legacy Motor Club will be a little extra busy this week, as they will be fielding a third car for owner/driver and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. The NASCAR Hall of Famers second start of the 2024 season. Legacy Motor Club’s Jimmie Johnson leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Texas Motor Speedway with seven victories (2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 sweep and 2017) in 35 starts.
Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch has the second-most wins among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers at Texas Motor Speedway with four victories (2013, 2016, 2018, 2020) in 33 starts.
Last season’s NASCAR Cup Series Texas Motor Speedway winner, William Byron, returns to Texas to defend his win. If Byron were to win this weekend, he would become the fourth different driver to win consecutive points-paying races at Texas Motor Speedway; joining Jimmie Johnson (2014 Playoff race and 2015 sweep), Carl Edwards (2008 sweep) and Denny Hamlin (2010 sweep).
William Byron grabs third win and a wave of early season momentum
The early season championship favorite spotlight has focused intently on Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron after grabbing his third victory of the season last weekend at Martinsville Speedway. Byron led a 1–2–3 Hendrick Motorsports finish at Martinsville on Sunday, with Kyle Larson finishing second and Chase Elliott in third. It was the first time a podium sweep by an organization has occurred at Martinsville. Now the 26-year old heads to Texas Motor Speedway riding a massive wave of momentum for the AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400.
Byron now leads the series in Playoff points with 15. He has also collected a pole, three top fives and five top 10s this season to accompany his three wins.
Expect the early season momentum of success not to subside this weekend at Texas, Byron is the most recent winner at the 1.5-mile track taking home the trophy last September. In nine career Cup starts at Texas Motor Speedway he has put up one win (2023), two top fives and five top 10s. His average finish at the track is 12.1 — fifth best among active drivers this weekend.
Season Race #: 9 of 36 — AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway
The Purse: $9,397,736
Track Size: 1.5-mile
Banking/Turn 1 & 2: 20 degrees
Banking/Turn 3 & 4: 24 degrees
Banking/Frontstretch: 5 degrees
Banking/Backstretch: 5 degrees
Frontstretch Length: 2,250 feet
Backstretch Length: 1,330 feet
Race Length: 267 laps / 400.5 miles
Stage 1 Length: 80 laps (ends on Lap 80)
Stage 2 Length: 85 laps (ends on Lap 165)
Final Stage Length: 102 laps (ends on Lap 267
QUALIFYING RECORD
Track Qualifying Record:
Kurt Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, 200.915 mph, 26.877 secs., November 3, 2017
RACE RECORD
Track Race Record:
Greg Biffle, RFK Racing Ford, 160.577 mph, (3:07:12), November 14, 2012
TEXAS-SPECIFIC LOOP DATA STATISTICS
(Driver stats in the below section are from 2005-Present)
Christopher Bell (№20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
· Three top fives, three top 10s
· Average Finish of 13.000, sixth-best
· Average Running Position of 18.249, 13th-best
· Driver Rating of 75.3, 13th-best
· 701 Laps in the Top 15 (43.7%), 13th-most
Ryan Blaney (№12 Team Penske Ford)
· Four top fives, eight top 10s; one pole
· Average Finish of 16.333, 12th-best
· Average Running Position of 13.829, ninth-best
· Driver Rating of 94.0, fourth-best
· 3,380 Laps in the Top 15 (68.9%), sixth-most
Kyle Busch (№8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet)
· Four wins, 14 top fives, 18 top 10s; one pole
· Average Finish of 12.333, fifth-best
· Average Running Position of 11.853, third-best
· Driver Rating of 99.9, second-best
· 7,707 Laps in the Top 15 (70.4%), fourth-most
William Byron (№24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
· One win, two top fives, five top 10s
· Average Finish of 12.111, fourth-best
· Average Running Position of 11.341, series-best
· Driver Rating of 93.1, fifth-best
· 2,199 Laps in the Top 15 (74.7%), series-most
Chase Elliott (№9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
· Two top fives, six top 10s
· Average Finish of 13.077, seventh-best
· Average Running Position of 12.844, seventh-best
· Driver Rating of 90.4, ninth-best
· 3,114 Laps in the Top 15 (73.5%), second-most
Denny Hamlin (№11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
· Three wins, eight top fives, 16 top 10s
· Average Finish of 13.333, eighth-best
· Average Running Position of 13.848, 10th-best
· Driver Rating of 89.7, 10th-best
· 7,131 Laps in the Top 15 (65.2%), ninth-most
Jimmie Johnson (№84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota)
· Seven wins, 16 top fives, 22 top 10s; two poles
· Average Finish of 11.938, third-best
· Average Running Position of 12.297, fifth-best
· Driver Rating of 100.4, series-best
· 7,512 Laps in the Top 15 (70.4%), fifth-most
Erik Jones (№43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota)
· Three top fives, seven top 10s
· Average Finish of 11.750, second-best
· Average Running Position of 11.482, second-best
· Driver Rating of 91.0, seventh-best
· 2,846 Laps in the Top 15 (72.2%), third-most
Brad Keselowski (№6 RFK Racing Ford)
· Six top fives, 13 top 10s; two poles
· Average Finish of 15.750, 11th-best
· Average Running Position of 15.438, 12th-best
· Driver Rating of 87.4, 12th-best
· 5,291 Laps in the Top 15 (57.1%), 12th-most
Kyle Larson (№5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet)
· One win, four top fives, six top 10s
· Average Finish of 18.625, 13th-best
· Average Running Position of 13.490, eighth-best
· Driver Rating of 90.9, eighth-best
· 3,425 Laps in the Top 15 (65.2%), 10th-most
Joey Logano (№22 Team Penske Ford)
· One win, 12 top fives, 15 top 10s
· Average Finish of 13.857, ninth-best
· Average Running Position of 14.419, 11th-best
· Driver Rating of 89.3, 11th-best
· 5,615 Laps in the Top 15 (60.6%), 11th-most
Tyler Reddick (№45 23XI Racing Toyota)
· One win, two top fives, three top 10s
· Average Finish of 10.400, series-best
· Average Running Position of 12.136, fourth-best
· Driver Rating of 94.7, third-best
· 1,081 Laps in the Top 15 (67.4%), eighth-most
Martin Truex Jr (№19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota)
· Five top fives, 17 top 10s; two poles
· Average Finish of 14.588, 10th-best
· Average Running Position of 12.346, sixth-best
· Driver Rating of 92.7, sixth-best
· 7,762 Laps in the Top 15 (68.8%), seventh-most
Additional Historical Data — Active Drivers at Texas Motor Speedway
Pole Position
Seven of the 26 NASCAR Cup Series Texas Motor Speedway pole winners are active this weekend.
Team Wins at Texas Motor Speedway
In total 12 different organizations have won a NASCAR Cup Series pole at Texas Motor Speedway.
WINS
· A total of 23 different NASCAR Cup Series drivers have won at Texas Motor Speedway, and nine of the 23 have won multiple times at the 1.5-mile track.
· Eight of the 23 NASCAR Cup Series Texas Motor Speedway race winners are active this weekend.
Hendrick Motorsports leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Texas Motor Speedway with 11 victories among five drivers: Terry Labonte (Spring 1999), Jeff Gordon (Spring 2009), Jimmie Johnson (Playoffs 2007, Playoffs 2012, Playoffs 2013, Playoffs 2014, Spring 2015, Playoffs 2015, Spring 2017), Kyle Larson (2021) and William Byron (2023).
GFT NASCAR AI DRIVER RANKINGS — after Martinsville
GFT NASCAR FANTASY LIVE RECAP
The GFT NASCAR AI Race Predictor algorithms scored another new season high 223 points last week playing NASCAR Fantasy Live in the TMDNASCAR league for the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway. And as Fantasy sports and betting goes, the season high points did not equate to a higher rank. Our GFT AI BOT player “AI 1” fell 7 spots to 348, but that still in the top 7.6% of the total 4,574 players.
GFT NASCAR FANTASY LIVE **INITIAL** PICKS FOR TEXAS
**Be sure to follow us on X (aka Twitter) to see the updated GFT NASCAR Fantasy Live picks AFTER we ingest the Practice and Qualifying data. For a Sunday race, this usually happens overnight Saturday and is published Sunday morning at least 2 hours before the green flag.
