Front Runners

Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway

Front Runners highlights the drivers that lead laps, run fast laps, and run inside the top 10, 5, & 3 the most at correlated track types.

There is no need to get fancy with Charlotte. The track is a 1.5-mile high speed quad-oval. Its best comparable tracks are Las Vegas, Kansas, and Texas. Certainly some other tracks show correlation but those are the big ones. So those are the ones I’m focusing on this week. Although Charlotte historically has significantly less tire wear than Las Vegas or Kansas, Goodyear will be bringing the same tire as it did at Kansas two weeks ago.

Below are a number of charts that cover driver performance at the 1.5-mile tri/quad-ovals over the past year. We have three data sets to look at, first, the last six races on 1.5-mile tri/quad-ovals. Next we have just data from the 2023 season and finally data from all eight points paying races on 1.5-mile tri-ovals in the Gen 7 car. The charts below are sorted by percentage of laps led by default. There are also a few more columns that you can choose to display, including number of finishes inside the Top 10, 5, 3, and wins as well as total laps completed but for ease of display those columns are hidden by default.

Laps run inside the Top 10, 5, 3, and led as percentage laps driver completed at Charlotte (2022), Texas (2022), Las Vegas (2022-2 and 2023-1), and Kansas (2022-2 and 2023-1)

wdt_ID	Driver	Races	T10 Fin	T10 Laps	T10%	T5 Fin	T5 Laps	T5%	T3 Fin	T3 Laps	T3%	Wins	Led	LL%	Fast Laps	FL%	Laps Run	% Laps Run
1	Ross Chastain	6	3	1,288	70.81	2	879	48.32	1	638	35.07	0	229	12.59	108	7.76	1,819	100.00
2	Austin Cindric	6	1	405	26.37	0	123	8.01	0	42	2.73	0	9	0.59	20	1.44	1,536	84.44
3	Austin Dillon	6	2	367	20.29	0	65	3.59	0	25	1.38	0	3	0.17	3	0.22	1,809	99.45
4	Kevin Harvick	6	2	461	28.53	1	76	4.70	1	13	0.80	0	9	0.56	5	0.36	1,616	88.84
5	Kyle Larson	6	5	1,167	70.90	2	823	50.00	2	701	42.59	0	333	20.23	123	8.84	1,646	90.49
6	Brad Keselowski	6	1	366	22.89	0	88	5.50	0	57	3.56	0	37	2.31	29	2.08	1,599	87.91
7	Corey LaJoie	6	0	34	2.32	0	16	1.09	0	13	0.89	0	8	0.55	4	0.29	1,465	80.54
8	Kyle Busch	6	2	557	39.01	2	172	12.04	2	66	4.62	0	36	2.52	36	2.59	1,428	78.50
9	Chase Elliott	5	1	567	48.46	0	304	25.98	0	248	21.20	0	146	12.48	53	3.81	1,170	64.32
10	Aric Almirola	6	0	201	11.06	0	40	2.20	0	29	1.60	0	0	0.00	17	1.22	1,817	99.89
11	Denny Hamlin	6	5	1,348	74.11	4	826	45.41	3	411	22.59	2	67	3.68	83	5.96	1,819	100.00
12	Ryan Blaney	6	2	982	61.61	1	482	30.24	0	304	19.07	0	72	4.52	61	4.38	1,594	87.63
13	Chase Briscoe	6	3	429	23.71	3	317	17.52	0	173	9.56	0	9	0.50	23	1.65	1,809	99.45
14	JJ Yeley	4	0	18	1.72	0	11	1.05	0	2	0.19	0	0	0.00	1	0.07	1,047	57.56
15	AJ Allmendinger	3	1	42	5.22	0	13	1.61	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	4	0.29	805	44.26
16	Chris Buescher	6	0	219	13.00	0	38	2.26	0	15	0.89	0	0	0.00	22	1.58	1,685	92.63
17	Martin Truex Jr	6	4	1,108	63.24	1	554	31.62	0	319	18.21	0	126	7.19	93	6.68	1,752	96.32
18	Christopher Bell	6	3	851	63.60	3	405	30.27	1	166	12.41	0	40	2.99	58	4.17	1,338	73.56
19	Harrison Burton	6	0	100	5.52	0	55	3.04	0	38	2.10	0	16	0.88	8	0.57	1,810	99.51
20	Joey Logano	6	3	906	52.58	2	517	30.01	2	340	19.73	1	72	4.18	55	3.95	1,723	94.72
21	Bubba Wallace	6	3	825	57.57	3	300	20.94	1	144	10.05	1	39	2.72	68	4.89	1,433	78.78
22	William Byron	6	4	1,132	70.88	2	702	43.96	2	543	34.00	1	254	15.90	110	7.90	1,597	87.80
23	Justin Haley	6	2	159	9.10	1	64	3.66	1	51	2.92	0	16	0.92	24	1.72	1,747	96.04
24	Michael McDowell	6	1	408	22.45	0	175	9.63	0	55	3.03	0	11	0.61	16	1.15	1,817	99.89
25	Zane Smith	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
26	Ryan Preece	3	0	19	3.44	0	9	1.63	0	3	0.54	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	552	30.35
27	Noah Gragson	6	0	138	7.73	0	20	1.12	0	8	0.45	0	0	0.00	11	0.79	1,785	98.13
28	Erik Jones	6	2	426	23.51	0	138	7.62	0	60	3.31	0	3	0.17	16	1.15	1,812	99.62
29	Tyler Reddick	6	4	1,083	59.67	1	608	33.50	1	364	20.06	1	169	9.31	105	7.54	1,815	99.78
30	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	6	1	212	11.67	0	82	4.51	0	48	2.64	0	24	1.32	25	1.80	1,817	99.89
31	Josh Berry	2	0	51	9.53	0	1	0.19	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	535	29.41
32	Todd Gilliland	6	0	255	14.06	0	129	7.11	0	76	4.19	0	2	0.11	4	0.29	1,814	99.73
33	Ty Gibbs	5	0	163	12.40	0	85	6.47	0	19	1.45	0	0	0.00	12	0.86	1,314	72.24
34	Ty Dillon	6	0	43	2.41	0	2	0.11	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	2	0.14	1,782	97.97
35	BJ McLeod	5	0	7	0.54	0	4	0.31	0	1	0.08	0	1	0.08	1	0.07	1,294	71.14
36	Jimmie Johnson	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
37	Daniel Suarez	6	2	797	45.78	0	419	24.07	0	213	12.23	0	68	3.91	102	7.33	1,741	95.71
	Driver	Races	T10 Fin	T10 Laps	T10%	T5 Fin	T5 Laps	T5%	T3 Fin	T3 Laps	T3%	Wins	Led	LL%	Fast Laps	FL%	Laps Run	% Laps Run

Laps run inside the Top 10, 5, 3, and led as percentage laps driver completed at 1.5-mile tri-ovals in 2023 (Las Vegas 1 and Kansas 1)

wdt_ID	Driver	Races	T10 Fin	T10 Laps	T10%	T5 Fin	T5 Laps	T5%	T3 Fin	T3 Laps	T3%	Wins	Led	LL%	Fast Laps	FL%	Laps Run	% Laps Run
1	Kyle Larson	2	2	470	87.36	2	412	76.58	2	392	72.86	0	148	27.51	70	15.98	538	100.00
2	Denny Hamlin	2	1	516	95.91	1	371	68.96	1	268	49.81	1	44	8.18	55	12.56	538	100.00
3	William Byron	2	2	388	72.12	2	353	65.61	2	314	58.36	1	186	34.57	76	17.35	538	100.00
4	Martin Truex Jr	2	2	500	92.94	0	316	58.74	0	164	30.48	0	82	15.24	36	8.22	538	100.00
5	Ross Chastain	2	1	475	88.29	1	280	52.04	0	120	22.30	0	4	0.74	11	2.51	538	100.00
6	Christopher Bell	2	1	315	58.55	1	155	28.81	0	29	5.39	0	3	0.56	14	3.20	428	79.55
7	Bubba Wallace	2	2	483	89.78	2	148	27.51	0	56	10.41	0	9	1.67	24	5.48	538	100.00
8	Tyler Reddick	2	1	214	39.78	0	101	18.77	0	57	10.59	0	25	4.65	16	3.65	538	100.00
9	Ty Gibbs	2	0	151	28.07	0	78	14.50	0	19	3.53	0	0	0.00	12	2.74	446	82.90
10	Daniel Suarez	2	1	167	31.04	0	46	8.55	0	1	0.19	0	0	0.00	7	1.60	538	100.00
11	Joey Logano	2	1	145	26.95	0	46	8.55	0	27	5.02	0	17	3.16	4	0.91	450	83.64
12	Chase Elliott	1	1	127	23.61	0	39	7.25	0	19	3.53	0	5	0.93	11	2.51	267	49.63
13	Ryan Blaney	2	0	248	46.10	0	31	5.76	0	10	1.86	0	0	0.00	7	1.60	538	100.00
14	Brad Keselowski	2	0	199	36.99	0	26	4.83	0	16	2.97	0	5	0.93	6	1.37	538	100.00
15	Austin Dillon	2	1	88	16.36	0	17	3.16	0	9	1.67	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	536	99.63
16	Michael McDowell	2	0	42	7.81	0	16	2.97	0	15	2.79	0	1	0.19	12	2.74	536	99.63
17	Corey LaJoie	2	0	25	4.65	0	12	2.23	0	9	1.67	0	7	1.30	1	0.23	537	99.81
18	Erik Jones	2	0	22	4.09	0	11	2.04	0	2	0.37	0	0	0.00	2	0.46	537	99.81
19	Noah Gragson	2	0	19	3.53	0	11	2.04	0	6	1.12	0	0	0.00	6	1.37	531	98.70
20	JJ Yeley	2	0	18	3.35	0	11	2.04	0	2	0.37	0	0	0.00	1	0.23	531	98.70
21	Ryan Preece	2	0	19	3.53	0	9	1.67	0	3	0.56	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	536	99.63
22	Kyle Busch	2	0	215	39.96	0	7	1.30	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	3	0.68	433	80.48
23	AJ Allmendinger	2	0	13	2.42	0	7	1.30	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	1	0.23	538	100.00
24	Todd Gilliland	2	0	10	1.86	0	5	0.93	0	1	0.19	0	0	0.00	2	0.46	534	99.26
25	Chris Buescher	2	0	11	2.04	0	3	0.56	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	9	2.05	537	99.81
26	Austin Cindric	2	1	5	0.93	0	2	0.37	0	1	0.19	0	0	0.00	3	0.68	531	98.70
27	BJ McLeod	1	0	3	0.56	0	2	0.37	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	266	49.44
28	Josh Berry	2	0	51	9.48	0	1	0.19	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	535	99.44
29	Justin Haley	2	1	8	1.49	0	1	0.19	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	8	1.83	538	100.00
30	Kevin Harvick	2	1	178	33.09	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	1	0.23	538	100.00
31	Aric Almirola	2	0	15	2.79	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	4	0.91	538	100.00
32	Ty Dillon	2	0	8	1.49	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	1	0.23	532	98.88
33	Chase Briscoe	2	0	6	1.12	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	529	98.33
34	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	2	0	6	1.12	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	2	0.46	537	99.81
35	Harrison Burton	2	0	1	0.19	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	5	1.14	530	98.51
36	Zane Smith	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
37	Jimmie Johnson	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
	Driver	Races	T10 Fin	T10 Laps	T10%	T5 Fin	T5 Laps	T5%	T3 Fin	T3 Laps	T3%	Wins	Led	LL%	Fast Laps	FL%	Laps Run	% Laps Run

Laps run inside the Top 10, 5, 3, and led as percentage laps driver completed at all 1.5-mile tri/quad-ovals in the Gen 7 car (2022 and 2023 though Kansas 1)

Charlotte Front Runners – All 1.5s in Gen 7

wdt_ID	Driver	Races	T10 Fin	T10 Laps	T10%	T5 Fin	T5 Laps	T5%	T3 Fin	T3 Laps	T3%	Wins	Led	LL%	Fast Laps	FL%	Laps Run	% Laps Run
1	Ross Chastain	8	5	1,776	75.25	3	1,170	49.58	2	893	37.84	0	313	13.26	139	7.73	2,360	100.00
2	Austin Cindric	8	1	547	23.18	0	198	8.39	0	43	1.82	0	9	0.38	22	1.22	2,077	88.01
3	Austin Dillon	8	2	374	15.85	0	71	3.01	0	31	1.31	0	3	0.13	5	0.28	2,350	99.58
4	Kevin Harvick	8	2	572	24.24	1	81	3.43	1	13	0.55	0	9	0.38	7	0.39	2,157	91.40
5	Kyle Larson	8	7	1,596	67.63	4	1,112	47.12	4	898	38.05	0	389	16.48	155	8.62	2,187	92.67
6	Brad Keselowski	8	1	419	17.75	0	109	4.62	0	65	2.75	0	40	1.69	31	1.72	2,139	90.64
7	Corey LaJoie	8	0	44	1.86	0	24	1.02	0	20	0.85	0	9	0.38	5	0.28	2,006	85.00
8	Kyle Busch	8	4	978	41.44	4	508	21.53	3	300	12.71	0	103	4.36	99	5.50	1,969	83.43
9	Chase Elliott	7	2	845	35.81	0	436	18.47	0	330	13.98	0	158	6.69	56	3.11	1,708	72.37
10	Aric Almirola	8	1	324	13.73	0	53	2.25	0	34	1.44	0	0	0.00	17	0.94	2,357	99.87
11	Denny Hamlin	8	6	1,668	70.68	5	1,046	44.32	3	515	21.82	2	98	4.15	113	6.28	2,305	97.67
12	Ryan Blaney	8	2	1,280	54.24	1	626	26.53	0	404	17.12	0	83	3.52	74	4.11	1,965	83.26
13	Chase Briscoe	8	3	486	20.59	3	327	13.86	0	179	7.58	0	9	0.38	23	1.28	2,210	93.64
14	JJ Yeley	5	0	18	0.76	0	11	0.47	0	2	0.08	0	0	0.00	1	0.06	1,310	55.51
15	AJ Allmendinger	3	1	42	1.78	0	13	0.55	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	4	0.22	805	34.11
16	Chris Buescher	8	0	221	9.36	0	38	1.61	0	15	0.64	0	0	0.00	23	1.28	2,224	94.24
17	Martin Truex Jr	8	6	1,491	63.18	1	768	32.54	0	418	17.71	0	127	5.38	134	7.45	2,293	97.16
18	Christopher Bell	8	5	1,155	48.94	4	594	25.17	1	292	12.37	0	109	4.62	89	4.95	1,879	79.62
19	Harrison Burton	8	0	111	4.70	0	56	2.37	0	39	1.65	0	16	0.68	8	0.44	2,351	99.62
20	Joey Logano	8	3	1,100	46.61	2	547	23.18	2	362	15.34	1	72	3.05	59	3.28	2,264	95.93
21	Bubba Wallace	8	4	961	40.72	3	308	13.05	1	144	6.10	1	39	1.65	70	3.89	1,973	83.60
22	William Byron	8	5	1,491	63.18	3	869	36.82	2	598	25.34	1	287	12.16	137	7.62	2,138	90.59
23	Justin Haley	8	2	160	6.78	1	64	2.71	1	51	2.16	0	16	0.68	26	1.45	2,085	88.35
24	Michael McDowell	8	1	433	18.35	0	188	7.97	0	60	2.54	0	15	0.64	16	0.89	2,357	99.87
25	Zane Smith	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
26	Ryan Preece	3	0	19	0.81	0	9	0.38	0	3	0.13	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	552	23.39
27	Noah Gragson	7	0	147	6.23	0	21	0.89	0	8	0.34	0	0	0.00	11	0.61	2,052	86.95
28	Erik Jones	8	2	477	20.21	0	143	6.06	0	60	2.54	0	3	0.13	20	1.11	2,337	99.03
29	Tyler Reddick	8	5	1,308	55.42	1	713	30.21	1	422	17.88	1	193	8.18	124	6.89	2,352	99.66
30	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	8	2	370	15.68	0	95	4.03	0	57	2.42	0	31	1.31	25	1.39	2,358	99.92
31	Josh Berry	2	0	51	2.16	0	1	0.04	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	535	22.67
32	Todd Gilliland	8	0	262	11.10	0	129	5.47	0	76	3.22	0	2	0.08	4	0.22	2,354	99.75
33	Ty Gibbs	5	0	163	6.91	0	85	3.60	0	19	0.81	0	0	0.00	12	0.67	1,314	55.68
34	Ty Dillon	8	0	68	2.88	0	15	0.64	0	5	0.21	0	1	0.04	2	0.11	2,323	98.43
35	BJ McLeod	7	0	8	0.34	0	4	0.17	0	1	0.04	0	1	0.04	1	0.06	1,598	67.71
36	Jimmie Johnson	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
37	Daniel Suarez	8	2	847	35.89	0	443	18.77	0	215	9.11	0	68	2.88	103	5.73	2,089	88.52
	Driver	Races	T10 Fin	T10 Laps	T10%	T5 Fin	T5 Laps	T5%	T3 Fin	T3 Laps	T3%	Wins	Led	LL%	Fast Laps	FL%	Laps Run	% Laps Run

Thanks for checking out the Front Runners! Let’s WIN THE RACE!