Front Runners – 2023 Cook Out Southern 500, Darlington Raceway

2023 Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway

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.

Darlington is the original high speed intermediate track. At 1.366-miles long the egg shaped track has 25 degree banking in turns 1 and 2 and 23 degree banking in turns 3 and 4. The track was last paved in 2008 and absolutely destroys tires.

In looking at correlation to other tracks some tracks come and go from race to race. One consistent is prior performance at Darlington. Another constant, Homestead, which is another extremely high wear steep banked intermediate track. Averaged over the long haul correlation with the 1.5-mile ovals is also fairly strong, particularly a some of the tracks have seen tire wear increase. There is even some reasonable correlation with Richmond. The Richmond correlation is likely due to the tire wear. That said, for Front Runners I’m focused on Darlington in the Gen 7 and the 1.5-maile tracks we have run in 2023.

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 but for ease of display those columns are hidden by default. Also included as the final column is the drivers average running position across all laps completed as the tracks in the data set.

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

wdt_ID Driver Make Races T10 Fin T10 Laps T10% T5 Fin T5 Laps T5% T3 Fin T3 Laps T3% Wins Led LL% Fast Laps FL% Laps Laps Run % Ave Running Pos
36 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 7 3 1,288 65.85 3 998 51.02 3 831 42.48 1 406 20.76 235 13.57 1,956 90.56 8.47
37 William Byron Chevrolet 7 5 1,808 83.70 4 1,538 71.20 4 1,173 54.31 2 391 18.10 169 9.76 2,160 100.00 6.40
38 Martin Truex Jr Toyota 7 4 1,838 88.20 1 1,268 60.84 1 800 38.39 0 331 15.88 205 11.84 2,084 96.48 5.42
39 Kyle Busch Chevrolet 7 3 1,389 72.84 0 772 40.48 0 480 25.17 0 176 9.23 73 4.21 1,907 88.29 8.38
40 Joey Logano Ford 7 3 1,033 49.86 2 534 25.77 1 414 19.98 1 185 8.93 68 3.93 2,072 95.93 10.51
41 Ryan Blaney Ford 7 2 1,197 55.42 1 586 27.13 1 398 18.43 1 167 7.73 111 6.41 2,160 100.00 9.88
42 Denny Hamlin Toyota 7 3 1,394 71.71 2 872 44.86 2 591 30.40 1 125 6.43 106 6.12 1,944 90.00 8.03
43 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 7 2 1,331 64.86 2 793 38.65 1 492 23.98 0 124 6.04 124 7.16 2,052 95.00 9.46
44 Tyler Reddick Toyota 7 4 1,199 56.16 3 615 28.81 2 389 18.22 0 63 2.95 89 5.14 2,135 98.84 10.25
45 Christopher Bell Toyota 7 3 1,426 69.56 2 694 33.85 0 278 13.56 0 59 2.88 69 3.98 2,050 94.91 8.80
46 Kevin Harvick Ford 7 4 821 39.72 2 170 8.22 1 69 3.34 0 25 1.21 23 1.33 2,067 95.69 12.25
47 Erik Jones Chevrolet 7 1 543 26.31 1 166 8.04 1 40 1.94 1 24 1.16 19 1.10 2,064 95.56 18.59
48 Bubba Wallace Toyota 6 5 1,078 57.96 4 326 17.53 0 169 9.09 0 16 0.86 50 2.89 1,860 86.11 10.15
49 Brad Keselowski Ford 7 3 1,006 49.48 2 294 14.46 0 65 3.20 0 16 0.79 52 3.00 2,033 94.12 14.21
50 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 6 3 611 43.03 2 211 14.86 1 35 2.46 0 11 0.77 25 1.44 1,420 65.74 11.74
51 Chris Buescher Ford 7 2 198 9.18 0 37 1.72 0 29 1.34 0 12 0.56 14 0.81 2,157 99.86 19.87
52 Corey LaJoie Chevrolet 7 0 56 2.78 0 26 1.29 0 20 0.99 0 11 0.55 5 0.29 2,014 93.24 23.66
53 Michael McDowell Ford 7 2 211 10.25 0 54 2.62 0 19 0.92 0 5 0.24 35 2.02 2,059 95.32 19.84
54 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Chevrolet 7 2 556 28.43 0 60 3.07 0 7 0.36 0 4 0.20 14 0.81 1,956 90.56 17.81
55 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 4 2 405 31.30 1 175 13.52 1 75 5.80 0 2 0.15 32 1.85 1,294 59.91 13.39
56 JJ Yeley Ford 6 0 22 1.28 0 12 0.70 0 3 0.17 0 1 0.06 1 0.06 1,719 79.58 30.80
57 Harrison Burton Ford 7 1 108 5.02 0 12 0.56 0 5 0.23 0 1 0.05 9 0.52 2,151 99.58 22.73
58 Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 7 3 599 29.02 0 173 8.38 0 11 0.53 0 0 0.00 34 1.96 2,064 95.56 15.21
59 Ty Gibbs Toyota 6 0 392 22.11 0 107 6.03 0 21 1.18 0 0 0.00 18 1.04 1,773 82.08 17.75
60 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 7 4 277 13.45 1 43 2.09 0 9 0.44 0 0 0.00 4 0.23 2,059 95.32 19.39
61 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 5 1 200 13.34 1 112 7.47 1 15 1.00 0 0 0.00 12 0.69 1,499 69.40 18.94
62 Aric Almirola Ford 7 0 163 7.55 0 11 0.51 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 16 0.92 2,160 100.00 18.68
63 Ryan Preece Ford 4 0 54 4.39 0 9 0.73 0 3 0.24 0 0 0.00 1 0.06 1,231 56.99 22.55
64 Austin Cindric Ford 7 1 66 3.11 0 9 0.42 0 4 0.19 0 0 0.00 19 1.10 2,122 98.24 20.36
65 Justin Haley Chevrolet 7 3 60 2.78 1 28 1.30 1 1 0.05 0 0 0.00 28 1.62 2,158 99.91 21.78
66 Todd Gilliland Ford 7 0 20 0.99 0 6 0.30 0 1 0.05 0 0 0.00 8 0.46 2,014 93.24 27.47
67 Chase Briscoe Ford 7 0 16 0.78 0 1 0.05 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 1 0.06 2,041 94.49 25.86
68 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 7 0 8 0.37 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 2 0.12 2,147 99.40 27.88
69 BJ McLeod Chevrolet 6 0 5 0.30 0 3 0.18 0 1 0.06 0 0 0.00 2 0.12 1,692 78.33 33.37
70 Ryan Newman Ford 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0.00 291 13.47 31.26
Driver Make Races T10 Fin T10 Laps T10% T5 Fin T5 Laps T5% T3 Fin T3 Laps T3% Wins Led LL% Fast Laps FL% Laps Laps Run % Ave Running Pos

*Carson Hocevar has not made a Cup Series start at any of these tracks and so he is not on this chart or any of the others below.

Laps run inside the Top 10, 5, 3, and led as percentage laps driver completed in 2023 at Darlington, Las Vegas, Kansas, and Charlotte

wdt_ID Driver Make Races T10 Fin T10 Laps T10% T5 Fin T5 Laps T5% T3 Fin T3 Laps T3% Wins Led LL% Fast Laps FL% Laps Laps Run % Ave Running Pos
36 William Byron Chevrolet 4 4 1,063 86.21 4 944 76.56 4 740 60.02 2 284 23.03 112 11.53 1,233 100.00 6.72
37 Martin Truex Jr Toyota 4 3 1,108 90.97 1 671 55.09 1 408 33.50 0 227 18.64 125 12.87 1,218 98.78 5.50
38 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 4 2 902 74.55 2 678 56.03 2 525 43.39 0 177 14.63 97 9.99 1,210 98.13 6.86
39 Ryan Blaney Ford 4 2 687 55.72 1 421 34.14 1 347 28.14 1 167 13.54 104 10.71 1,233 100.00 9.44
40 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 4 1 804 65.63 1 533 43.51 0 291 23.76 0 97 7.92 42 4.33 1,225 99.35 8.65
41 Denny Hamlin Toyota 4 1 766 75.25 1 464 45.58 1 317 31.14 1 73 7.17 72 7.42 1,018 82.56 7.59
42 Christopher Bell Toyota 4 1 721 64.20 1 358 31.88 0 167 14.87 0 52 4.63 48 4.94 1,123 91.08 9.37
43 Tyler Reddick Toyota 4 2 716 58.07 1 363 29.44 0 231 18.73 0 53 4.30 54 5.56 1,233 100.00 9.47
44 Kevin Harvick Ford 4 2 552 44.77 1 125 10.14 1 67 5.43 0 24 1.95 21 2.16 1,233 100.00 11.21
45 Joey Logano Ford 4 1 280 24.45 0 109 9.52 0 46 4.02 0 17 1.48 10 1.03 1,145 92.86 13.70
46 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 3 2 271 36.28 1 87 11.65 1 35 4.69 0 11 1.47 12 1.24 747 60.58 12.17
47 Chris Buescher Ford 4 2 175 14.20 0 37 3.00 0 29 2.35 0 12 0.97 12 1.24 1,232 99.92 18.55
48 Bubba Wallace Toyota 4 4 717 58.15 4 279 22.63 0 160 12.98 0 12 0.97 42 4.33 1,233 100.00 10.02
49 Corey LaJoie Chevrolet 4 0 30 2.44 0 17 1.38 0 13 1.06 0 7 0.57 4 0.41 1,230 99.76 24.19
50 Michael McDowell Ford 4 0 50 4.42 0 21 1.86 0 19 1.68 0 5 0.44 26 2.68 1,132 91.81 21.90
51 Brad Keselowski Ford 4 1 697 56.53 1 209 16.95 0 49 3.97 0 5 0.41 45 4.63 1,233 100.00 13.28
52 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Chevrolet 4 1 464 37.66 0 41 3.33 0 6 0.49 0 4 0.32 4 0.41 1,232 99.92 17.04
53 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 2 1 300 44.71 1 173 25.78 1 74 11.03 0 2 0.30 31 3.19 671 54.42 11.21
54 Kyle Busch Chevrolet 4 2 851 75.44 0 344 30.50 0 120 10.64 0 1 0.09 22 2.27 1,128 91.48 8.67
55 Ty Gibbs Toyota 4 0 342 30.03 0 104 9.13 0 21 1.84 0 0 0.00 15 1.54 1,139 92.38 16.56
56 Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 4 1 267 23.48 0 93 8.18 0 3 0.26 0 0 0.00 10 1.03 1,137 92.21 16.64
57 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 4 2 122 10.78 0 17 1.50 0 9 0.80 0 0 0.00 0 0.00 1,132 91.81 20.60
58 Harrison Burton Ford 4 1 104 8.49 0 11 0.90 0 4 0.33 0 0 0.00 7 0.72 1,225 99.35 22.59
59 Ryan Preece Ford 4 0 54 4.39 0 9 0.73 0 3 0.24 0 0 0.00 1 0.10 1,231 99.84 22.55
60 Aric Almirola Ford 4 0 43 3.49 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 14 1.44 1,233 100.00 18.99
61 Erik Jones Chevrolet 4 0 29 2.48 0 12 1.02 0 2 0.17 0 0 0.00 5 0.51 1,171 94.97 21.02
62 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 4 0 28 2.27 0 7 0.57 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 3 0.31 1,232 99.92 21.64
63 Justin Haley Chevrolet 4 2 27 2.19 0 2 0.16 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 9 0.93 1,233 100.00 21.61
64 JJ Yeley Ford 3 0 20 2.15 0 11 1.18 0 2 0.21 0 0 0.00 1 0.10 931 75.51 29.33
65 Todd Gilliland Ford 4 0 14 1.28 0 5 0.46 0 1 0.09 0 0 0.00 4 0.41 1,094 88.73 26.58
66 Chase Briscoe Ford 4 0 14 1.14 0 1 0.08 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 1 0.10 1,224 99.27 28.01
67 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 4 0 8 0.65 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 1 0.10 1,222 99.11 30.66
68 Austin Cindric Ford 4 1 5 0.42 0 2 0.17 0 1 0.08 0 0 0.00 5 0.51 1,195 96.92 21.84
69 BJ McLeod Chevrolet 3 0 3 0.34 0 2 0.23 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 2 0.21 884 71.70 32.92
70 Ryan Newman Ford 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0.00 291 23.60 31.26
Driver Make Races T10 Fin T10 Laps T10% T5 Fin T5 Laps T5% T3 Fin T3 Laps T3% Wins Led LL% Fast Laps FL% Laps Laps Run % Ave Running Pos

Laps run inside the Top 10, 5, 3, and led as percentage laps driver completed at Darlington in 2022 (2x) and 2023 (1x)

wdt_ID Driver Make Races T10 Fin T10 Laps T10% T5 Fin T5 Laps T5% T3 Fin T3 Laps T3% Wins Led LL% Fast Laps FL% Laps Laps Run % Ave Running Pos
71 Martin Truex Jr Toyota 3 0 787 89.53 0 611 69.51 0 428 48.69 0 221 25.14 123 15.99 879 92.04 4.70
72 Kyle Busch Chevrolet 3 1 785 97.27 0 648 80.30 0 415 51.43 0 175 21.69 59 7.67 807 84.50 4.00
73 Joey Logano Ford 3 2 635 66.49 2 442 46.28 1 369 38.64 1 168 17.59 58 7.54 955 100.00 7.92
74 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 3 0 612 72.26 0 455 53.72 0 320 37.78 0 120 14.17 107 13.91 847 88.69 8.96
75 William Byron Chevrolet 3 2 831 87.02 1 672 70.37 1 470 49.21 1 82 8.59 62 8.06 955 100.00 5.06
76 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 3 0 318 41.09 0 191 24.68 0 137 17.70 0 58 7.49 49 6.37 774 81.05 14.07
77 Denny Hamlin Toyota 3 1 588 61.64 1 330 34.59 1 253 26.52 0 57 5.97 39 5.07 954 99.90 9.67
78 Erik Jones Chevrolet 3 1 518 56.18 1 155 16.81 1 38 4.12 1 24 2.60 17 2.21 922 96.54 12.39
79 Brad Keselowski Ford 3 2 387 46.74 1 84 10.14 0 22 2.66 0 11 1.33 11 1.43 828 86.70 15.28
80 Tyler Reddick Toyota 3 2 555 58.12 2 187 19.58 2 107 11.20 0 10 1.05 33 4.29 955 100.00 9.92
81 Bubba Wallace Toyota 3 2 487 52.82 1 157 17.03 0 113 12.26 0 7 0.76 23 2.99 922 96.54 10.33
82 Kevin Harvick Ford 3 2 316 36.66 2 65 7.54 1 15 1.74 0 6 0.70 9 1.17 862 90.26 13.14
83 Corey LaJoie Chevrolet 3 0 26 3.21 0 9 1.11 0 7 0.86 0 4 0.49 4 0.52 810 84.82 25.52
84 Christopher Bell Toyota 3 2 848 88.80 1 377 39.48 0 121 12.67 0 4 0.42 25 3.25 955 100.00 7.08
85 Ryan Blaney Ford 3 1 353 36.96 0 62 6.49 0 20 2.09 0 4 0.42 20 2.60 955 100.00 11.80
86 JJ Yeley Ford 2 0 2 0.38 0 1 0.19 0 1 0.19 0 1 0.19 0 0.00 525 54.97 32.00
87 Harrison Burton Ford 3 1 103 10.80 0 8 0.84 0 2 0.21 0 1 0.10 4 0.52 954 99.90 19.95
88 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Chevrolet 3 1 254 33.78 0 52 6.91 0 1 0.13 0 0 0.00 10 1.30 752 78.74 16.69
89 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 3 2 223 31.81 2 39 5.56 1 10 1.43 0 0 0.00 12 1.56 701 73.40 13.57
90 Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 3 1 246 28.64 0 112 13.04 0 6 0.70 0 0 0.00 19 2.47 859 89.95 16.22
91 Michael McDowell Ford 3 2 161 18.72 0 33 3.84 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 10 1.30 860 90.05 16.91
92 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 2 1 105 16.85 0 2 0.32 0 1 0.16 0 0 0.00 1 0.13 623 65.24 15.71
93 Aric Almirola Ford 3 0 131 13.72 0 11 1.15 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 2 0.26 955 100.00 16.01
94 Austin Cindric Ford 3 0 59 6.18 0 7 0.73 0 3 0.31 0 0 0.00 15 1.95 955 100.00 19.31
95 Ty Gibbs Toyota 2 0 36 5.44 0 2 0.30 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 4 0.52 662 69.32 19.15
96 Justin Haley Chevrolet 3 2 45 4.72 1 27 2.83 1 1 0.10 0 0 0.00 2 0.26 954 99.90 21.86
97 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 3 1 28 3.27 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 3 0.39 856 89.63 20.24
98 Todd Gilliland Ford 3 0 10 1.05 0 1 0.11 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 6 0.78 951 99.58 24.49
99 Chris Buescher Ford 3 1 9 0.94 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 2 0.26 953 99.79 24.09
100 Ryan Preece Ford 1 0 2 0.68 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 1 0.13 295 30.89 21.54
101 BJ McLeod Chevrolet 3 0 2 0.26 0 1 0.13 0 1 0.13 0 0 0.00 1 0.13 772 80.84 33.67
102 Chase Briscoe Ford 3 0 1 0.11 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0.00 951 99.58 24.77
103 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 1 0.13 294 30.79 27.93
104 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 3 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 1 0.13 952 99.69 25.65
105 Ryan Newman Ford 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0 0.00 0 0.00 291 30.47 31.26
Driver Make Races T10 Fin T10 Laps T10% T5 Fin T5 Laps T5% T3 Fin T3 Laps T3% Wins Led LL% Fast Laps FL% Laps Laps Run % Ave Running Pos

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

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Greg Matherne

Director of Betting Content, WIN THE RACE. NASCAR DFS & Betting.