ChexOrWrex
Ya gotta wanna
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This is a repost from the NASCAR subreddit, check it out here:
All credit goes to the OP who did the research.
Kyle Busch won his 52nd career Cup Series race on Sunday, placing him 11th on the all-time wins list. At age 33, he did this in 502 starts, for a winning percentage of 10.35%.
For comparison:
- Jimmie Johnson won his 52nd race at Loudon in June of 2010. Johnson was just one year older at age 34 at the time, but won more over a shorter period of time, winning his 52nd race in his 308th start, for a then winning percentage of 16.88%.
- Jeff Gordon won his 52nd race at Richmond in September of 2000, at age 29 in his 248th start, for a winning percentage of 20.97%
This mostly has to do with Gordon and Johnson having their prime years earlier in their career than Busch, along with Busch winning only 4 times in his first 3 seasons compared to 14 for Johnson and 9 for Gordon (I always forget that he didn't win a points race in his rookie season).
Although Busch's career hasn't been as consistent of a rise as Johnson's and Gordon's were, it seems that he is right in the heart of his peak. He won his first championship at age 30. Prior to that year he had never finished better than 4th in points, and 7 of his first 10 seasons he finished 10th or worse at season's end. Including his title in 2015, he has made the championship 4 for the last 4 seasons, and based on his performance so far this year we should have no reason to believe that won't continue or at least come close.
Johnson had a much stronger start to his career, winning 6 titles in his first 12 years and never finishing worse than 6th in the final points standings. Since then he has had a gradual fall off (I don't care what anyone says about his 2016 title, because if you look at it that was statistically one of his very worst seasons). So if you ask me, when it's all said and done, Kyle Busch's career may look like Johnson's but in reverse.
Gordon's prime years came from 1995 to 2007. After that year he began a similar gradual decline to Johnson, but with much stronger stats all the way up to the end. The more I look at Gordon's stats it gets easier to see why drivers start to enter the "will the reach Gordon?" conversation, but never can quite get there. Gordon was rock solid for 23 full seasons, only finishing outside of the top 10 twice. He won early and often and put up statistics that shouldn't even be possible in the era of competition and parity we live in.
All credit goes to the OP who did the research.
Kyle Busch won his 52nd career Cup Series race on Sunday, placing him 11th on the all-time wins list. At age 33, he did this in 502 starts, for a winning percentage of 10.35%.
For comparison:
- Jimmie Johnson won his 52nd race at Loudon in June of 2010. Johnson was just one year older at age 34 at the time, but won more over a shorter period of time, winning his 52nd race in his 308th start, for a then winning percentage of 16.88%.
- Jeff Gordon won his 52nd race at Richmond in September of 2000, at age 29 in his 248th start, for a winning percentage of 20.97%
This mostly has to do with Gordon and Johnson having their prime years earlier in their career than Busch, along with Busch winning only 4 times in his first 3 seasons compared to 14 for Johnson and 9 for Gordon (I always forget that he didn't win a points race in his rookie season).
Although Busch's career hasn't been as consistent of a rise as Johnson's and Gordon's were, it seems that he is right in the heart of his peak. He won his first championship at age 30. Prior to that year he had never finished better than 4th in points, and 7 of his first 10 seasons he finished 10th or worse at season's end. Including his title in 2015, he has made the championship 4 for the last 4 seasons, and based on his performance so far this year we should have no reason to believe that won't continue or at least come close.
Johnson had a much stronger start to his career, winning 6 titles in his first 12 years and never finishing worse than 6th in the final points standings. Since then he has had a gradual fall off (I don't care what anyone says about his 2016 title, because if you look at it that was statistically one of his very worst seasons). So if you ask me, when it's all said and done, Kyle Busch's career may look like Johnson's but in reverse.
Gordon's prime years came from 1995 to 2007. After that year he began a similar gradual decline to Johnson, but with much stronger stats all the way up to the end. The more I look at Gordon's stats it gets easier to see why drivers start to enter the "will the reach Gordon?" conversation, but never can quite get there. Gordon was rock solid for 23 full seasons, only finishing outside of the top 10 twice. He won early and often and put up statistics that shouldn't even be possible in the era of competition and parity we live in.