buckaroo
Here kitty, kitty, kitty
Each year, before the season starts, the question always comes up, who will win the Championship next. Usually, other than the defending champ, the name of the guy who finished second carries a lot of weight. Well, I did the research and here’s what I found about the guys who came in second and where they finished the following year. I was going to begin in 1973, the beginning of what is called the modern era, but the site I used only went back to 1975. Before I give those stats, here are the drivers and the number of times they came in second…
1 time, Dave Marcis, Ricky Rudd, Harry Gant, Cale Yarborough, Dale Jarrett, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth.
2 time, Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson
3 time, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott and Dale Earnhardt
4 time, Mark Martin (at least Mark has this record of sorts)
Okay, the average finish position in points for the guy who finished second the prior year is 4.8. Seven times the Cinderella guy won the title the following year. Three times he repeated in second. He finished third five times and five for fourth. Twice he finished fifth, three times sixth and once for seventh and also for eighth. Also once for 13th, 17th and 24th. Dale Earnhardt finished second in 2000 and so I didn’t enter his position for the 2001 season. The lowest total was 23rd by Cale Yarborough, but he only raced in 18 races that year, 1981.
So, of the 32 seasons that I used, Cinderella took home the trophy 7 times. That’s 21% of the time, which isn’t bad in my opinion.
1 time, Dave Marcis, Ricky Rudd, Harry Gant, Cale Yarborough, Dale Jarrett, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth.
2 time, Richard Petty, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson
3 time, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott and Dale Earnhardt
4 time, Mark Martin (at least Mark has this record of sorts)
Okay, the average finish position in points for the guy who finished second the prior year is 4.8. Seven times the Cinderella guy won the title the following year. Three times he repeated in second. He finished third five times and five for fourth. Twice he finished fifth, three times sixth and once for seventh and also for eighth. Also once for 13th, 17th and 24th. Dale Earnhardt finished second in 2000 and so I didn’t enter his position for the 2001 season. The lowest total was 23rd by Cale Yarborough, but he only raced in 18 races that year, 1981.
So, of the 32 seasons that I used, Cinderella took home the trophy 7 times. That’s 21% of the time, which isn’t bad in my opinion.