So I put together random and frankly unnecessary racing stats mostly to fill my own need to know useless facts. If any of you remember my old Crash Stats that I have gotten years behind on at this point think along those lines (and I will get back to those but the masters degree comes first). Anyway I don't know the first thing about website design or programming so until I do I'm just going to post them here in this thread.
Starting off with a project I have been working on since last week after Josh Berry won, and as I mentioned in a comment to @Blaze when he shared a video that was related to this is figuring out the average of the number of starts before a driver wins their first Cup race.
206 drivers have won Cup Series races between 1949 and Josh Berry at Las Vegas.
The average number of starts in those 75+ years is 57.36 starts.
The fastest is 1 start 7 times (Harold Kite, Jack White, Jim Roper, Leon Sales, Marvin Burke, Johnny Rutherford, and SVG) all by Rutherford and SVG are from the 1949-1959 seasons and Rutherford was in the 1960s. SVG is a massive outlier there.
The slowest as many know is 463 by Michael Waltrip, though 7 drivers took more than 200 starts (AJ Allmendinger, Buddy Baker, Johnny Benson, Dave Marcis, Sterling Marlin, Michael McDowell, and Waltrip.)
Now, recognizing stats across NASCAR eras is hard due to different circumstances and how they raced. As such to give a better look at it I've broken it down by decades as I feel like that is more fair. How I sorted a driver into a category was by the year of his first start, so even if a driver may be more identified with a later decade they are listed by this for example Tony Stewart's first year was in the 90's, or Cale Yarbourgh in the 50s.
1949 and 1950s
87 different drivers won from this era
27.1 was the average number of starts for first wins
1 race was the fastest by 6 drivers all mentioned above
216 was the most starts by Buddy Baker
Wildly this average could be lower because 63 of the 87 drivers took fewer than the average, but the 5 drivers with more than 100 drive it up.
1960s
24 different drivers won from this era
50.95 was the average number of starts for first wins
1 race was the fastest by Johnny Rutherford
227 was the most by Dave Marcis
1970s
15 different drivers won from this era
87.93 was the average number of starts
5 races was the fastest by Mark Donohue
279 was the most by Sterling Marlin
1980s
17 Different drivers won from this era
105.64 was the average number of starts
11 races was the fastest by Ron Bouchard
463 was the most by Michael Waltrip
Waltrip is not the only driver that lowers this average Ken Schrader, Phil Parsons, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, Jimmy Spencer, Bobby Hamilton all took between 108 and 167 races to win.
1990s
16 Different drivers won from this era
90.75 was the average number of starts
12 races was the fastest by Dale Earnhardt Jr
226 was the most by Johnny Benson
2000s
25 different drivers won from this era
79.24 was the average number of starts
2 races was the fastest by Jamie McMurray
358 was the most by Michael McDowell
This is the earliest era with a driver still active that could change the average, though I don't see JJ Yeley breaking through as likely but crazier things have happened.
2010s
16 different winners to this point from this era
90.56 is the average number of starts
2 races was the fastest by Trevor Bayne
195 was the most so far by Daniel Suarez
This era is helped average-wise by Bayne, Haley, Custer, and Buescher taking 27 or fewer starts, no one else has taken less than 57 (Erik Jones).
2020s
6 different drivers to this point from this era
39.66 is the average number of starts
1 is the fastest by SVG
98 was the most so far by Harrison Burton
Obviously this is still an in progress era, and more drivers will likely be added to it as we go...it be bizarre if they didn't.
Below is the link to my spreadsheet if you want to dive deeper into the numbers or see where you favorite driver ranks on it.
Starting off with a project I have been working on since last week after Josh Berry won, and as I mentioned in a comment to @Blaze when he shared a video that was related to this is figuring out the average of the number of starts before a driver wins their first Cup race.
206 drivers have won Cup Series races between 1949 and Josh Berry at Las Vegas.
The average number of starts in those 75+ years is 57.36 starts.
The fastest is 1 start 7 times (Harold Kite, Jack White, Jim Roper, Leon Sales, Marvin Burke, Johnny Rutherford, and SVG) all by Rutherford and SVG are from the 1949-1959 seasons and Rutherford was in the 1960s. SVG is a massive outlier there.
The slowest as many know is 463 by Michael Waltrip, though 7 drivers took more than 200 starts (AJ Allmendinger, Buddy Baker, Johnny Benson, Dave Marcis, Sterling Marlin, Michael McDowell, and Waltrip.)
Now, recognizing stats across NASCAR eras is hard due to different circumstances and how they raced. As such to give a better look at it I've broken it down by decades as I feel like that is more fair. How I sorted a driver into a category was by the year of his first start, so even if a driver may be more identified with a later decade they are listed by this for example Tony Stewart's first year was in the 90's, or Cale Yarbourgh in the 50s.
1949 and 1950s
87 different drivers won from this era
27.1 was the average number of starts for first wins
1 race was the fastest by 6 drivers all mentioned above
216 was the most starts by Buddy Baker
Wildly this average could be lower because 63 of the 87 drivers took fewer than the average, but the 5 drivers with more than 100 drive it up.
1960s
24 different drivers won from this era
50.95 was the average number of starts for first wins
1 race was the fastest by Johnny Rutherford
227 was the most by Dave Marcis
1970s
15 different drivers won from this era
87.93 was the average number of starts
5 races was the fastest by Mark Donohue
279 was the most by Sterling Marlin
1980s
17 Different drivers won from this era
105.64 was the average number of starts
11 races was the fastest by Ron Bouchard
463 was the most by Michael Waltrip
Waltrip is not the only driver that lowers this average Ken Schrader, Phil Parsons, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, Jimmy Spencer, Bobby Hamilton all took between 108 and 167 races to win.
1990s
16 Different drivers won from this era
90.75 was the average number of starts
12 races was the fastest by Dale Earnhardt Jr
226 was the most by Johnny Benson
2000s
25 different drivers won from this era
79.24 was the average number of starts
2 races was the fastest by Jamie McMurray
358 was the most by Michael McDowell
This is the earliest era with a driver still active that could change the average, though I don't see JJ Yeley breaking through as likely but crazier things have happened.
2010s
16 different winners to this point from this era
90.56 is the average number of starts
2 races was the fastest by Trevor Bayne
195 was the most so far by Daniel Suarez
This era is helped average-wise by Bayne, Haley, Custer, and Buescher taking 27 or fewer starts, no one else has taken less than 57 (Erik Jones).
2020s
6 different drivers to this point from this era
39.66 is the average number of starts
1 is the fastest by SVG
98 was the most so far by Harrison Burton
Obviously this is still an in progress era, and more drivers will likely be added to it as we go...it be bizarre if they didn't.
Below is the link to my spreadsheet if you want to dive deeper into the numbers or see where you favorite driver ranks on it.
