By the Numbers: The 12 Best Summer Drivers
After another disappointing and undeserved finish for Tony Stewart and the #20 team, it’s easy to wonder what’s wrong this year. The truth is, while some of their finishes have been lower than usual, Stewart rarely wins before June. In his 32 career wins, he has only won four races prior to June. In the last five seasons, he has won 12 races in the summer months and 5 wins each in July and August. Whatever the reason, Tony Stewart really loves the summer. Why? It’s probably a combination of many things. He’s excellent at many of the tracks like road courses, Daytona, Chicago, Indianapolis and Loudon. Maybe the hotter weather caters more to his driving style. It might be that Gibbs does more testing in the spring and he reaps the results in the summer (that was certainly the case in 2005), or that they experiment a little more at the start of seasons with the knowledge that the #20 car is good enough to be in contention at the end of the year.
While Stewart is exceptional in the summer months, other drivers like Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch have also traditionally hit their strides when the sun comes out. Here is a breakdown of the drivers with at least three wins in the summer since 2003 [note: due to some minor schedule tweaks, some races have changed months from year to year. I used the following breakdown. June (Dover, Pocono, Michigan, Sonoma). July (Daytona, Loudon, Chicago, Pocono). August (Indianapolis, Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, Darlington/California).
I’m not sure why, but I think there’s a problem with my table, keep scrolling. Sorry
| Driver | June | July | August | Total |
| Stewart | 2 | 5 | 5 | 12 |
| J Gordon | 3 | 3 | 1 | 7 |
| Ku Busch | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| Newman | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Johnson | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Ky Busch | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Biffle | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Kenseth | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Hamlin | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Earnhardt Jr | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Edwards | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Kahne | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Time permitting I hope to delve further into trends like this over a whole season. Looking at things like teams or drivers that peak at the right time, most successful drivers in the Chase, etc.
It’s your turn, tell me what the numbers mean to you. Are you Smoke fans excited for July? Can Kenseth and Kurt Busch restart their seasons? Why do some drivers thrive in the heat? Or just tell me it’s hogwash.
July 1st, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Stewart’s undoubtedly the best driver over the summer months, but with the way things are going, it almost seems like he’s never going to win again (though we all know that’s just not true). Nice chart, Mike.
July 3rd, 2008 at 9:24 am
[…] he led 151 circuits back in 2005. Additionally, Smoke leads all active drivers in the series with wins between June through August since 2003 with 12 of them to his credit. He also led the most laps at this year’s 500, only to lose the […]