Five things you need to know: How drivers measure up at 1.5-mile tracks

By Tom Jensen
Published

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to the fast, 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway this weekend for Saturday night's Duck Commander 500.

Since the start of the 2014 season, NASCAR has contested 14 events at 1.5-mile, or nearly 1.5-mile tracks, if you count the 1.366-mile Darlington Raceway.

Following are five things you need to know about how the top drivers measure up on 1.5-mile tracks.

5. Best average finish: This one is a real shocker. Since the start of the 2014 Sprint Cup season, the two drivers who have fared best on 1.5-mile tracks are Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman, who have identical average finishes of 9.07. Neither Kenseth nor Newman has won a single race in 2014-15, but at the 1.5-milers, they are models of consistency. Newman's worst finish in those 14 races is 16th, while Kenseth only has two finishes worse than 13th.

4. On a roll: Last year, Joey Logano enjoyed a breakout season at Team Penske, and he was nails on 1.5-mile tracks. Since the start of the 2014 season, Logano has won twice on 1.5-mile tracks and has seven top-five finishes as well. His average finish of 9.286 was held back only by a 35th-place run last year at Darlington.

3. Hot and cold: Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been strictly hit or miss on 1.5-mile tracks the last two seasons. He has top-five finishes at both Atlanta and Las Vegas this year and had three top fives in the first four 1.5-mile races last season. In between was not good, though -- eight races with only one top five, two top 10s and an average finish of 15.63.

2. Out of action: You can bet Joe Gibbs Racing misses Kyle Busch at the faster speedways where he is so good. Busch, of course, is still sidelined with foot and leg injuries and hasn't run a single Sprint Cup race this season. Last year, he had five top-five finishes in a dozen races at 1.5-mile tracks, with an excellent average finish of 10.00 -- and that's despite finishing 39th at Homestead.

1. Happy time: If you want to be the man, first you have to beat the man, and since joining Stewart-Haas Racing last year, Kevin Harvick is unquestionably The Man on 1.5-mile tracks. He started off badly last year, finishing 41st in Las Vegas and 42nd in Texas. Both those finishes pulled his average finish down substantially,. Since then, though, he's torn it up, with four victories and four second-place finishes. In his most recent 12 races at 1.5-mile tracks, Harvick's average finish is a world-class 4.58.