May - Wingspan

48WingspansportsMay 2, 2011wingspan.lccc.wy.edu654‘Pole’ing awayNumber of wins from the pole position(NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 2006–2010)Wins from the pole position (the first starting position) from the pastfour years are not as common as they might be with only 11 drivers winninga race after starting from the pole. Jimmie Johnson, driver of theNo. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, leads the group with just six wins in the last fiveyears from the pole. Johnson also has the most wins in a single seasonand the most poles in consecutive seasons, winning from the pole oncefrom 2006–2010.200620072008200920105–year totalWins3210DriverNASCAR.comKyleBuschBy Mark SchaferSports WriterWith school windingdown and summerabout to begin,one of the biggestsummer sportingevents besides MajorLeague Baseball willgo into full swing: theNational Associationfor Stock Car AutoRacing.The 2011 NASCARseason started backClintBowyerCarlEdwardsin February and willcontinue throughNovember, but thesummer months ofMay, June, July andAugust will hostthe majority of theseason.Many statistics aresure to come fromthe season such aswho led the mostlaps, scored the mostpoints, had the fastestpit stops and soon.JeffGordonDennyHamlinWhen the seasonstarted in Daytona,Fla. in February,fan favorite DaleEarnhardt Jr. sat onthe pole position forthe season’s mostfamous race—theDaytona 500. Manyfans thought thiswas a good signbecause Earnhardtis a master of thehigh-banked, speedySuperspeedwaysKevinHarvickJimmieJohnsonof Daytona andTalladega.Earnhardt fansthought that, for thefirst time in 93 races,he would find victorylane, especiallyconsidering his firstplace (pole) startingposition.However, lookingback at the stats,Earnhardt fans perhapsshould not havebeen so optimistic.Winning from theKaseyKahnepole position duringthe last five years ofthe NASCAR SprintCup Series (the mainstreamracing seriesof NASCAR) has notbeen that common.Since 2006 (thelast year in whichfull season stats wereavailable) only 24 of144 races have beenwon from the pole.That means thatpole-sitters have wonMarkMartinTonyStewartonly 16 percent of thetotal races.Of the 24 raceswon from the pole,only 11 drivers havewon in the past fouryears. The championof the series the lastfive years, JimmieJohnson, is also thechampion of the mostwins from the pole inthose four years, winningsix races.Earnhardt didn’tgo on to victory in theBrianVickersMark SchaferLeading driver at start doesn’t lead to winDaytona 500, and, sofar, none of the eightpole-sitters from the2011 NASCAR SprintCup Series has realizedvictory. Whilethe summer drawson, there will be anumber of thingsto look forward to;however, the numberof NASCAR SprintCup winners who arefrom the pole maynot be one of them.