NASCAR: 3 weird statistics so far in 2020
By Asher Fair
Points over results
Three drivers sit in positions in the championship standings that are higher than their best finishes so far this season.
Those three drivers are Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola.
Harvick leads the championship standings, but he hasn’t yet won a race this season. He has been by far the most consistent driver, however. He is the only driver with more than three top 16 finishes, and he has recorded four top nine results.
He finished in fifth place at Daytona International Speedway, eighth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, ninth at Auto Club Speedway and second at Phoenix Raceway. His average finish is 6.00.
Elliott, meanwhile, has recorded an average finish of 13.50, yet he sits all the way up in third place in the championship standings with a top finish of fourth at Auto Club Speedway.
Elliott has been able to boost himself toward the top of the championship standings with strong results in stages. He won the first stage at Daytona International Speedway and both the first and second stages at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. No other driver has more than one stage win this year, and he unsurprisingly leads the stage point standings.
Then there is Almirola, who has just two top 20 finishes, both eighth place finishes, this season and has, for the most part, flown well under the radar because of it.
He finished in eighth place at Auto Club Speedway and Phoenix Raceway, yet he sits all the way up in a seventh place tie in the championship standings with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson, who is effectively out of the picture now after being fired for using a racial slur.