Crunching The Numbers: Charlotte All Star Weekend
After tackling “The Lady in Black” at Darlington last weekend, NASCAR heads home for a two week home stand at Charlotte Motor Speedway, with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series taking center stage during All Star Weekend.
Sprint Cup Series
With 11 points paying races behind them, the Sprint Cup Series heads into one of the wildest races of the year as the Sprint All Star Race is upon us once again. The non-points race that is all for the trophy, bragging rights, and a nice payday of a possible two million dollars for the winner, leads to some brash moves by drivers to get to the front and take the checkers. Since the drivers don’t have to worry about points, the phrase “Bring me the trophy or bring me the steering wheel” perfectly explains a driver’s mindset heading into this race. To add to the drama, the race will have a new format that makes running up front an even more important factor and this race should be a great one not to be missed when these drivers strap in and go for the win on Saturday night.
| Driver | Races | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Pole | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| Joey Logano | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 11.5 | 5.5 |
| Matt Kenseth | 12 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 9.3 | 6.3 |
| Jimmie Johnson | 11 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 9.1 | 6.6 |
| Marcos Ambrose | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18.0 | 7.0 |
| Tony Stewart | 14 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 11.1 | 7.7 |
| Dale Earnhardt Jr | 13 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 14.2 | 8.3 |
| Ryan Newman | 11 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 8.8 | 9.3 |
| Jeff Gordon | 19 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 8.6 | 9.5 |
| Kevin Harvick | 12 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8.6 | 10.5 |
| Kurt Busch | 11 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 8.1 | 10.8 |
Who To Watch: While any of the drivers who run the Sprint All Star Race have a chance to win, a few stick out above the rest and the driver with the highest average finish among All Star Race participants may surprise you. That driver is Joey Logano, who has an average finish of 5.5 in two starts. Following close in Logano’s steps are last weekend’s winner at Darlington, Matt Kenseth, and five time Sprint Cup champion, Jimmie Johnson. Kenseth has one win, five top fives, nine top tens, one pole, and an average finish of 6.3 in 12 starts. Johnson is close behind with three wins, seven top fives, seven top tens, one pole, and an average finish of 6.6 in 11 starts.
Although not in the top ten of drivers with the best average finish in the Sprint All Star Race, Kyle Busch is another driver to keep an eye on this weekend. Busch has two top fives, three top tens, three poles, and an average finish of 12.4 in seven starts. However, Busch does have four DNF’s in those seven starts. As long as Busch can keep his car in one piece, he could capture his first win in the Sprint All Star Race this weekend.
Camping World Truck Series
The Camping World Truck Series heads into Charlotte this weekend for Friday night’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200, ending a nearly month long hiatus in the schedule. Several Sprint Cup Series regulars will be running the race along with the Truck Series regulars, which driver will come out on top? After 200 miles, we’ll have our answer.
| Driver | Races | Win | Top 5 | Top 10 | Pole | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
| Kyle Busch | 7 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 335 | 5.4 | 3.6 |
| Ron Hornaday, Jr. | 8 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 170 | 7.6 | 6.8 |
| Jeb Burton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21.0 | 8.0 |
| Justin Lofton | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 44 | 17.3 | 9.7 |
| Matt Crafton | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 29 | 12.6 | 9.8 |
| Ty Dillon | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 1.0 | 10.0 |
| James Buescher | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 7.8 | 10.5 |
| Joey Coulter | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13.0 | 11.5 |
| Dakoda Armstrong | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 24.0 | 13.0 |
| Todd Bodine | 9 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 14.4 | 14.0 |
Who To Watch: Sprint Cup regular Kyle Busch could have another one of his weekend sweeps if the statistics are to be believed on his career in the Truck Series at Charlotte. In seven starts, Busch has four wins, five top fives, six top tens, two poles, 335 laps led, and an average finish of 3.6. Multi-time Truck Series champion, Ron Hornaday, falls in behind Busch with two wins, six top fives, six top tens, 170 laps led, and an average finish of 6.8 in eight starts. Others to keep an eye on include: Jeb Burton, making his second Charlotte start after finishing in the top ten in his first start last year; Justin Lofton, who has one win, one top five, one top ten, 44 laps led, and an average finish of 9.7 in three starts; and Matt Crafton, who won the last race in the Truck Series before this weekend and has an average finish of 9.8 and one win in 10 starts.
A Conversation with Jeremy Clements
I spent a few minutes with Jeremy Clements Friday afternoon before the Nationwide Series race at Darlington Raceway. Arriving a few minutes early, I sat down to wait and noticed the crew working on his No. 51 Chevrolet in the garage. I was not surprised when one of the crew members turned out to be Jeremy.
When you drive for a family owned team, everyone has to do their part. Each week is a struggle. Winnings are usually poured right back into the car in a never ending battle to keep the car on the track every week.
Jeremy scored a ninth place finish at Talladega Superspeedway last Saturday, earning his first top-10 this season. It was a tremendous result for a team that prides itself on achieving the most with limited resources.
“It’s been a rough year,” he told me. “We’ve had motors fail and parts failures. We’ve been involved in wrecks where we got wrecked by another driver so it was good to go to Talladega and get a top ten. It made us remember how good it feels to get a good finish. It was an energy boost. It revitalized us.”
We continued the interview, talking about everything from racing to music to pets and more.
Do you prefer old school or new school racing?
“I’m a dirt track driver. I come from the dirt late model world. I like the short tracks like Bristol and Richmond. I love Darlington so I’d say old school for sure.”
Are you a cat person or dog person?
“Definitely dogs; I’ve always had a dog. I have a cocker spaniel named Abbey right now. She’s nine years old.”
Do you listen to country music or rock and roll?
“Rock and roll; I’m not a country man at all, don’t really like it. I’m a hard rock guy. I like Evans Blue, Three Days Grace, Pop Evil, stuff like that.”
Would you rather go hunting or fishing?
“I’m not into hunting and I haven’t fished in years. I don’t have one particular hobby. I like all kinds of things. I like movies and I like playing sports. I’m pretty good at basketball; anything active. I love going to the lake and getting on the tube and the Jet Ski. I love going to amusement parks and riding roller coasters.”
Would you rather go to the beach or to the mountains?
“I like both. I went to the mountains this past year in October and then went on a cruise in January. We went to the beaches at some of the islands we stopped at. I love them both.”
I couldn’t believe he didn’t have a preference so he finally went with “beach in the summertime and mountains in winter.”
Do you prefer football, basketball or baseball?
“I keep up with football and basketball more than I do baseball but I love going to a baseball game. I’ve been to see the Cardinals, in St. Louis, the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox and the Atlanta Braves. I love going to baseball games lives but don’t really like watching it on TV. I keep up with football, mostly professional. But being from South Carolina I keep up with Clemson and the Gamecocks but I’m more of a Tigers fan.”
My last question brought us back to racing.
What has been the proudest moment of your career?
“I look back to when I raced ARCA and we won at Nashville and absolutely dominated the race. We beat a lot of top notch teams like Ganassi and Roush. That was really fulfilling for me. There were only four guys on the crew that weekend, including myself, and knowing what we did it with, which was barely nothing; it was cool.”
Be sure to like the Jeremy Clements Racing Facebook page and follow them on Twitter @JCR_Clements51 for a chance to win the ‘Fan of the Week’ contest. The winner will have their name displayed on his car in the next race. The contest alternates each week between Facebook and Twitter.
