2021

The DRIVERS...

...THAT MAKE or "BREAK" a TEAM!
hey gang,  

This page represents the last of the 2021 NGFL STATistics.  I hate ending the Statistics for the year because there is always stuff I wanted to share and forgot to until after I have linked everything.

The NASCAR schedule was crazy.  We had new tracks added and some old ones put back in.  We had some points penalties and even position penalties, but not a lot thank goodness.  We had new winners and even veterans that did not find victory lane.  Who would have thought Kevin Harvick would go winless?

I hope everyone enjoyed the end of the year wind down.  I wanted to get them done before Christmas and New Years.  The holidays are coming and once we get thru that, we will be talking about the Daytona 500 again.  There is a new schedule, a new car and even new tracks.  Really hope it will be as exciting as this season was.  I hope NASCAR doesn't mess around too much with the setups of the cars even though its a new car, the race was great this season.  Too much tweaking isn't always for the better.

So with all the notes that I kept, did you feel like an "official" racer, looking to see your name under the "congratulations"?  Did you find your name somewhere other than in the lists?  Maybe NOT under the "congratulations" but maybe needing help.  I am hoping everyone had a special place somewhere.

I do want to thank everyone for all the kind words through out the season.  I really do appreciate it.  And hopefully I will see you all in the lineup next season. 

To end the 2021 NGFL season, here are the drivers stats and how they affected us. 
Starting out with the price list....
drivers Daytona1 Phoenix2 DIFF
1 #5 Kyle Larson $3.7 $7.0 $3.3
2 #14 Chase Briscoe $0.1 $1.9 $1.8
3 #19 Martin Truex $5.9 $6.6 $0.7
4 #8 Tyler Reddick $3.5 $4.0 $0.5
5 #20 Christopher Bell $3.2 $3.6 $0.4
6 #24 William Byron $4.7 $5.1 $0.4
7 #18 Kyle Busch $5.6 $5.9 $0.3
8 #38 Anthony Alfredo $0.1 $0.4 $0.3
9 #99 Daniel Suarez $1.2 $1.4 $0.2
10 #47 Ricky Stenhouse $1.9 $2.0 $0.1
11 #12 Ryan Blaney $6.0 $6.0 $0.0
12 #23 Bubba Wallace $2.3 $2.3 $0.0
13 #3 Austin Dillon $4.1 $4.1 $0.0
14 #78 BJ McLeod $0.2 $0.2 $0.0
15 #52 Josh Bilicki $0.2 $0.1 ($0.1)
16 #17 Chris Buescher $3.1 $3.0 ($0.1)
17 #15 Garrett Smithley $0.3 $0.1 ($0.2)
18 #51 Cody Ware $0.3 $0.1 ($0.2)
19 #11 Denny Hamlin $6.5 $6.2 ($0.3)
20 #53 Joey Gase $0.4 $0.1 ($0.3)
21 #42 Ross Chastain $3.0 $2.6 ($0.4)
22 #66 Timmy Hill $0.5 $0.1 ($0.4)
23 #7 Corie Lajoie $1.0 $0.6 ($0.4)
24 #00 Quin Houff $0.6 $0.1 ($0.5)
25 #37 Ryan Preece $1.3 $0.8 ($0.5)
26 #34 Michael McDowell $2.2 $1.7 ($0.5)
27 #9 Chase Elliott $7.0 $6.4 ($0.6)
28 #4 Kevin Harvick $6.4 $5.5 ($0.9)
29 #1 Kurt Busch $5.4 $4.4 ($1.0)
30 #22 Joey Logano $6.6 $5.6 ($1.0)
31 #21 Matt Dibenedetto $4.4 $3.1 ($1.3)
32 #41 Cole Custer $2.6 $1.0 ($1.6)
33 #6 Ryan Newman $2.5 $0.7 ($1.8)
34 #48 Alex Bowman $5.7 $3.8 ($1.9)
35 #2 Brad Keselowski $6.8 $4.7 ($2.1)
36 #43 Erik Jones $3.8 $1.6 ($2.2)
37 #10 Aric Almirola $4.9 $2.1 ($2.8)
Of course I have notes on the DRIVERS too!
 
1. Kyle Larson is the most improved driver for 2021, running the full time schedule.
(2020 - Tyler Reddick)   (2019 - William Byron)   (2018 - Joey Logano)    (2017 - Erik Jones)    (2016 - Chase Elliott)
(2015 - Martin Truex)    (2014 - Denny Hamlin)   (2013 - Kurt Busch)    (2012 - Martin Truex)    (2011 - Brad Keselowski)
 
2. There were 10 drivers who cost more in Phoenix2 then in the Daytona 500.
(2020 - 15)   (2019 - 15)   (2018 - 10)   (2017 - 13)   (2016 - 8)   (2015 - 8)
(2014 - 11)   (2013 - 15)   (2012 - 18)   (2011 - 18)   (2010 - 19)   (2009 - 16)
 
3. There were 4 drivers whose price was the same in the opener as it was in the finale.   
Austin Dillon, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, BJ McLeod

4. Aric Almirola was the biggest dropper of the 2021 season. 

5. There were 9 of the Chase drivers who dropped in price from the Daytona 500.  (2020 - 6)   (2019 - 8)
Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott, Aric Almirola, 
Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman
PENALTIES , points or position.

R# Race driver points position  - stage   players
1 8 Martinsville1 Daniel Suarez 10       6
2 17 Nashville Chase Elliott   26 14   6
3 22 Loudon Chase Elliott 25       8
4 22 Loudon Alex Bowman 25       7
5 23 Watkins Glen Chase Elliott 10       26
6 23 Watkins Glen Christopher Bell 10       19
7 26 Daytona2 Chris Buescher   38   1   6
           
Total 80 64 15   78

Of course some notations on Penalities...

1. Chase Elliott received 3 penalties this season.  The most of any driver.  He lost 50 points plus 26 positions.
2. Biggest point penalty...Chase Elliott & Alex Bowman - 25 points.
3. Biggest position penalty...Chris Buescher - 38 spots.
4. The race where the penalty driver was picked the most...Watkins Glen.  Chase Elliott was on 26 teams.
5. Martinsville, Nashville & Daytona2 had the least players to suffer the penalty - 6 each.

DRIVER PICKED MOST ON A WINNING TEAM....

1.  #5 Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola - 18 winning teams.
2.  #18 Kyle Busch - 16 winning teams.  (2nd last year too)
3.  #14 Chase Briscoe, #43 Erik Jones  - 14 winning teams.
4.  #9 Chase Elliott - 11 winning teams.
 
5.  #11 Denny Hamlin was 1st this season to be picked on 2 winning teams.
6.  #12 Ryan Blaney was the first driver to be on 5 winning teams.
7.  #18 Kyle Busch was the first driver to be on 10 winning teams.
8.  #5 Kyle Larson was the first driver to be on 15 winning teams.
 
NGFL Teams with the winner of the race on their team.......... 25
NGFL Teams without the winner on their team.....................11 
        
CUP TEAMS not on a winning NGFL team 15, 51, 53, 77, 00
 
9.   Kyle Larson won 10X.  He was on 9 out of the 10 winning teams.  (Not Kansas2)
10. Each having one win, none were on the winning team of the race they won.
Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Michael McDowell
11.  Of the 6 teams that were the podium drivers picked, Christopher Bell was on 3 of them.
(Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex & Christopher Bell were on two.)

Who cost us $7.0 million on the price list?

#9 Chase Elliott - Daytona1 - 1 race   (defending NASCAR champion)
#11 Denny Hamlin -  Daytona1RC thru IndianapolisRC - 23 races
#5 Kyle Larson -  IndianapolisRC thru Talladega2 - 8 races
#11 Denny Hamlin -  CharlotteR - 1 race
#5 Kyle Larson - Texas2 thru Phoenix2 - 4 races

(Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin led the points together for the one race, IndianapolisRC)

1. There were just 3 drivers that led the field this season.  Denny Hamlin led 24 races.
Kyle Larson led 12 races.          Chase Elliott led 1 race.


(2020 - 6)   (2019 - 4)    (2018 - 4)    (2017 - 5)    (2016 - 8)    (2015 - 6)
(2014 - 8)    (2013 - 4)    (2012 - 8)    (2011 - 6)    (2010 - 3)
 
2. Denny Hamlin cost us $7.0 million the most.   24 of 36 races   
 
3. We had 4 leader changes this season.  
(2020 - 7)   (2019 - 15)   (2018 - 10)   (2017 - 7)   (2016 - 15)   (2015 - 6) 
(2014 - 15)   (2013 - 7)   (2012 - 14)   (2011 -17)   (2010 - 7)
 
4. Chevrolet won 19 races.  Toyota won 10 races.    Ford won 7 races.  

Chevy    Kyle Larson - 10, Alex Bowman - 4, Chase Elliott - 2, Kurt Busch - 1, William Byron - 1, AJ Allmendinger - 1
Toyota   Martin Truex - 4, Denny Hamlin - 2, Kyle Busch - 2,  Christopher Bell - 1, Bubba Wallace - 1
Ford      Ryan Blaney - 3, Brad Keselowski - 1, Joey Logano - 1, Aric Almirola - 1, Michael McDowell -1

5. Drivers who won in 2020 and didn't win in 2021.  ( 3 )   #3 Austin Dillon, #4 Kevin Harvick, #41 Cole Custer

6.  One driver won 3 consecutive races twice!  
                           Kyle Larson -  Charlotte1, Sonoma, Nashville  
                           Kyle Larson -  CharlotteRC, Texas2, Kansas2

7.  One driver won 2 consecutive races. 
                           Ryan Blaney - Michigan, Daytona2

8.  Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola, Erik Jones were the biggest movers the most.  ( 3 times )

9.  William Byron was the biggest dropper the most.  ( 4 times )

10.  Corie Lajoie was the best "under $1.0" the most.  (10X)     Anthony Alfredo, Cole Custer were 2nd.  (6X) 

11.  William Byron was the worst over $5.0 the most.   (5X)       Ryan Blaney & Kyle Busch were next.  (4X)

12.  There were 2 races with more than one Biggest Mover.
COTA - Chase Briscoe, Ryan Preece       Richmond2 - Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Erik Jones

13.  There were 2 races with more than one Biggest Droppers
           Kansas1 - Chistopher Bell, Ryan Preece       IndianapolisRC- William Byron, Daniel Suarez    

STAGE POINTS

1.  There were a total of 4015 stage points.  
Chevy earned 1805 points.  Ford earned 1089 points.  Toyotas earned 1069 points.  No points drivers earned 56 points.

2.  Kyle Larson earned the most stage points of all drivers.  418 points.  (He didn't earn stage points in just 4 races.)
     Denny Hamlin earned the most stage points for the Toyotas.   401 points.   (He didn't earn points in just 3 races.)
     Joey Logano earned the most stage points for the Fords.  231 points.  (He didn't earn stage points in 9 races.)

3.  Of the drivers that didn't receive points but did earn stage points... AJ Allmendinger earned the most.  
23 points in 4 races.

4.  Drivers that didn't earn stage points in 2021...Quinn Houff and Josh Bilicki. 

2nd and 3rd earners
Chevy.........Chase Elliot - 311 points        William Byron - 288 points.
Ford...........Ryan Blaney - 229 points       Brad Keselowski - 210 points.
Toyota........Kyle Busch - 268 points          Martin Truex - 234 points.
0 pointers...Austin Cindric - 19 points       Justin Haley - 10 points.

I hope you enjoyed the stats for 2021.
And hope to see you next season for the 2022 NGFL season.


                                                                                                        And that will be it!