In the first installment of Crunching the Numbers, the Louisville NASCAR Examiner took a look at the NASCAR points system. Up this week -- the driver rating system.
NASCAR developed its driver rating system in 2005 to gauge a driver's past performance at a given track. In the time since, the driver rating system has been referred to heavily within the NASCAR media when making predictions and previewing upcoming races.
The NASCAR driver rating system awards points to drivers based on three categories it calls primary statistics, fixed bonus points, and variable bonus points.
Primary statistics are where most of the points are accumulated. This category is based on the points system utilized from 2004 through 2006, even though there were slight tweaks made to the points system in 2007.
Drivers start with a base consisting of the number of points they would have received for their finish (not including bonus points) under the 2004-2006 points structure -- 180 for a win and 34 for a 43rd-place finish.
Drivers are then given points for their average running position over the course of a race. It's basically the same as the points for finish times two. For instance, a driver who has an average running position of first (only achieved by leading every lap of a race) would receive 360 points, and a driver who has an average running position of 43rd would be given 68 points.
Under the primary statistics category, points are also awarded for average speed. Once drivers are ranked based on their average lap time, the points are the same as they are are for race finishes -- 180 points for the fastest car and driver and 34 for the slowest.
Points are also awarded for the fastest lap, which is actually determined by averaging the fastest three laps for each driver. After drivers are ranked by these lap times, points are awarded at one-ninth the level of the race finish points -- 20 points for first through 3.8 points for last.
In the second category, fixed bonus points, a set number of points are awarded to drivers for various accomplishments. They are as follows:
race win -- 20
top-15 finish -- 10
leading the most laps -- 10
finishing on the lead lap -- 5
average running position of better than 10th -- 5
average running position of better than sixth -- another 5
average running position of first or second -- an additional 5
Then there's the variable bonus points category. In this category, the number of green flag laps a driver leads and the number of green flag laps a driver has the fastest car on the racetrack are added together and then divided by the number of total green flag laps that driver ran in the race. That number is then multiplied by 100. The maximum number of points a driver can earn in this section is 100.
After points are tallied for each of the three categories, the totals are added together. This number is then divided by six. The maximum number of points possible by adding points earned from each of the three categories is 900, so a perfect driver rating is 150.
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