Jimmie Johnson currently has the fifth-best career winning percentage, but remember, those stats fade in the less-successful years toward the end of driver’s career. (Photo: Getty Images)
HAMPTON, Ga. - Predictably, incomplete statistics were trotted out this week to extol the virtues of Jimmie Johnson, who gets enough credit already without having to concoct misleading statistics.
Yes, Johnson's victories in the past two races leave him with a career winning percentage of .167, which, right now, is fifth best in NASCAR history. For the record, the winning percentages are: (1.) Herb Thomas .211, (2.) Tim Flock .209, (3.) David Pearson .183, (4.) Richard Petty .169, (5.) Johnson .167, and (5.) Fred Lorenzen .165.
The trouble with that list is that all the other drivers have completed their careers and Johnson hasn't. Winning percentage isn't relevant until a driver's career is over, simply because almost every driver's percentage falls off as he gets older.
For instance, NASCAR's all-time leader in victories, Richard Petty, failed to win any of the final 241 races of his career. The runner-up, David Pearson, ended his career with 55 fruitless starts.
At the end of Jeff Gordon's greatest streak - three championships and 47 victories in the 1995-99 - his career winning percentage was .220. In fact, at the point where Gordon won his 49th race - Johnson's current total is 49 - his winning percentage was significantly higher than Johnson's.
Gordon's present winning percentage is .140, which is 11th best all-time.
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THE TRICK--Jeff Burton has twice won Nationwide Series races at Atlanta Motor Speedway but never finished better than fourth in a Sprint Cup event. He hasn't finished better than 10th since 2007.
"The biggest challenge is the way the speed falls off so much," said Burton. "It's like the track has two personalities. You have to be aggressive and drive hard for qualifying and then, when the race starts, you race it like you used to race Darlington. The place gets really slick and real slimy. It's amazing the amount of grip you don't have here.
"You have to have a car that makes more grip than your competitors, and making the most out of that is what will put you in the winner's circle. Even the best handling car here in the last few years has handled awful, so finding a way to do it better than your competition in a low, low grip arena will be the biggest challenge."
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YOU SURE?-- An Atlanta radio reporter asked Clint Bowyer about the future of the track's two annual dates ... but not exactly the way wanted.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't a question.
"There's a lot of talk about Atlanta losing one of its race dates," he said. "And those of us down here sure hope so."
Bowyer answered as if the reporter had said what he meant.
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NO NEED TO WORRY ... YET -- Only five of the 12 Chase drivers of 2009 are presently in the top 12. The missing include Jeff Gordon (13th), Brian Vickers (18th), Kurt Busch (19th), Denny Hamlin (22nd), Kasey Kahne (23rd), Juan Pablo Montoya (26th) and Ryan Newman (32nd).
Newman was 35th after the first three races last year but went on to make the Chase anyway, and Hamlin it's early for anyone to be overly concerned.
"We're just missing by a little," said Hamlin, "but we're working hard, and we're focused. The results will start coming."