Latest Project: Farce Cup Standings 2001-2013

[slorydn1]

Y'all know how I am, I just cannot leave well enough alone. Every time Bri-Bri France "tweaks" something I have to go back and see how his tweak actually measures up using actual race data instead of waiting to see how things play out.


I chose 2001 as the starting point because that's when the Cup schedule went to 36 races, so the 26 race "regular season", 10 race Chase would be apples to apples.


For a new system that is supposed to all about winning, consistency be damned, it has managed 2 produce not 1 but 2 winless champions in the 13 seasons that I measured, something the much maligned Latford Winston Cup points system NEVER managed to do over its entire existence from 1975-2003. It has also managed to produce a, get this, a ROOKIE Champion!


I'm sure you have noticed the title of this thread. I cannot take credit for naming this championship. My brother damg75 coined the name "Farce Cup" the very day the elimination style, 1 race at the end decides the whole season championship system was announced.

Ok so here is the information:

In the 13 seasons from 2001-2013 there have been 11 different Farce Cup Champions. There have been only 2 2-time winners, and only 1 of those went back to back.

Here is the list of champions:

2001 Bobby Labonte
2002 Kurt Busch
2003 Jimmie Johnson
2004 Jimmie Johnson
2005 Greg Biffle
2006 Denny Hamlin (rookie)
2007 Jeff Gordon
2008 Kevin Harvick (winless season)
2009 Kurt Busch
2010 Carl Edwards
2011 Tony Stewart
2012 Kyle Busch
2013 Dale Earnhardt, Jr (winless season)

46 drivers have made the Farce, but only one driver has made EVERY Farce:

Farce Appearences:

13= Jeff Gordon
12= Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson
11= Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kurt Busch
9= Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch
8= Carl Edwards
7= Denny Hamlin
6= Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne
5= Clint Bowyer
4= Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray
3= Michael Waltrip, Elliott Sadler, Ward Burton, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex, David Ragan, Joey Logano
2= Ricky Rudd, Sterling Marlin, Jeremy Methfield, Casey Mears, David Reutimann, Brad Keselowski, Marcos Ambrose
1= Steve Park, Bobby Hamilton Sr, Johnny Benson, Bill Elliott, Robby Gordon, Terry Labonte, Ricky Craven, Joe Nemechek, Scott Riggs, Brian Vickers, Paul Menard, and Regan Smith.

In order to win the Farce, one must make the Final 4. Jimmie Johnson leads all drivers with 9 Final 4 appearances, to wit:

9= Jimmie Johnson (2003-2004, 2007-2013)
6= Tony Stewart (2001-2002, 2004-2006, 2011)
Dale Earnhardt Jr (2001-2004, 2006, 2013)
Kevin Harvick (2006-2008, 2010-2011, 2013)
3= Denny Hamlin (2006, 2008, 2010)
Kyle Busch (2007, 2009, 2012)
Carl Edwards (2005, 2007, 2011)
2= Greg Biffle (2005, 2008)
Kurt Busch (2002, 2009)
Mark Martin (2005, 2009)
1= Bobby Labonte (2001)
Jeff Burton (2001)
Dale Jarrett (2002)
Matt Kenseth (2003)
Jamie McMurray (2004)
Brad Keselowski (2012)
Kasey Kahne (2012)

I will flesh out some other interesting tidbits in subsequent posts, this first post is getting kind of long.

[slorydn1]

For the record, I did go back and score every race dating back to the 2001 Daytona 500 using the current Bri-Bri 48 points for a win and lead the most laps down to 1 point for P43 without leading any laps, thats why it took me so long to do this. I also made sure any points penalties were applied. 2011-2013 was easy enough, Racing-Reference.info already took care of that for me. For 2001-2010 I converted the Latford points penalties to Bri-Bri penalties using the following scale (actual penalty on left, scaled on right)

10 points= 2 points
25 points = 6 points
50 points= 12 points
100 points= 25 points
150 points = 37 points
200 points = 50 points


So for example. Everyone remembers the draconian penalty leveled against Clint Bower after his Chase opening win at Loudon back in 2010-they hammered him with a 150 point penalty because the tow truck that pushed him to victory lane tweaked his rear end so that it was less than the thickness of a dime out of spec. That got got converted into a 37 point penalty in new money, and it ultimately had the same effect.

Ok, enough of that- now for the interesting little tidbits I found when I undertook this project:


No #1 seed has ever won the Farce (that is the driver with the most wins at the end of the 26 race regular season). The closest any of them got was Jimmie Johnson in 2007 when he finished P2 in the final standings. The largest Choke-Job by a #1 seed? That would be Kyle Busch in 2011, when he ended the season P14, breaking his own record for futility set in 2008 when he ended up p11.

#2 seeds haven't fared all that much better, only taking the title twice (Greg Biffle in 2005, Jeff Gordon in 2007).

The lowest seeded driver to win the Farce Cup? That would be Tony Stewart in 2011, when he left Richmond as the #15 seed.

The last 4 champions in a row came from OUTSIDE the top 10 (Edwards was #13 in 2010, Smoke #15 in 2011, Shrub #11 in 2012, and Junebug #12 last year)

The regular season POINTS leader has only won the Farce 1 time. Yep, you guessed it, Jeff Gordon in 2007.

Not counting Sterling Marlin's 2002 debacle (I can't hold the fact that he got injured at Kansas and sat out the rest of the year against him) the worst chokeadega by the regular season points leader was Carl Edwards just last year, as a matter of fact, when he ended up P15 after the dust settled.

Oh, and only one real life champion also won the Farce in the same year, and that would be Tony Stewart in 2011.

Jimmie Johnson finished P2 in the Farce a boatload of times in the years he won his real life Nextel/Sprint Cups, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013.

The worst the real life champion came out was Jeff Gordon during his 2001 Winston Cup winning campaign, when he ended up P6 in the Farce.

Keep alot of these tidbits in mind as you watch the real life scenarios unfold this year while watching race coverage on TV, as they breathlessly hype the #1 seed going down the stretch to Richmond, or when they hysterically tell you that so and so HAS to win or they will have NO SHOT at the Championship. Just point to Kevin Harvick in 2008 or Dale Jr last year and go "yeah, right."

If I get some requests I may post a year by year breakdown of how each season went down, but only if there are people interested in it. I learned my lesson when I was doing the FIA cup threads, LOL.

[slorydn1]

The contents of the following chart are the records as they stand from 2001 through the end of the 2013 season, had this current Chase format been in place since then, and to give everyone some idea of where we stand historically at this juncture going into Richmond this year.

Most Farce appearences	13	Jeff Gordon
Most consecutive apps	13	Jeff Gordon
Most app's never won Farce	12	Matt Kenseth
Most banquet appearences (top 10's)	12	Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson
Most consecutive banquet apps	12	Jimmie Johnson (2002-2013)
Most Final 4 apps	9	Jimmie Johnson
Most consecutive Final 4 apps	7	Jimmie Johnson (2007-2013)
Most Final 4 apps with no championship	2	Mark Martin
# of drivers with at least 1 appearence	46	see list on Farce champions sheet
# of drivers with at least 1 banquet appearence	29	see list on Farce champions sheet
# of drivers with at least 1 Final 4 app	18	see list on Farce champions sheet
# of drivers that have won the Farce	11	see list on Farce champions sheet
Most Farce Championship wins	2	Jimmie Johnson (2003,2004) Kurt Busch (2002,2009)
Most consecutive Farce Championship wins	2	Jimmie Johnson (2003-2004)
Farces won with zero wins entire season	2	Kevin Harvick (2008) Dale Earnhardt Jr (2013)
Seeding with most championships	11th	Kurt Busch (2002) Kevin Harvick (2008) Kyle Busch (2012)
Lowest seed to win Farce	15th	Tony Stewart (2011)
Number of farces won by #1 seed	0	never happened
Farces won by reg season Bri points leader	1	Jeff Gordon (2007)
Farces won by reg season Latford leader	1	Jeff Gordon (2007)
Farces won by reg season FIA points leader	2	Jimmie johnson (2004) Jeff Gordon (2007)
Most Bri pts by leader at race 26	963	Matt Kenseth (2003)
Least Bri pts by leader at race 26	837	Sterling Marlin (2002)
Avg Bri points by leader at race 26	907
Most Latford pts by leader at race 26	3878	Kyle Busch (2008)
Least Latford pts by leader at race 26	3439	Sterling Marlin (2002)
Avg Latford pts by leader at race 26	3719
Most FIA pts by leader at race 26	315	Kyle Busch (2008)
Least FIA pts by leader at race 26	197	Matt Kenseth (2002)
Avg FIA pts by leader at race 26	247
Lowest reg season Bri pts to make Farce	485	Michael Waltrip (2001)
Avg reg season low bri pts to make Farce	591
Lowest reg season WC pts to make Farce	2290	Michael Waltrip (2001)
Avg reg season low WC pts to make Farce	2622
Lowest reg season FIA pts to make Farce	25	David Ragan (2013)
Most points scored, missed the Farce	758	Clint Bowyer (2009)
Highest points position to miss Farce (Bri)	P10	Ryan Newman (2002)
Lowest Bri pts position to make Farce	P28	Michael Waltrip (2001)
Closest margin to miss Farce (Bri)	1 pt	Brad Keselowski (2013)
Widest margin to miss Farce	94 pts	Carl Edwards (2012) (Jeff Burton actually scored 170 points more than 16 seed in 2003 but there were 16 winners)
Most race winners by race 26	16	2003
Least race winners by race 26	10	2008
Avg race winners by race 26	12.8
Farthest low point driver went in Farce	P9	Greg Biffle (2004)
Avg bri pts pos by lowest pt driver at richmond	21.5
Avg final farce standing by low pt driver	14.2
Avg final farce standing by #1 seed	6.6
Avg race 27 seed for Farce champion	8.0
Avg reg season real pts leader final Farce standing	7.5	Latford 2001-2010, Bri 2011-2013
Real life champions avg final Farce standing	3.2	the drivers that won real life Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup
Best Farce finish, real life champion	P1	Tony Stewart (2011)
Worst Farce finish, real life champion	P6	Jeff Gordon (2001)
Least experienced driver to win Farce	1 yr	Denny Hamlin was a rookie in 2006
Worst choke job by #1 seed	P14	Kyle Busch (2011)
Worst choke job by reg season pts leader	P15	Carl Edwards (2013) (Sterling Marlin did finish p16 in 2002, but he missed most of the Farce due to a neck injury sustained at Kansas)

Farces won by winning the last race (Loudon in 01 Homestead since)	4	Kurt Busch (2002) Greg Biffle (2005) Carl Edwards (2010) Tony Stewart (2011)
Lowest finish in last race to win the Farce	P6	Bobby Labonte (2001)
Avg finish in final race by Farce winner	2.7

[slorydn1]

I guess given the number of newer members we have I should explain the different points systems just a bit:

Latford (or WC) was the points system in place through the end of the 2010 season, the final iteration of which from 2007 through 2010 gave 195 points to the driver that won the race and led the most laps on down to 34 points for the 43rd place driver (no laps lead). Bonuses were 5 points for leading a lap, and 5 points for leading the most laps. When you see me type WC to shorten the entry that means Winston Cup which we here use interchangably for the Latford points system. Going into Richmond this weekend, Jeff Gordon is the Latford points leader with 3563 points, leading Dale Earnhardt Jr by 66 points. My favorite driver, Kevin Harvick is P7, -384 back.

Bri is short for Bri-Bri, our not so affectionate nickname for NASCAR CEO Brian France, and is the 48 points for winning the race and leading the most laps on down to 1 point for P43, no laps led system that has been in place since 2011. I cannot take credit for the nickname Bri-Bri, that was coined by our former moderator RaceFanStan, may he rest in peace. Going into the Richmond weekend, Jeff Gordon is the Bri points leader with 871 points, leading Dale Jr by 20 points. My driver, Kevin Harvick is P8, -123 back

FIA is the current points structure used in Formula 1 which awards points on the following scale:

P1=25 points
P2=18 points
P3=15 points
P4=12 points
P5=10 points
P6=08 points
P7=06 points
P8=04 points
P9=02 points
P10=01 points

0 points are awarded to the rest of the field regardless of the size, and there are no bonuses for leading laps.
Going into the Richmond weekend this year Dale Earnhardt Jr is the FIA points leader with 206 points, leading Jeff Gordon by 7 points. Kevin Harvick is P6, -38 back.

Since I have gone back and scored all the seasons since 2001 in the current Bri points a seeding or points position on the chart is in Bri unless otherwise noted.

I hope this helps to give y'all some historical perspective when you see what is going on on TV when you watch the next 11 races. You will hear alot of pontificating about this or that, about how Driver X "Must win" etc etc but now you are armed with the facts. Have Fun!!

[Sparky1329]

Wow!

[slorydn1]

Well here we are, the Thursday before Homestead.

The final 4 drivers are Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman.

Now that we know who the players are, here is a little background on their Farce Cup history.

1) Kevin Harvick: Having been in the series since 2001 (14 Seasons) this is Harvick's 13th appearance in the Farce (the only year he failed to make it was 2009). Harvick is a 1 time Farce Cup Champion having pulled off the feat in 2008 in dramatic fashion as a winless driver with a P2 finish at Homestead. That was the race that Carl Edwards who had been eliminated won on fuel mileage by doing lap times well below the minimum speed by 7.5 seconds over Harvick who had pitted and then made up 1.5 laps in the last 10 laps on the track but just couldn't quite get there.

This is Harv's 7th Final 4 appearance (the other 6 being 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013) which makes him second only to Jimmie Johnson on that list, and his second straight year in the final 4. Last year he finished P9 in the race at Homestead, 3rd of the 4 drivers (Junebug won the cup with a P3 finish in the race).

Since being in the Final 4 guarantees him a top 10 finish in the points (actually at least p4) this will be Harvick's 11th season finishing in the top 10 in the Farce, tying him for P3 with his car owner, Tony Stewart.

Joey Logano: The artist formerly known as Sliced Bread has been in the Farce Cup Series for 6 full seasons and this is his 4th appearance in the Farce tied at P16 on the list with Dale Jarrett, Bobby Labonte, Rusty Wallace and Jamie McMurray (keeping in mind that I only scored the Farce back to 2001, the beginning of the 36 race era).

This is Logano's first Final 4 appearance, and only his second Top 10 finish in the Farce with his best being P8 in 2013.

Denny Hamlin: Hamlin burst on the scene late in the 2005 season, went full time in the Farce Cup Series in 2006 (9 full seasons) and has the distinction of being the only Rookie champion in Cup Series history having won the Farce in 2006.

This is Hamlin's 4th Final 4 appearance, the other 3 being 2006, 2008, 2010. which puts him in sole possession of 4th place on the list.

Hamlin has made appeared in the Farce 8 times in those 9 seasons with 2013 being the only year he didn't make it. This puts him in P12 on this list.

Hamlin has finished the Farce in the top 10 7 times now which ties him with Junebug and Biffle at P6 on the list. Hamlin won the race at Homestead last year.

Ryan Newman: Newman has been in the series for 13 full seasons and this is his first appearance in the Final 4.

Newman has appeared in the Farce 10 times now, tying him with Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch at P8 on the list.

This will be Newman's 6th Top 10 finish in the Farce, the other 5 being 2003, 2005, 2010, 2011, and 2012. If Newman is the top finisher at Homestead without winning the race, he will become the 3rd driver to win the Farce without winning any races (Harvick 2008 and Junebug 2013 being the other 2).

[journeyman racer]

To be fair. Nascar never really have had a good points allocation. Ever.

[Alexamateo]

Congrats Slo, I know Harvick is your driver. He is a deserving champion, and they've been fast all year. That said, It's a silly way to decide a season championship.

[slorydn1]

Congrats Slo, I know Harvick is your driver. He is a deserving champion, and they've been fast all year. That said, It's a silly way to decide a season championship.

Thanks, Alex, it really means a lot.

Still, my enthusiasm is tempered by the gimmicky nature of this new deal. I guess I'll just chalk it it up as a make good for the real championship he won in 2010 that he gets no recognition for. Now I can call him a one time Champion and mean it

[slorydn1]

The contents of the following chart are the records as they stand from 2001 through the end of the 2014 season, had this current Chase format been in place since then.
2014 updates in bold type

Most Farce appearences	14	Jeff Gordon
Most consecutive apps	14	Jeff Gordon
Most app's never won Farce	13	Matt Kenseth
Most banquet appearences (top 10's)	13	Jeff Gordon
Most consecutive banquet apps	12	Jimmie Johnson (2002-2013)
Most Final 4 apps	9	Jimmie Johnson
Most consecutive Final 4 apps	7	Jimmie Johnson (2007-2013)
Most Final 4 apps with no championship	2	Mark Martin
# of drivers with at least 1 appearence	48	see list in subsequent post
# of drivers with at least 1 banquet appearence	29	see list in subsequent post
# of drivers with at least 1 Final 4 app	20	see list in subsequent post
# of drivers that have won the Farce	11	see list in subsequent post
Most Farce Championship wins	2	Jimmie Johnson (2003,2004) Kurt Busch (2002,2009) Kevin Harvick (2008,2014)
Most consecutive Farce Championship wins	2	Jimmie Johnson (2003-2004)
Farces won with zero wins entire season	2	Kevin Harvick (2008) Dale Earnhardt Jr (2013)
Seeding with most championships	11th	Kurt Busch (2002) Kevin Harvick (2008) Kyle Busch (2012)
Lowest seed to win Farce	15th	Tony Stewart (2011)
Number of farces won by #1 seed	0	never happened
Farces won by reg season Bri points leader	1	Jeff Gordon (2007)
Farces won by reg season Latford leader	1	Jeff Gordon (2007)
Farces won by reg season FIA points leader	2	Jimmie johnson (2004) Jeff Gordon (2007)
Most Bri pts by leader at race 26	963	Matt Kenseth (2003)
Least Bri pts by leader at race 26	837	Sterling Marlin (2002)
Avg Bri points by leader at race 26	907
Most Latford pts by leader at race 26	3878	Kyle Busch (2008)
Least Latford pts by leader at race 26	3439	Sterling Marlin (2002)
Avg Latford pts by leader at race 26	3720
Most FIA pts by leader at race 26	315	Kyle Busch (2008)
Least FIA pts by leader at race 26	197	Matt Kenseth (2002)
Avg FIA pts by leader at race 26	245
Lowest reg season Bri pts to make Farce	485	Michael Waltrip (2001)
Avg reg season low bri pts to make Farce	591
Lowest reg season WC pts to make Farce	2290	Michael Waltrip (2001)
Avg reg season low WC pts to make Farce	2626
Lowest reg season FIA pts to make Farce	25	David Ragan (2013)
Most points scored, missed the Farce	758	Clint Bowyer (2009)
Highest points position to miss Farce (Bri)	P10	Ryan Newman (2002)
Lowest Bri pts position to make Farce	P28	Michael Waltrip (2001)
Closest margin to miss Farce (Bri)	1 pt	Brad Keselowski (2013)
Widest margin to miss Farce	94 pts	Carl Edwards (2012) (Jeff Burton actually scored 170 points more than 16 seed in 2003 but there were 16 winners)
Most race winners by race 26	16	2003
Least race winners by race 26	10	2008
Avg race winners by race 26	12.9
Farthest low point driver went in Farce	P9	Greg Biffle (2004)
Avg bri pts pos by lowest pt driver at richmond	21.8
Avg final farce standing by low pt driver	14.1
Avg final farce standing by #1 seed	6.5
Avg race 27 seed for Farce champion	7.9
Avg reg season real pts leader final Farce standing	7.4	Latford 2001-2010, Bri 2011-2014
Real life champions avg final Farce standing	3.2	the drivers that won real life Winston/Nextel/Sprint Cup (see note for next stat)
Best Farce finish, real life champion	P1	Tony Stewart (2011) (not adding Harvick or any subsequent driver to this list because this is the way all the champions going forward will be decided
Worst Farce finish, real life champion	P6	Jeff Gordon (2001)
Least experienced driver to win Farce	1 yr	Denny Hamlin was a rookie in 2006
Worst choke job by #1 seed	P14	Kyle Busch (2011)
Worst choke job by reg season pts leader	P15	Carl Edwards (2013) (Sterling Marlin did finish p16 in 2002, but he missed most of the Farce due to a neck injury sustained at Kansas)

Farces won by winning the last race (Loudon in 01 Homestead since)	5	Kurt Busch (2002) Greg Biffle (2005) Carl Edwards (2010) Tony Stewart (2011) Kevin Harvick (2014)
Lowest finish in last race to win the Farce	P6	Bobby Labonte (2001)
Avg finish in final race by Farce winner	2.5