—– The average age of a race winner so far this year is 31.75 years, the youngest since a 31.22 average in 1967. It’s tied with 1964 for the sixth lowest all-time average age for a winner in a season. Just two years ago, in 2001, the winner’s average age was 35.51 years, but it dipped to 33.56 years last year and the trend continues this year. The all-time lowest average age was 28.59 years in 1950. The all-time highest was 38.9 years in 1983. —– Rusty Wallace is 14th in the standings going into Sunday’s final race, meaning he’ll finish outside the top 10 in points this year for the first time since 1992. —– Unless Kenseth wins Sunday’s race, the Winston Leader Bonus will go uncollected this season for the first time in its eight-year history. The bonus is $10,000 per race and is paid to a driver who is leading the points and wins a race. Trouble is, nobody has done that since Sterling Marlin at Darlington last spring. A win for Kenseth would be worth an extra $360,000 today. If he doesn’t collect, the money will be divided among the top 10 finishers in the final points standings. —– The average starting position of a race winner so far this year is 9.17, which reverses a trend of the previous four seasons when that number was 11.21, 12.65, 12.39 and 14.08. The average winner’s starting spot in 1998 was 4.76. Still, there have been 10 races this year where at least one driver starting on a provisional, 37th or worse, finished in the top 10. —– The fastest car in the final Winston Cup practice session held has won five times this year. The fastest car in qualifying practice won the pole 12 times.( David Poole of the Charlotte Observer/ThatsRacin.com )(11-16-2003)
