Tony Stewart won the title in the most statistically-competitive season in the 63-year history of the Sprint Cup Series. Two major NASCAR Sprint Cup competition records were broken this past season: average lead changes and leaders per race. There was an average of 27.1 lead changes per race in 2011, the most in the history of Sprint Cup competition. Additionally, there was an average of 12.8 leaders per event, also the highest average since the series’ inaugural year of 1949. For the second consecutive season, the record books were rewritten. The previous record-highs in both statistics were set in 2010, when there were averages of 25.4 lead changes and 11.4 leaders. In addition, there were 131,989 total green flag passes (an average of 3,666 per race), which is a series-high since NASCAR began tabulating passing numbers in 2005. From green flag to checkered, races during the 2011 unfurled in a tight, unpredictable manner. Averaging a margin of victory of 1.321, a record 23 races featured an MOV under one second. That’s the most since the inception of timing and scoring in 1993.(NASCAR)(11-24-2011)
