Winter Heat Showdown @ Cocopah Speedway - By the Numbers

By Tyler Beichner:

Three of the five nights of early-January sprint car racing have commenced...so let's take a look at the numbers.


34. The number of drivers that have competed during the Winter Heat thus far.



560 points is the most by any competitor right now, currently held by Paul McMahan. Rounding out the top 5 in points are Joey Saldana (-16), Stevie Smith (-19), Kyle Larson (-37) and Danny Lasoski (-53).



4.0 is the average finishing position for mini-series point leader Paul McMahan. Saldana is holding on to an average finishing spot of 5.0, followed closely by Stevie Smith's 5.7 average finish.

Also getting into the mix are Brian Brown and Henry Van Dam. Brown currently holds an average finish of 4.5, but has only qualified for 2 of the 3 features thus pushing him down the points (currently 12th) The same goes for Van Dam, who at the moment has an average finishing spot of 7.5. Despite only making 2 of the A-Mains, Van Dam finds himself sitting 15th in points.



16 drivers have qualified for all three features (McMahan, Saldana, S. Smith, Larson, Lasoski, Crockett, Bell, Schuchart, Kahne, K. Kinser, S. Kinser, Dollansky, Gravel, Croft, Goetz, Ruetzel)



16 cars passed by Brian Brown during feature racing action, the most by any driver. Next highest is Logan Schuchart, who has managed to pass 14 cars. Also moving up 10+ spots are Ryan Smith (13), Mason Moore (12) and Joey Saldana (10).



3.0 average feature starting position for Aaron Ruetzel, the best among the 34 car field. However, Ruetzel has experienced some awful luck and holds an average finish of 19th. Following Ruetzel with the best average starting spots are Stevie Smith (5.0), Craig Dollansky (5.7), Paul McMahan (7.0) and Kyle Larson (7.3).



-49. The number of positions moved for one Aaron Ruetzel, worst among the 34 car field. Other drivers with notable negative numbers are Craig Dollansky (-30) and David Gravel (-13).



$29,000. The monetary value doled out to the three winners alone (two $12,000 to win shows, one $5,000 to win show)


Racing in Yuma, AZ picks back up this Friday and Saturday with back-to-back shows paying $12,000 to win. This is the last chance for the 410 Sprint drivers to get their machines dialed in before the take to the track during Florida Speedweeks in a little over a month's time.