More fun with numbers
Check out this spreadsheet. (Don't worry; it's your standard MS Excel 2002 file.)
If you crack it open, you'll see NASCAR's new box score.
That's right: NASCAR -- a sport that didn't worry too much about numbers beyond a driver's starting and finishing positions, his place in the season standings and the amount of money he would take home at the end of the day -- has a boxscore.
NASCAR's boxscore isn't as graceful as the classic Major League Baseball one (I mean the narrow one, not the bloated wide box) or the long box we use for college basketball.
Is it useful? Hard to say. It's interesting, though, or some of it is.
Some of the info is what you're used to seeing in the paper or online -- there's driver name, starting spot, finishing position, number of laps completed. This adds on-track position at various intervals, number of laps led and average position.
The most useful new stat: the number of laps in the top 15.
Most worthless: Driver rating. Think of the NFL's QB rating, but with even less utility.
This isn't all of the stats, though. NASCAR is posting even more stats on its media-only Web site. There are things like straightaway speeds, where each driver does most of his passes, restart speeds, speeds in traffic, etc. etc. etc.
So how are we at the N&R going to use it? Not very much, at least right now. Our post-race boxes (new and improved for 2006) take up about 20 percent of a page right now -- that's huge for print. I'm guessing the boxscore, reproduced in type big enough so you could read it, would take up about half a page. That's way too much, especially when you consider that Monday's paper is the smallest of the week.
You might see some of the numbers creep into Dustin Long's stories, though, and some of them seem destined for charts and other fact boxes that run alongside.
What looks good to you? What makes sense to run in the paper? Or should NASCAR just worry about the numbers on the side of the cars?
Make a case for something in the comments below.
Comments (4)
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OK, I'll ask; what is a "quality pass"?
Posted on March 3, 2006 9:30 PM
It's interesting, to say the least. Can these stats be put to use and actually mean something to someone? Dunno. I'm guessing the system is too young to really say one way or the other.
Posted on March 3, 2006 11:44 PM
i agree about the laps in top 15 - that is a useful score - but more for me to see who didn't have many laps. Quality pass in the defns sheet is defined as "Passing a car running in the Top 15 while under a green flag."
Posted on March 4, 2006 10:59 AM
Thank you Tina.
I'm too old, I remember when you strived for a top-10 finish and a top-20 in points.
This reminds of public education where everyone does well and no one fails.
Posted on March 6, 2006 8:34 PM