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Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman climb up NASCAR record book

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The Auto Club in Fontana provides unique passing lanes on a slick track that makes NASCAR drivers absolutely giddy.

A bit overlooked from last weekend’s race at ISM Raceway was that both Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Newman moved up a spot for most consecutive Cup starts.

Both started their 580th consecutive Cup race last weekend. That moved them ahead of Ken Schrader (579 career starts) into ninth on the all-time list. Kevin Harvick has 572 consecutive starts. He’s set to pass Schrader at Kansas in May.

Next for Johnson and Newman is Mark Martin, who made 621 career Cup starts.

Jeff Gordon is the record holder with 797 consecutive starts. At this point, both Johnson, who is 42 years old, and Newman, who is 40, would need six years to reach Gordon’s mark.

To put the streak Johnson and Newman have compiled into perspective, rookies William Byron and Darrell Wallace Jr. would each need to not miss a race for 16 years to match them (provided there continues to be 36 points races a year). Both Byron and Wallace will need 22 seasons to match Gordon’s mark.

Most consecutive Cup starts

797 - Jeff Gordon

788 - Ricky Rudd

704 - Bobby Labonte

697 - Rusty Wallace

655 - Terry Labonte

648 - Dale Earnhardt

628 - Jeff Burton

621 - Mark Martin

580 - Jimmie Johnson

580 - Ryan Newman

579 - Ken Schrader

572 - Kevin Harvick

571 - Matt Kenseth

548 - Jamie McMurray

521 - Tony Stewart

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