by Jorge A. Mondaca, FOXSports.com

Comment

Unlike some of NASCAR's races this season, the action at Daytona International Speedway was scintillating throughout the weekend. On display were fast cars, three-wide passes for the lead, and yes, more than a few eye-popping crashes.

Who survived the wild weekend of restrictor plate racing? Here's a look at the numbers that tell the story from the Fourth of July weekend.

101

What it is: Number of NASCAR victories for Joe Gibbs Racing

The story it tells: No matter whether it was the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series or the Nationwide Series, the talk of the town was Joe Gibbs Racing. And this weekend, class was in session as the organization swept the weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

Saturday, Kyle Busch was at the head of the NASCAR class as he captured victory No. 101 for the outfit. Unlike the majority of his six Sprint Cup Series victories this season, he did not have the dominant car during the Coke Zero 400 — Dale Earnhardt Jr. did. In fact, Busch had to rebound from a "squirrely" moment on Lap 82 that dropped him to 37th. But the combination of skill and a bit of good fortune at the end with a timely crash behind him helped Busch pick up the victory 80 laps later.

"We had a pretty good car. It wasn't the best one out there, but it was good enough where we were able to get it up towards the front and race there much of the night," Busch said.

In contrast, Denny Hamlin was certainly earning high marks during Friday's Winn-Dixie 250 Nationwide race. Starting from 17th on the grid, Hamlin found his way to the front in short order, averaging a 5.752-place running position throughout the 105 lap event, and he set eight fast laps en route to leading a race high 29 circuits — including the money lap at the end.

For the organization as a whole, it seemed fitting that they crossed the 100-victory barrier at Daytona. In 1993, they captured their first win during the Daytona 500 with Dale Jarrett at the helm and now they have 13 triumphs at the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

Oh yeah, this season alone has seen JGR pad their account with seven Sprint Cup wins, one non-points Cup victory and 12 triumphs in Nationwide competition.

Class dismissed.

126.4

What it is: The driver rating for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Saturday night (1st overall)

The story it tells: The importance of drafting partners at Daytona was on display late Saturday night.

No matter what statistic you look at, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the best of the best on race day. Laps led (51), average running position (3.043), laps in the top 15 (162) and the catch-all driver rating (126.4) which combines several key race day statistics to establish a figure.

But that was of little consolation following the completion of 162 laps on race day. After losing the lead on Lap 134 to teammate Jeff Gordon, Dale Jr. got lost in the shuffle as drivers teamed up to pass him. As a result, he found himself in the eye of the storm as several major incidents took place at the end of the event.

"I didn't want to be near anybody that was driving. It was crazy," Earnhardt Jr. said. "They were running into each other and wrecking and carrying on and Clint (Bowyer) hits the wall and I think all that happened after the finish line. Dang! I still thought it was one to go, or something. If I'd of known it was the last lap, my mind would have been better prepared for what I saw (laughs). It was crazy."

There was a silver lining though. After avoiding all the incidents at the end, Earnhardt Jr. wheeled his way to an eighth-place finish which helped him climb to second overall in the championship standings.

But that's not enough for the fan favorite.

"I've been given great equipment and I've just been not making the right decisions at the end. I need to change my mentality or something going into those last 20 laps or something, and just have a little luck."

29

What it is: Number of positions lost by Jeff Gordon over the final 10 percent of laps Saturday (16 circuits).

The story it tells: Gordon has to be wondering what could have been after Saturday night's race.

During the final restart of Saturday's Coke Zero 400, Jeff Gordon was in command and looked to be on his way to capture his first victory of the season. However, shortly after the start of the green/white/checkered finale, he was bumped from behind by second-place Carl Edwards and went for a wild ride through the grass.

"We had such an awesome night going you know and I'm just so excited about the way we ran, but obviously disappointed about the way we finished," said Gordon. "I knew it was just a matter of time before we got wrecked the way they were bump drafting and getting kind of crazy out there."

Gordon would make his way around the track to finish the race 30th overall, the biggest drop in position over the final 10 percent of the race. By comparison, Terry Labonte was the biggest gainer over that span, picking up 14 positions to finish 16th.

Odds and ends

6th: Speaking of big gainers, Robby Gordon gained 13 positions over the final 16 laps to finish sixth on Saturday night. It is his best finish of the season.

5: The luckiest driver at Daytona? David Reutimann. Plagued early by a faulty spark plug wire, Reutimann fell off the pace by five laps by Lap 98. But thanks to several cautions, and the fact that other cars either remained on the lead lap or went into garage for multiple laps, the driver of the No. 44 Michael Waltrip Racing machine got the "Lucky Dog" five times to get back on the lead lap by the end of the race. Unfortunately, that luck did not last all the way to the end as Reutimann was involved in Jimmie Johnson's Lap 158 incident and limped home 21st.