Here are my final driver rankings for tonight’s race at Charlotte. I compiled them by crunching the practice and qualifying data from Charlotte on Friday and Saturday, and then melding it with the historical data:

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Greg Biffle
4. Kyle Busch
5. Kasey Kahne
6. Matt Kenseth
7. Mark Martin
8. Martin Truex Jr.
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Carl Edwards Continue reading →

Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte. I compiled them by crunching:

• The loop data for the past 15 Sprint Cup races (excluding Daytona, Talladega, Sonoma and Watkins Glen);
• the loop data for the past four races (excluding Talladega);
• the loop data for the past four races at Charlotte;
• the loop data for the past eight races at the other tracks in the Large Ovals track group (i.e., Fontana, Kansas, Atlanta, Texas, Chicago, Michigan and Kentucky);
• the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Charlotte; and
• the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Greg Biffle
4. Kyle Busch
5. Kasey Kahne
6. Matt Kenseth
7. Martin Truex Jr.
8. Mark Martin
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Carl Edwards Continue reading →

Here are my final driver rankings for tonight’s race at Charlotte. I compiled them by crunching the practice and qualifying data from Charlotte on Friday and Saturday, and then melding it with the historical data:

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Kyle Busch
3. Greg Biffle
4. Denny Hamlin
5. Matt Kenseth
6. Mark Martin
7. Carl Edwards
8. Martin Truex, Jr.
9. Kevin Harvick
10. Tony Stewart Continue reading →

Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte. I compiled them by crunching:

• The loop data for the past 15 Sprint Cup races (excluding Daytona and Talladega);
• the loop data for the past four races (excluding Daytona and Talladega);
• the loop data for the past four races at Charlotte;
• the loop data for the past eight races at the other tracks in the Large Ovals track group (i.e., Fontana, Kansas, Atlanta, Texas, Chicago, Michigan and Kentucky);
• the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Charlotte; and
• the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.

I also made a few small adjustments to the rankings per the impressions I gleaned from watching the All Star and Showdown races and prelims last week.

The results:

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Kyle Busch
4. Greg Biffle
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Carl Edwards
7. Kasey Kahne
8. Tony Stewart
9. Kevin Harvick
10. Martin Truex, Jr. Continue reading →

Here are my final driver rankings for tonight’s All Star race at Charlotte. I compiled them by crunching the practice data from Charlotte yesterday, and then melding it with the historical data:

1. Matt Kenseth
2. Kyle Busch
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Greg Biffle
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Carl Edwards
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Tony Stewart
9. Kasey Kahne
10. Mark Martin Continue reading →

Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup All Star race at Charlotte. I compiled them by crunching:

• The loop data for the past 15 Sprint Cup races (excluding Daytona and Talladega);
• the loop data for the past four races (excluding Daytona and Talladega);
• the loop data for the past four races at Charlotte;
• the loop data for the past seven races at the other tracks in the Large Ovals track group (i.e., Fontana, Kansas, Atlanta, Texas, Chicago, Michigan and Kentucky);
• the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Charlotte; and
• the practice and qualifying data for past seven races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.

Note: I tilted the formula toward the prelim data this week because it reflects speed, which is critical in the short run-oriented All Star race.

Also, keep in mind this early week list doesn’t include whoever gets into the All Star race via the Showdown. It does include Dale Jr. because he will likely get in via the fan vote.

The results:

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Kyle Busch
4. Greg Biffle
5. Denny Hamlin
6. Carl Edwards
7. Tony Stewart
8. Kasey Kahne
9. Kevin Harvick
10. Mark Martin Continue reading →

Here are my final driver rankings for this weekend’s race at Charlotte. I compiled them by crunching the practice and qualifying data from Charlotte Thursday and Friday, and then melding it with the historical data:

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Greg Biffle
3. Kurt Busch
4. Tony Stewart
5. Paul Menard
6. A.J. Allmendinger
7. Kasey Kahne
8. Brad Keselowski
9. Kyle Busch
10. Ryan Newman Continue reading →