Here are my final driver rankings for today’s race at Sonoma. I compiled them by crunching the practice and qualifying data from Sonoma Friday and Saturday, and then melding it with the historical data:
- Jeff Gordon
- Marcos Ambrose
- Ryan Newman
- Kurt Busch
- Jamie McMurray
- Kasey Kahne
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Denny Hamlin
- Clint Bowyer
- Tony Stewart
- Kevin Harvick
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- Brad Keselowski
- Joey Logano
- Paul Menard
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kyle Busch
- Mark Martin
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Greg Biffle
- Robby Gordon
- David Gilliland
- David Ragan
- Matt Kenseth
- Jeff Burton
- Boris Said
- Carl Edwards
- Bobby Labonte
- Regan Smith
- David Reutimann
- Brian Vickers
- Dave Blaney
- Andy Lally
- Casey Mears
- Joe Nemechek
- P.J. Jones
- Terry Labonte
- Andy Pilgrim
- Chris Cook
- Brian Simo
- David Mayhew(i)
- Mike Skinner(i)
When I compare Vickers to Logano, I think Vickers is at least comparable. I’m wondering if your model is “punishing” Vickers for missing the race last season.
Yeah, you’re right, my model is punishing Vickers. I’ve set up a scoring system that awards drivers points for their performance in practice, qualifying and the race for each race. Vickers didn’t get points for road courses last year, so that hurts him in this model.
I also agree that that makes Vickers’ ranking in my model inaccurate. He probably doesn’t belong down there with the Blaney’s and Lally’s. I’ll have to see if I can figure out a way to account for the problem.
Thanks for the feedback!