Here are my mid-week driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Fontana, Calif. 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 at Fontana, the loop data for the past eight races at the other tracks in the Large Ovals track group (i.e., Texas, Charlotte, Atlanta, Kansas, Chicago, Michigan and Kentucky), and the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Large Ovals:
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
- Carl Edwards
- Greg Biffle
- Tony Stewart
- Jeff Gordon
- Kyle Busch
- Kasey Kahne
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- Clint Bowyer
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Kevin Harvick
- Mark Martin
- Denny Hamlin
- Ryan Newman
- Brad Keselowski
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Jeff Burton
- Kurt Busch
- Paul Menard
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Marcos Ambrose
- Regan Smith
- Jamie McMurray
- Joey Logano
- Aric Almirola
- Casey Mears
- David Ragan
- David Reutimann
- Landon Cassill
- Joe Nemechek
- Bobby Labonte
- Brendan Gaughan
- Travis Kvapil
- Dave Blaney
- Michael McDowell
- J.J. Yeley
- David Gilliland
- David Stremme
- Ken Schrader
- Robby Gordon
- Mike Bliss
- Josh Wise(i)
- Scott Riggs
1. Daytona 500 (DUH) (5 different trkacs in 1st 5 races .)2. The ROCK3. California4. Mexico/Montreal5. Bristol6. Las Vegas7. Nashville8. Atlanta9. New Hampshire10. Talladega11. Martinsville (From biggest to smallest .I like it)(All star break at Daytona-infield)12. Charlotte13. Dover14. Pocono15. Texas16. Sonoma17. Daytona (really, the biggest race should have the 1st sequel)18. Chicago19. Richmond20. Kentucky21. Indy22. New Hampshire23. Michigan24. Bristol25. Darlington26. Las Vegas (10 different venues in chase races)27. Pocono28. Dover29. Kansas30. Talladega31. Charlotte32. Martisville33. Watkins Glen34. California35. Phoenix36. Homestead MiamiBeast Lineup. Only 10 repeat trkacs. The rock gets its no. 2 date back, The Lady in Black gets her Labor day date. Move the All star race to Daytona Infield to see if they’re really all stars. Put the Glen, Pocono in the chase. Vegas is a good last regular season race. Add Nashville, Kentucky, and Montreal/Mexico. get rid of dates in Atlanta, Texas, Michigan, and Phoenix. Maybe put Richmond in the chase and get rid of the other California date. This would add variety, making the whole season more interesting. And FOX gets the whole season. I can’t take ESPN.