Early Rankings: NASCAR All Star Race, 2012

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
  11. Ryan Newman
  12. Brad Keselowski
  13. Jeff Gordon
  14. Clint Bowyer
  15. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  16. Paul Menard
  17. Marcos Ambrose
  18. Regan Smith
  19. Trevor Bayne
  20. Kurt Busch
  21. David Ragan