Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s race at Daytona. I compiled them by crunching the loop and qualifying data for the 2011 and 2012 races at Daytona and Talladega, which reflects speed, the ability to pass and the ability (and inclination) to run a lot of laps up front:
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Clint Bowyer
- Matt Kenseth
- Paul Menard
- Greg Biffle
- Jeff Gordon
- Jeff Burton
- Jimmie Johnson
- Tony Stewart
- Carl Edwards
- Regan Smith
- Brad Keselowski
- Trevor Bayne
- Ryan Newman
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Kasey Kahne
- Marcos Ambrose
- Kyle Busch
- Joey Logano
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Kevin Harvick
- Jamie McMurray
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- Denny Hamlin
- David Ragan
- Kurt Busch
- Landon Cassill
- Bobby Labonte
- Aric Almirola
- Casey Mears
- Michael Waltrip
- David Reutimann
- David Gilliland
- Dave Blaney
- Travis Kvapil
- Terry Labonte
- Joe Nemechek
- David Stremme
- J.J. Yeley
- Robert Richardson
- Josh Wise
- Bill Elliott [PC}
- Mike Bliss(i)
- Stephen Leicht