Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s race at Talladega. 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:
- Matt Kenseth
- Greg Biffle
- Kasey Kahne
- Jeff Gordon
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Carl Edwards
- Marcos Ambrose
- Jeff Burton
- Ryan Newman
- Tony Stewart
- Clint Bowyer
- Paul Menard
- Jimmie Johnson
- Brad Keselowski
- Aric Almirola
- Kevin Harvick
- David Ragan
- Kyle Busch
- Joey Logano
- Trevor Bayne
- Regan Smith
- Michael Waltrip
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- Denny Hamlin
- Jamie McMurray
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Kurt Busch
- Casey Mears
- Travis Kvapil
- Landon Cassill
- David Reutimann
- David Gilliland
- Bobby Labonte
- Dave Blaney
- Terry Labonte
- Michael McDowell
- Joe Nemechek
- David Stremme
- Timmy Hill (i)
- Cole Whitt (i)
- Josh Wise
- Robert Richardson Jr.
- J.J. Yeley