Here are my final driver rankings for today’s race at New Hampshire. I compiled them by crunching the practice and qualifying data from New Hampshire Friday and Saturday, and then melding it with the historical data:
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kyle Busch
- Jeff Gordon
- Denny Hamlin
- Clint Bowyer
- Kasey Kahne
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Matt Kenseth
- Brad Keselowski
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Carl Edwards
- Kurt Busch
- Brian Vickers
- Kevin Harvick
- Tony Stewart
- Joey Logano
- Greg Biffle
- Jeff Burton
- Ryan Newman
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Jamie McMurray
- Paul Menard
- Aric Almirola
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Marcos Ambrose
- A J Allmendinger
- Bobby Labonte
- David Ragan
- Casey Mears
- Danica Patrick
- David Gilliland
- David Reutimann
- Dave Blaney
- Travis Kvapil
- David Stremme
- Landon Cassill
- Michael McDowell
- Josh Wise
- J.J. Yeley
- Joe Nemechek
- Mike Bliss
- Ken Schrader
- Morgan Shepherd
I agree with your list – there was a period earlier in the year where it was clear that there was a dominant favorite for each race (usually Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson or Matt Kenseth). At this point in the year, I don’t see a truly dominant team, and Johnson’s start in the back compounds that. Seems like there are about 5-8 teams each week that are pretty decent options!