Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Las Vegas. 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);
- the loop data for the past four races at Las Vegas;
- the loop data for the past seven races at the other tracks in the Steeps track group (i.e., Bristol, Darlington, Dover and Homestead);
- the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Las Vegas; and
- the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Steeps.
The results:
- Matt Kenseth
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kyle Busch
- Kasey Kahne
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Jeff Gordon
- Joey Logano
- Kevin Harvick
- Tony Stewart
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- Carl Edwards
- Brad Keselowski
- Greg Biffle
- Clint Bowyer
- Denny Hamlin
- Kurt Busch
- Ryan Newman
- Paul Menard
- Jamie McMurray
- Marcos Ambrose
- Jeff Burton
- Brian Vickers
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Aric Almirola
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Trevor Bayne
- Austin Dillon
- Kyle Larson
- David Ragan
- Casey Mears
- Justin Allgaier
- David Gilliland
- Danica Patrick
- Travis Kvapil
- Blake Koch
- Alex Bowman
- Ryan Truex
- Dave Blaney
- Reed Sorenson
- Michael Annett
- Landon Cassill
- Cole Whitt
- Parker Kligerman
- Timmy Hill
- J.J. Yeley
- Josh Wise
- Michael McDowell
- Joe Nemechek
Only 1 ford and 1 toyota in your top 10 picks for Los Veagas? I know you are going for the top picks (your opnion), But what has happened to those makes.
I like your top ten picks for Las Vegas, but what has happened to the fords and toyotas so far this year. If not for Penske fords are not competitive. Is it true that Roush will not spend the money it takes to be competitive. Kind of a trick question, but haven’t seen those guys be as good as they need to be. Toyota seems to be off just a little. MWR. racing hasn’t got their mojo back since the scandle at richmond. Just food for thought.
I think part of it is just a matter of numbers. Check out how many cars of each make are on the Vegas entry list:
Chevy: 23
Ford: 14
Toyota: 11
I’m not counting Roush out yet. And there does seem to be a pendulum effect with the makes sometimes: One is up for awhile, then down.