Early Rankings: Las Vegas 2014

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:

  1. Matt Kenseth
  2. Jimmie Johnson
  3. Kyle Busch
  4. Kasey Kahne
  5. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
  6. Jeff Gordon
  7. Joey Logano
  8. Kevin Harvick
  9. Tony Stewart
  10. Martin Truex, Jr.
  11. Carl Edwards
  12. Brad Keselowski
  13. Greg Biffle
  14. Clint Bowyer
  15. Denny Hamlin
  16. Kurt Busch
  17. Ryan Newman
  18. Paul Menard
  19. Jamie McMurray
  20. Marcos Ambrose
  21. Jeff Burton
  22. Brian Vickers
  23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  24. Aric Almirola
  25. A.J. Allmendinger
  26. Trevor Bayne
  27. Austin Dillon
  28. Kyle Larson
  29. David Ragan
  30. Casey Mears
  31. Justin Allgaier
  32. David Gilliland
  33. Danica Patrick
  34. Travis Kvapil
  35. Blake Koch
  36. Alex Bowman
  37. Ryan Truex
  38. Dave Blaney
  39. Reed Sorenson
  40. Michael Annett
  41. Landon Cassill
  42. Cole Whitt
  43. Parker Kligerman
  44. Timmy Hill
  45. J.J. Yeley
  46. Josh Wise
  47. Michael McDowell
  48. Joe Nemechek

2 thoughts on “Early Rankings: Las Vegas 2014”

  1. Steve Johnson

    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.

  2. Jed Henson Post author

    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.

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