Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s race at Talladega. I compiled them by crunching the qualifying data for the past three races at Daytona and the spring 2013 race at Talladega (rain washed out qualifying at the fall 2013 Talladega race), and the loop data for the past two races at Daytona and the past two races at Talladega. Those metrics reflect speed, the ability to pass and the ability (and inclination) to run a lot of laps up front:

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