The practice speed chart numbers have long held very little predictive value at the restrictor plate races because the cars draft during plate practices. And now, unfortunately, they draft during qualifying, too, so the qualifying speed chart numbers are out the window as well.
The point? I have little new information to use to update my early Talladega rankings. I did cruise around online this morning to get a feel for other handicappers’ rankings, and I then made some tweaks to mine. The results:
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Matt Kenseth
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kyle Busch
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Joey Logano
- Ryan Newman
- Carl Edwards
- Brad Keselowski
- Jeff Gordon
- Paul Menard
- Kasey Kahne
- Brian Vickers
- Kevin Harvick
- Danica Patrick
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Marcos Ambrose
- Greg Biffle
- Denny Hamlin
- Kurt Busch
- Trevor Bayne
- Clint Bowyer
- Casey Mears
- Tony Stewart
- Jamie McMurray
- Aric Almirola
- Austin Dillon
- Kyle Larson
- Michael Waltrip
- David Gilliland
- AJ Allmendinger
- David Ragan
- Brian Scott
- Justin Allgaier
- Josh Wise
- Michael McDowell
- Dave Blaney
- J.J Yeley
- Landon Cassill
- Michael Annett
- Cole Whitt
- Alex Bowman
- Terry Labonte
- Joe Nemechek
- Eric McClure
- Ryan Truex
- Reed Sorenson
Heh, I just realized I didn’t cross-check these rankings with the actual starting lineup before the race, so there’re four drivers included who didn’t race. Doh!