Here are my mid-week driver rankings for this week’s race at Daytona. I compiled them by crunching the qualifying data for the past three races at Daytona and the 2013 spring race at Talladega. I also crunched the loop data for the past four plate races. I think these two metrics reflect speed, the ability to pass and the ability (and inclination) to run a lot of laps up front, all of which should give me the best chance to get in the ballpark with race-result predictions.

My results:

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