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 Daytona rankings. I did cruise around online today to get a feel for other handicappers’ rankings and thoughts following practice and qualifying, and I then made some tweaks to my rankings. The results:
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Matt Kenseth
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kyle Busch
- Brad Keselowski
- Joey Logano
- Denny Hamlin
- Greg Biffle
- Jeff Gordon
- Paul Menard
- Kevin Harvick
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Carl Edwards
- Kasey Kahne
- Brian Vickers
- Ryan Newman
- Kurt Busch
- Tony Stewart
- Jamie McMurray
- Marcos Ambrose
- Danica Patrick
- Trevor Bayne
- Casey Mears
- Austin Dillon
- Clint Bowyer
- Aric Almirola
- AJ Allmendinger
- Michael Waltrip
- David Gilliland
- Kyle Larson
- David Ragan
- Joe Nemechek
- Michael McDowell
- Josh Wise
- Bobby Labonte
- Landon Cassill
- Justin Allgaier
- Terry Labonte
- Reed Sorenson
- Ryan Truex
- Michael Annett
- Cole Whitt
- Alex Bowman