Final Rankings: Talladega II, 2014

Denny Hamlin remains my pick to win Talladega II today. (photo courtesy nascar)

Denny Hamlin remains my pick to win Talladega II today. (photo courtesy nascar)

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’ updated/final rankings, and I then made some tweaks to mine. The results:

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