Early Rankings: All Star Race, 2015

Kevin Harvick photo

Kevin Harvick tops my early All Star Race rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)

Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup All Star and Sprint Showdown races at Charlotte. I compiled them by crunching:

  • The loop data for the past 15 Sprint Cup races (excluding Daytona and Talladega);
  • the loop data for the past four races (excluding Talladega);
  • the loop data for the past four races at Charlotte;
  • the loop data for the past seven races at the other tracks in the Large Ovals track group (i.e., FontanaKansasAtlantaTexasChicagoMichigan and Kentucky);
  • the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Charlotte; and
  • the practice and qualifying data for past seven races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.

Note: This early list doesn’t include whoever gets into the All Star race via the fan vote. And, if Martin Truex Jr. does in fact win the Showdown and get into the All Star race, I tentatively have him ranked 11th.

The results for the All Star race:

  1. Kevin Harvick
  2. Jimmie Johnson
  3. Kurt Busch
  4. Joey Logano
  5. Brad Keselowski
  6. Jeff Gordon
  7. Kasey Kahne
  8. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  9. Matt Kenseth
  10. Kyle Busch
  11. Ryan Newman
  12. Carl Edwards
  13. Denny Hamlin
  14. Jamie McMurray
  15. Tony Stewart
  16. Aric Almirola
  17. AJ Allmendinger

The results for the Showdown:

  1. Martin Truex Jr.
  2. Kyle Larson
  3. Paul Menard
  4. Clint Bowyer
  5. Greg Biffle
  6. Austin Dillon
  7. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  8. Danica Patrick
  9. Justin Allgaier
  10. Casey Mears
  11. Sam Hornish Jr.
  12. Trevor Bayne
  13. David Ragan
  14. David Gilliland
  15. Michael Annett
  16. Chase Elliott
  17. Alex Bowman
  18. Alex Kennedy
  19. Jeff Green
  20. Tanner Berryhill
  21. Landon Cassill
  22. Cole Whitt
  23. Michael McDowell
  24. Josh Wise
  25. Jeb Burton
  26. Brendan Gaughan
  27. Matt DiBenedetto
  28. Travis Kvapil
  29. J.J Yeley
  30. Mike Bliss