Dale Jr. tops my early Daytona II rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)
Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s race at Daytona. I compiled them by crunching the loop data for the past four plate races, the qualifying data from the 2014 Daytona 500 and the spring Talladega race (because those are the most recent plate races in which qualifying didn’t involve drafting), and the loop data for this year’s Daytona Duels. Those metrics reflect speed, the ability to pass and the ability (and inclination) to run a lot of laps up front:
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kasey Kahne
- Kurt Busch
- Denny Hamlin
- Jeff Gordon
- Joey Logano
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Brad Keselowski
- Paul Menard
- Ryan Blaney
- Austin Dillon
- Kevin Harvick
- Kyle Busch
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Greg Biffle
- Clint Bowyer
- Matt Kenseth
- Casey Mears
- Aric Almirola
- Jamie McMurray
- Danica Patrick
- Carl Edwards
- Tony Stewart
- David Ragan
- David Gilliland
- Ryan Newman
- Michael Annett
- Kyle Larson
- Landon Cassill
- Justin Allgaier
- Trevor Bayne
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Cole Whitt
- Michael McDowell
- Josh Wise
- AJ Allmendinger
- Alex Bowman
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Bobby Labonte
- J.J Yeley
- Brett Moffitt
- Jeb Burton
- Brian Scott
- Brendan Gaughan