Dale Jr. tops my early Talladega II rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)
Update: I’ve now completed my final Talladega II rankings (click here to see them).
Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s race at Talladega. I compiled them by crunching the loop data for the past four plate races, the qualifying data from last year’s Daytona 500 and the spring Talladega race (because those are the last two races in which qualifying occurred and 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.
The results:
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Jimmie Johnson
- Jeff Gordon
- Kasey Kahne
- Kevin Harvick
- Denny Hamlin
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Paul Menard
- Brad Keselowski
- Kurt Busch
- Kyle Busch
- Austin Dillon
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Joey Logano
- Matt Kenseth
- Carl Edwards
- Clint Bowyer
- Ryan Blaney
- Casey Mears
- Greg Biffle
- Jamie McMurray
- Kyle Larson
- Trevor Bayne
- Tony Stewart
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Danica Patrick
- Aric Almirola
- Ryan Newman
- Michael Annett
- Landon Cassill
- David Gilliland
- Travis Kvapil
- Justin Allgaier
- David Ragan
- AJ Allmendinger
- Michael Waltrip
- Cole Whitt
- Josh Wise
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Michael McDowell
- Bobby Labonte
- Timmy Hill(i)
- Alex Bowman
- J.J Yeley
- Jeb Burton