Final Rankings: Daytona I, 2016

Dale Earnhardt Jr. photo

Dale Jr. remains my pick to win today in my final Daytona 500 driver rankings. (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. So, to compile final rankings for today’s Daytona 500, I updated my early rankings with the loop data from Thursday’s duel races. The results:

  1. Dale Earnhardt Jr
  2. Kyle Busch
  3. Joey Logano
  4. Denny Hamlin
  5. Kevin Harvick
  6. Carl Edwards
  7. Jimmie Johnson
  8. Matt Kenseth
  9. Kasey Kahne
  10. Jamie McMurray
  11. Kurt Busch
  12. Paul Menard
  13. Brad Keselowski
  14. Austin Dillon
  15. Ryan Blaney
  16. Chase Elliott
  17. Kyle Larson
  18. Casey Mears
  19. Ty Dillon
  20. Martin Truex Jr
  21. Aric Almirola
  22. Danica Patrick
  23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
  24. Brian Scott
  25. Greg Biffle
  26. AJ Allmendinger
  27. Michael McDowell
  28. Matt DiBenedetto
  29. Regan Smith
  30. Ryan Newman
  31. David Ragan
  32. Brian Vickers
  33. Clint Bowyer
  34. Trevor Bayne
  35. Chris Buescher
  36. Michael Annett
  37. Landon Cassill
  38. Michael Waltrip
  39. Bobby Labonte
  40. Robert Richardson