Dale Jr. tops my early Daytona II driver rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)
Update: I’ve posted my final Daytona II driver rankings, which improve upon these early rankings.
Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s Daytona II race. I compiled them by crunching the loop and qualifying data for the past four plate races. Those metrics reflect speed, the ability to pass and the ability (and inclination) to run a lot of laps up front:
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Matt Kenseth
- Jimmie Johnson
- Denny Hamlin
- Brad Keselowski
- Kyle Busch
- Kasey Kahne
- Kevin Harvick
- Kurt Busch
- Ryan Blaney
- Chase Elliott
- Joey Logano
- Paul Menard
- Austin Dillon
- Carl Edwards
- Kyle Larson
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Jamie McMurray
- Trevor Bayne
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Tony Stewart
- Greg Biffle
- Ryan Newman
- Regan Smith
- Aric Almirola
- Clint Bowyer
- Michael McDowell
- Casey Mears
- Brian Scott
- David Ragan
- Danica Patrick
- AJ Allmendinger
- Landon Cassill
- David Gilliland
- Bobby Labonte
- Chris Buescher
- Cole Whitt
- Michael Annett
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Josh Wise
- Reed Sorenson