Early Rankings: Daytona II, 2016

Dale Earnhardt Jr. photo

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:

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