Early Rankings: Talladega I, 2017

brad keselowski photo

Brad Keselowski tops my early Talladega I driver rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)

Update: I’ve posted my final Talladega I driver rankings, which improve upon the below early rankings.

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 and the qualifying data from 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.

The results:

  1. Brad Keselowski
  2. Joey Logano
  3. Ryan Blaney
  4. Kurt Busch
  5. Chase Elliott
  6. Denny Hamlin
  7. Kyle Busch
  8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
  9. Austin Dillon
  10. Kyle Larson
  11. Dale Earnhardt Jr
  12. Martin Truex Jr
  13. Kevin Harvick
  14. Jamie McMurray
  15. Trevor Bayne
  16. Paul Menard
  17. Jimmie Johnson
  18. Matt Kenseth
  19. Aric Almirola
  20. Kasey Kahne
  21. Clint Bowyer
  22. Ty Dillon
  23. Michael McDowell
  24. Ryan Newman
  25. AJ Allmendinger
  26. Danica Patrick
  27. Erik Jones
  28. Chris Buescher
  29. Daniel Suarez
  30. Landon Cassill
  31. David Ragan
  32. Matt DiBenedetto
  33. Cole Whitt
  34. Gray Gaulding
  35. Elliott Sadler
  36. Brendan Gaughan
  37. Jeffrey Earnhardt
  38. Joey Gase
  39. Corey LaJoie
  40. DJ Kennington
  41. Reed Sorenson
  42. Timmy Hill

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