Brad Keselowski tops my early Talladega II driver rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)
Update: I’ve now posted my final Talladega II driver rankings, which improve upon the below early rankings.
Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s Talladega race. I compiled them by crunching the loop data for the past four plate races and the qualifying data from 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.
The results:
- Brad Keselowski
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr
- Dale Earnhardt Jr
- Chase Elliott
- Kevin Harvick
- Ryan Blaney
- Joey Logano
- Kurt Busch
- Denny Hamlin
- Paul Menard
- Kyle Larson
- Jamie McMurray
- Kasey Kahne
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kyle Busch
- Matt Kenseth
- Trevor Bayne
- Clint Bowyer
- Aric Almirola
- Erik Jones
- Martin Truex Jr
- Austin Dillon
- Ty Dillon
- Danica Patrick
- Daniel Suarez
- Michael McDowell
- Ryan Newman
- David Ragan
- AJ Allmendinger
- Landon Cassill
- Chris Buescher
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Brendan Gaughan
- JJ Yeley
- Cole Whitt
- Corey LaJoie
- #23 Car – Driver TBA
- Mark Thompson
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- DJ Kennington