Early Rankings: Talladega II, 2017

brad keselowski photo

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:

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