Top-10 Driver Ratings: Talladega

Driver Rating
Formula combining the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish. Maximum: 150 points per race.
Number of Races: 9
AMP Energy 500 Pre-Race
For point-paying races in current and past four years, at this track.
Talladega Superspeedway

Rk.	Driver	Avg. Fin	Best Rating	Avg.
1	Brad Keselowski	1	98.9	98.9
2	Denny Hamlin	18.9	125	94.8
3	Tony Stewart	14	117.2	92.4
4	David Ragan	14	121.5	92.3
5	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	21.8	119	90.1
6	Brian Vickers	16.8	107.6	90.1
7	Joey Logano	9	88.8	88.8
8	Kurt Busch	11.2	107.3	87.7
9	Matt Kenseth	16.4	120.1	86
10	Jeff Gordon	20.6	135.5	85.9

Ragan posts single fast lap in Daytona afternoon practice

David Ragan posted the single fastest lap in Daytona's first practice session with a speed of 190.714 mph.

Our View: Of course all that means is that he was in a fast draft at the time, but one would prefer to at the top of the grid than at the bottom.

Michigan qualifying order

Jayski.com has published this week's qualifying order. David Ragan will be the first driver on track and Sam Hornish Jr. is scheduled at 35th.

Our View: The track shouldn't change much between the first and 35th driver, but no one want to the be the first guy out.

More Cup Series Newsbreakers

The House of Roush

Few owners have dominated a track like Jack Roush has done at Michigan International Speedway. This week, he could tie the legendary Wood Bros. with the most wins on this track at 10 and his drivers have at least one victory per season since 2002.

That makes selecting a roster this week very easy.

Michigan is one track where fantasy owners can literally load their roster with a single organization and then sit back in the easy chair and reap the rewards, because Roushketeers have been perfect on this track several times in the last half-decade. When they've missed, it's often by a very slim margin.

Last fall, Roush placed all five of his drivers in the top 10 and all but a single driver was in the top five. Led by Carl Edwards in first, David Ragan finished third, Greg Biffle was fourth and Matt Kenseth was fifth. By comparison, Jamie McMurray had a disappointing day in 10th, but he was happy to have that result in light of the generally miserable year he faced up till then.

In the spring race, all but Biffle finished in the top 10 as well, which gave Roush an average finish during the year of 7.1. That also means four of the five drivers swept the top 10 on this two-mile track last year—including the dark horses Ragan and McMurray.

As impressive as that was, however, it was not their best outing in recent years. In the two Cup races of 2005, Roush earned one victory, six top-fives and eight top-10s en route to an average finish of 6.2. This was no anomaly, since three of the five Roushketeers (Edwards, Kenseth and Biffle) were in the midst of top-10 streaks ranging from four to six consecutive races.
With Edwards riding a current four-race top-10 streak and Kenseth carrying three Michigan top-fives into the weekend, you could very well see the same thing this week.

Roush Racing, last five years

Race	Driver	Car	Finish
2008.2	Carl Edwards	99	1
2007.1	Carl Edwards	99	1
2006.2	Matt Kenseth	17	1
2005.1	Greg Biffle	16	1
2004.2	Greg Biffle	16	1
2006.1	Carl Edwards	99	2
2004.2	Mark Martin	6	2
2008.2	David Ragan	6	3
2008.1	Matt Kenseth	17	3
2005.2	Matt Kenseth	17	3
2005.1	Mark Martin	6	3
2008.2	Greg Biffle	16	4
2007.2	Matt Kenseth	17	4
2006.1	Greg Biffle	16	4
2005.2	Carl Edwards	99	4
2005.1	Matt Kenseth	17	4
2008.2	Matt Kenseth	17	5
2006.2	Mark Martin	6	5
2005.1	Carl Edwards	99	5
2005.2	Greg Biffle	16	6
2004.2	Kurt Busch	97	6
2008.1	Carl Edwards	99	7
2007.2	Carl Edwards	99	7
2006.2	Greg Biffle	16	7
2005.2	Kurt Busch	97	7
2004.1	Matt Kenseth	17	7
2008.1	David Ragan	6	8
2007.1	Jamie McMurray	26	8
2004.2	Matt Kenseth	17	8
2008.2	Jamie McMurray	26	10
2008.1	Jamie McMurray	26	10
2004.2	Carl Edwards	99	10
2004.1	Kurt Busch	97	11
2005.1	Kurt Busch	97	12
2006.1	Matt Kenseth	17	13
2004.1	Jeff Burton	99	13
2006.2	Jamie McMurray	26	17
2005.2	Mark Martin	6	17
2007.2	David Ragan	6	18
2007.2	Greg Biffle	16	19
2008.1	Greg Biffle	16	20
2007.1	David Ragan	6	21
2006.2	Carl Edwards	99	22
2006.1	Jamie McMurray	26	23
2004.1	Greg Biffle	16	23
2006.1	Mark Martin	6	27
2007.2	Jamie McMurray	26	30
2004.1	Mark Martin	6	34
2007.1	Greg Biffle	16	38
2007.1	Matt Kenseth	17	42
2006.2	Todd Kluever	06	43

More Cup Series Newsbreakers

Ragan, et. al. test at Infineon

David Ragan, Max Papis, David Reutimann and Joey Logano tested late models (not Cup cars) at Infineon Raceway on Wednesday, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: The testing ban does not apply because these are not Cup or Nationwide cars and they are considerably different in terms of handling. So why do it? According to Ragan, “Even if we drove a rental car out here it would help. I just needed to get back into the rhythm of turning left and right.”

More Cup Series Newsbreakers

N'Wide: Kentucky's last five races

For the second straight week, the NASCAR Cup and Nationwide Series are at different tracks, making this one of the opportunity races for the Nationwide Regulars. Last week, only two Claim Jumpers made the long commute from Pocono Raceway to Nashville Superspeedway. And even though Kyle Busch won both the pole and the race with Carl Edwards finishing third in the Federated Auto Parts 300, that left eight spots remaining for the Regulars to score much needed top-10s for their resume.

The same thing often happens at Kentucky. Last year, Scott Wimmer took a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to a second-place finish behind teenage sensation Joey Logano and drivers without fulltime Cup rides swept the top five. Logano and Wimmer were followed across the line by Mike Wallace in third, Brad Keselowski in fourth and Bryan Clauson in fifth.

Marcos Ambrose was sixth and fantasy owners had to look as far back as seventh to find Claim Jumper David Ragan. The same thing could happen this week, and in any event owners would be able to theoretically fill their roster with the top drivers—if only they can identify them.

Average finish, last five races

Driver	Avg Finish	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004
Joey Logano	1.00	1
David Gilliland	1.00			1
Scott Wimmer	2.50	2	3
Brad Keselowski	4.00	4
Martin Truex Jr	4.00				2	6
Ron Hornaday Jr	4.00					4
Bryan Clauson	5.00	5
Shane Huffman	5.00		5
Stephen Leicht	5.50		1	10
Aric Almirola	6.00		6
Kevin Harvick	6.00			6
Sterling Marlin	6.00				6
Mike Bliss	6.67	8	9			3
Paul Menard	7.00			9	5
David Ragan	7.50	7	8
J J Yeley	8.00		12	2	7	11
Marcos Ambrose	8.50	6	11
Clint Bowyer	8.50	9		12	3	10
Brad Coleman	8.50	15	2
Denny Hamlin	9.00			3	15
Landon Cassill	11.00	11
Robby Gordon	12.00					12
Greg Biffle	12.25		10	7	30	2
David Reutimann	12.33	13	16	8
Ashton Lewis	12.67			5	25	8
Kelly Bires	13.00	19	7
James Buescher	14.00	14
Tony Raines	14.00				13	15
Boris Said	14.00			14
David Stremme	14.25	12	4		32	9
Kyle Busch	14.67	30		13		1
Dave Blaney	15.00		15
John Andretti	15.00			15
Cale Gale	15.50	18	13
Casey Atwood	15.50				9	22
Mike Wallace	15.75	3	25	4		31
Brandon Miller	16.00				16
Jon Wood	16.00			22	10
Robert Pressley	16.00					16
Jason Keller	16.50	10	20		31	5
Steve Wallace	16.67	17	22	11
Timothy Peters	17.00		17
Stacy Compton	17.00			24	8	19
Kasey Kahne	17.00					17
David Green	18.00		26	21	12	13
Tyler Walker	19.00				19
Jason Leffler	19.25	16	14	40		7
Todd Kluever	20.00		23	17
Justin Labonte	20.50				11	30
Michel Jourdain Jr	20.50			18	23
Kevin Hamlin	21.00		21
Hermie Sadler	21.00					21
Randy LaJoie	21.00				21
Reed Sorenson	21.50			39	4
Chad Blount	22.00				22
Carl Edwards	22.50	20	33	36	1
Josh Wise	23.00	23
Steve Grissom	23.50				27	20
Kevin Lepage	24.00	24
Kenny Wallace	24.00	29		20	14	33
Brent Sherman	24.00		24
Billy Parker	24.00					24
Tim Sauter	24.00			28	20
Rusty Wallace	24.00				24
Aaron Fike	24.50			31	18
Kevin Grubb	25.00			25
Burney Lamar	25.50	32		19
Mark Green	26.00	22			33	23
D J Kennington	26.00	26
Mark McFarland	26.00			26
Stanton Barrett	26.33	25			17	37
Regan Smith	27.00		19	16	41	32
Shelby Howard	27.00		27
Joel Kauffman	27.00			27
Jimmy Kitchens	27.00					27
Richard Johns	28.00		28
Ryan Hemphill	28.00				28
Michael Waltrip	28.00				42	14
Bobby Hamilton Jr	28.33	21	36			28
Chase Miller	28.50	39	18
Kyle Krisiloff	29.00		29
Wade Day	29.00				29
Johnny Benson Jr	29.00					29
Chris Cook	30.00			30
Derrike Cope	31.00	31
Kertus Davis	31.00	37	30		26
Johnny Sauter	31.67			32	38	25
Kenny Hendrick	32.00	34			44	18
Justin Diercks	32.00		31	33
Andy Ponstein	33.00	33
Robert Richardson	34.00		34
Auggie Vidovich	34.00			34
Eric McClure	34.33	28	32	43
Jamie Mosley	34.50		40	35	37	26
Jay Sauter	34.50			29		40
Brian Keselowski	35.00	35
Danny O'Quinn Jr	35.00	44	38	23
Gus Wasson	35.00					35
Johnny Chapman	36.00	36
Clint Vahsholtz	36.00					36
Wayne Edwards	36.00				36
A J Frank	37.00		37
Tim Fedewa	37.00				40	34
Blake Feese	37.50				34	41
Justin Hobgood	38.00	38
Shane Hall	38.00			38
Buckshot Jones	38.00					38
Brett Rowe	39.00		39
Eric Jones	39.00				39
Travis Geisler	39.00					39
Jeff Fuller	39.33			41	35	42
Brad Teague	39.67	27			48	44
Dwayne Leik	40.00	40
Chris Horn	40.75		35	37	43	48
Larry Gunselman	41.00	41
Mike Harmon	41.00		41
Danny Efland	42.00	42
Morgan Shepherd	42.33	43	42	42
Carlos Contreras	43.00		43
John Hayden	44.00			44
Stan Boyd	44.50			46		43
Johnny Borneman III	45.00				45
David Odell	45.00			45
Shawna Robinson	45.00					45
Stuart Kirby	46.00					46
Damon Lusk	46.00				46
Jerry Robertson	47.00				47
Justin Ashburn	47.00					47

More Nationwide Newsbreakers

Mediocre performance plagues Roush-Fenway

In 2009, Roush-Fenway Racing has been plagued by mediocrity, according to SceneDaily.com, with no wins in the last 10 races and two drivers (Jamie McMurray and David Ragan) outside the top 20 in points.

Our View: Dover could be a cure for that ill, however. The other three Roushketeers, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards each swept the top-five on this concrete track last year and they could be extremely good values.

Ragan confused by slow start

David Ragan is confused and a little frustrated by his slow start to 2009, according to SceneDaily.com.

Our View: Ragan ended 2008 with seven top-15s in the last eight races and it appeared he would carry that momentum over into this season when he finished sixth in the Daytona 500. Since then, however, he's earned only one more top-15 in 10 starts and has an average finish of 26.4. Wait for his fortunes to improve before adding him to your roster.