Think about the best road-course racers in NASCAR, off the top of your head: Tony Stewart, right? Yep. Marcos Ambrose? Sure. Jeff Gordon? Of course. All of those drivers are in the top 10 for NASCAR’s driver rating statistic at Sonoma. But the formula reveals some surprising names near the top as well. For example, who knew Ryan Newman had a better driver rating at Sonoma than Gordon? And that Kurt Busch was better than Ambrose? There are some eye-openers among the traditional “favorites” as well: Robby Gordon is 12th, below even Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin. Consult the stats below for your fantasy picks; this could be one week where it really helps you. Toyota/Save Mart 350 Pre-Race For point-paying races in current and past four years, at this track. Infineon Raceway Sunday, June 20, 2010 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: 5 Rank Car Driver Avg Finish High AVG DRIVER RATING 1 14 Tony Stewart 9.4 142.7 113.2 2 42 Juan Montoya 4.3 115.3 111.3 3 18 Kyle Busch 16.4 147.6 101.9 4 2 Kurt Busch 15.4 121.8 101.4 5 47 Marcos Ambrose 22.5 113.6 99.6 6 39 Ryan Newman 11.0 127.8 98.8 7 24 Jeff Gordon 10.6 137.0 97.1 8 26 Jamie McMurray 20.0 110.5 89.6 9 08 Boris Said 20.0 107.7 88.8 10 11 Denny Hamlin 13.5 119.2 87.1 11 99 Carl Edwards 16.8 107.5 86.8 12 7 Robby Gordon 28.8 110.9 86.4 13 31 Jeff Burton 17.4 114.1 86.4 14 20 Joey Logano 19.0 86.2 86.2 15 19 Elliott Sadler 11.4 94.5 85.9 16 16 Greg Biffle 12.4 113.5 82.2 17 33 Clint Bowyer 8.0 89.9 81.4 18 48 Jimmie Johnson 16.4 101.1 80.4 19 5 Mark Martin 21.0 93.4 77.4 20 29 Kevin Harvick 24.4 109.0 76.2 21 17 Matt Kenseth 17.6 90.6 75.3 22 9 Kasey Kahne 25.8 132.4 73.5 23 83 Brian Vickers 19.5 92.6 69.2 24 88 D Earnhardt Jr. 23.8 96.4 67.4 25 21 Bill Elliott 19.0 66.6 66.6 26 1 M Truex Jr. 20.0 75.2 64.0 27 44 AJ Allmendinger 22.0 88.7 63.9 28 07 Casey Mears 19.0 87.6 59.3 29 96 Bobby Labonte 29.0 72.5 57.2 30 13 Max Papis 23.5 75.4 54.6 31 78 Joe Nemechek 28.0 73.5 54.2 32 18 J.J. Yeley 27.0 58.9 54.1 33 71 David Gilliland 22.8 99.4 53.3 34 00 M McDowell 21.0 52.3 52.3 35 34 Brian Simo 26.5 77.2 52.1 36 04 P.J. Jones 30.8 71.0 51.6 37 6 David Ragan 28.7 59.9 51.3 38 55 Michael Waltrip 23.3 59.2 50.8 39 66 Dave Blaney 32.2 65.0 48.0 40 98 Paul Menard 27.5 52.9 47.7 41 10 Scott Riggs 25.5 56.5 47.3 42 28 Travis Kvapil 21.5 49.8 47.0 43 77 Sam Hornish Jr. 34.5 52.3 46.8 44 12 David Stremme 35.5 49.5 42.6 45 43 Reed Sorenson 36.3 49.5 41.3 46 01 Regan Smith 30.0 41.2 41.2 47 34 John Andretti 30.0 40.2 40.2 48 8 Aric Almirola 28.0 40.1 40.1 49 70 Johnny Sauter 31.0 37.6 37.6 50 87 Scott Speed 37.0 32.6 32.6 51 00 David Reutimann 35.5 35.5 30.7 52 02 Brandon Ash 39.5 32.2 30.1 53 0 Mike Bliss 39.0 26.9 26.9
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Sonoma: Which Road-Course Experts Are Really The Best?
