NASCAR driver point standings vs. NASCAR Loop Data Driver Rankings.

The NASCAR point standing has been in existence since 1949. NASCAR Loop Data has been in existence since 2005. Which is a better indicator to help you pick your NASCAR fantasy driver or team line-up? The point standings show you the points earned for where a driver finished the race. You can look at historical data of a driver’s average finish at a track or over a season, but you will never know the complete story of ‘how well he raced’.

• You don’t know if he ran up front until getting caught up in a crash that put him out of the race.
• Is his bad finish position the result of an ill-timed caution flag?
• Did he get caught speeding out of the pits and a pass-through penalty puts him 2 laps down?
• Did he blow and engine or have some mechanical failure that knocked him out of contention?

NASCAR Loop Data holds the answers to ‘how well he raced’ even if his finish position doesn’t show it. That is why I like the Loop Data Driver Rankings so much.

NASCAR has invested millions of dollars into providing race fans a statistical smorgasbord of data to analyze and study. It is a vital tool for the serious fantasy NASCAR player to consult and use to dominate his fantasy racing league.

Here are the top 35 drivers for the 2009 NASCAR season ranked according to the season-ending NASCAR Loop Data Driver Ranking formula that combines 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 amount of points possible is 150 points per race. Drivers must have raced in 75 percent of scheduled point-paying races.

Rank		Driver	‘09 Points	Season Rating	Avg Finish
1		Jimmie Johnson	1st	112.21	11.08
2		Denny Hamlin	5th	102.36	13.17
3		Jeff Gordon	3rd	101.77	10.17
4		Kurt Busch	4th	101.21	12.81
5		Mark Martin	2nd	100.28	13.67
6		Tony Stewart	6th	99.39	10.44
7		Kyle Busch	13th	97.80	15.36
8		Juan Pablo Montoya	8th	92.89	14.25
9		Greg Biffle	7th	88.33	13.97
10		Kasey Kahne	10th	87.48	15.28
11		Carl Edwards	11th	87.26	15.06
12		Clint Bowyer	15th	83.47	14.92
13		Matt Kenseth	14th	83.18	15.39
14		Brian Vickers	12th	82.30	17.33
15		Ryan Newman	9th	82.08	14.67
16		David Reutimann	16th	81.64	16.36
17		Jeff Burton	17th	76.78	17.97
18		Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	25th	76.34	23.25
19		Martin Truex, Jr.	23rd	76.25	21.86
20		Kevin Harvick	19th	75.68	19.94
21		Marcos Ambrose	18th	70.93	19.61
22		Jamie McMurray	22nd	70.27	21.44
23		Joey Logano	20th	67.68	20.00
24		A.J. Allmendinger	24th	66.56	22.36
25		Casey Mears	21st	65.61	19.83
26		Sam Hornish, Jr.	28th	63.66	25.00
27		David Ragan	27th	63.02	24.44
28		David Stremme	32nd	63.00	25.00
29		Reed Sorenson	29th	56.67	25.31
30		Bobby Labonte	30th	55.76	25.72
31		Elliott Sadler	26th	55.53	23.86
32		Robby Gordon	34th	51.46	28.54
33		Paul Menard	31st	50.61	26.89
34		Michael Waltrip	33rd	49.74	27.12
35		Scott Speed	35th	47.11	28.97