Superspeedway Driver Rankings Debut: Monday Night Racing
Podium eSports is proud to present to you the inaugural set of Monday Night Racing Superspeedway Driver Rankings for season 5. Below you will find the top 25 ranked drivers in Monday Night Racing as ranked per this track type.
On June 13th at 8 PM EST, Monday Night Racing will head to Talladega for the next race of the season and we encourage you to tune in on the Podium eSports Twitch Channel to witness all of the action.
How are the ratings determined?
Driver Rankings for a specific racing genre are determined by several factors, including wins, laps led, starts, a driver’s average finishing position, and more. Winning the race on a last-lap pass will improve your ranking but winning the race and leading multiple laps will improve it more. After 13 superspeedway races under the MNR banner, let’s see how the drivers are ranked.
Head of the Class: Matthew Stallknecht – Superspeedway Ranking 94
Stallknecht has started 8 of the 13 superspeedway races that MNR has run and had visited victory lane on 2 occasions. On top of the two wins, he has 5 top-five finishes including the past three races in a row. Stallknecht is the defending MNR Talladega champion as he won at this track back in season 4 in the Camping World Trucks. The strong finishes mentioned above are why he has an average finish of 9.5 at superspeedways and has yet to DNF.
On top of all of that, the only other MNR race to feature the NASCAR Next-Gen car so far was a success Matt, as he finished the Sunrise 500 in P5. If another win is in the cards, you would imagine that a 95-plus rating is very possible.
A force to be reckoned with: Collin Fern – Superspeedway Ranking 93
The always outspoken Collin Fern has proven to be a tough competitor in MNR in both superspeedways and in general. Ferm has the best average finish in these types of races of any driver who has competed in at least 3 races, with an average of 8.50. Although the Sunrise 500 didn’t end as strong as Fern may have wanted, as he finished 14th, he did start strong as he qualified 1st.
A few weeks ago, we witnessed Fern finish 2nd at Texas Motor Speedway in the Radicals in an exciting race, where he was 0.089 seconds away from securing a victory. Some would have to think this means he will have some momentum and confidence coming into this race.
While it won’t affect his superspeedway rankings, let it also be known Fern has an average finish of 10.2 in his last 7 MNR starts. To add to that, in those seven races, he has only finished out of the top 15 on one occasion.
Boiling over with confidence: Anthony Alfredo – Superspeedway Ranking 92
You may recall that Alfredo won the season-opening Sunrise 500 back on May 23rd. This means he will be looking to secure a 2nd win in the NASCAR Next-Gen Vehicles under the MNR banner. Alfredo is one of only a few season 5 drivers who raced in the first MNR superspeedway race ever, which was also at Talladega. In that race back in season 1, he finished 8th.
When we look at factors that give Alfredo a 92 ranking, there are a few highlights to look at. One of them being his 4 top 10 finishes at superspeedways. Also, Alfredo is one of only a few drivers with 8 or more superspeedway starts in MNR history to not have a DNF. If Alfredo wants to bring up his ranking, putting the car on pole would help, as it’s one of the few things he hasn’t done yet.
While it won’t affect his MNR ranking, Alfredo has the advantage of having real-life seat time at superspeedways. He has finished in the top 10 in both of the NASCAR Xfinity series superspeedway races this year. Many drivers will tell you nothing is as valuable as seat time, and Alfredo seems to be proving that.
One of his worst type of tracks: David Schildhouse – Superspeedway Ranking 84
While an 84 isn’t a bad rating per se, it is his 2nd lowest track type-specific ranking in MNR. Schildhouse was victorious at Daytona when MNR raced the NASCAR Xfinity cars in November of 2011, and he qualified first at Talladega nearly one year ago, so some things have gone well for him at this track type.
The not-so-good news is that half of his races at superspeedways have results of 18th or worse. This has resulted in him having an average finish of 14.67 at this track type. In season 5, MNR has raced at the two superspeedway tracks. In those races, Schildhouse has finished 21st and 27th respectively.
Fans of this popular driver and twitch streamer are hoping to see a strong performance on Monday. Schildhouse had back-to-back 6th place finishes earlier this season at the Glen and Martinsville, so we know it’s possible.
His best type of track: Seth Eggert – Superspeedway Ranking 83
Eggert truly is one of the ironmen of MNR. having run 12 of the 13 superspeedway MNR races. The only race he missed was the Sunrise 500 at the beginning of season 5, after failing to advance. His race count helps round out his average finishing position of 12.83 which includes 7 top 10 finishes. It’s worth noting that two of those were 2nd place results.
Superspeedways are his best rating in MNR, with his worst being a 56 at road courses and dirt tracks. Eggert is hoping that this could be the opportunity he needs to turn around his season 5 run. A top 15 finish would be his first since race 4 of season 4, and if he were able to turn in his 8th top 10 result on a superspeedway track, it would be his first since race 1 of season 4 in MNR.
Seeing as Eggert has qualified on the pole before at Talladega in an MNR race, and given his superspeedway stats mentioned above, we will be keeping an eye on this driver. With the win and in format MNR uses, this is one of his best shots at making the playoffs.