A Bit Of Good News For Dale Earnhardt Jr. Fans At New Hampshire?

OK, let's face it: If you're a Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan these days, watching races is pretty miserable. In fact, it probably flat-out sucks.

So this week, we bring you a bit of good news (since you'll probably take even the smallest morsels right now): NASCAR's pre-race driver rating says Earnhardt Jr. is the fourth-best driver at New Hampshire.

Can he parlay that into a win? No, probably not (just being honest the way the team has been running lately). But at least he might have a good day on Sunday.

The favorites are Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Among the lower-performing Chase drivers: Matt Kenseth (19th) and Carl Edwards (16th).

Here's the full list:

Sylvania 300 Pre-Race
For point-paying races in current and past four years, at this track.
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sunday, September 19, 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: 11

Rank   Car      Driver	    Avg Finish	High   AVG DRIVER RATING
1	14	Tony Stewart	9.0	149.2	114.1
2	24	Jeff Gordon	9.7	130.9	107.9
2	48	Jimmie Johnson	9.5	134.8	107.9
4	88	D Earnhardt Jr.	15.9	131.6	99.8
5	11	Denny Hamlin	8.2	121.0	99.8
6	5	Mark Martin	10.4	120.9	95.5
7	31	Jeff Burton	12.5	118.9	94.0
8	2	Kurt Busch	14.5	123.2	93.6
9	29	Kevin Harvick	14.4	148.9	93.0
10	39	Ryan Newman	15.5	133.3	91.2
11	18	Kyle Busch	15.2	141.1	91.1
12	33	Clint Bowyer	17.8	150.0	90.7
13	56	M Truex Jr.	15.2	122.5	87.5
14	16	Greg Biffle	12.3	130.0	86.8
15	42	Juan Montoya	20.0	134.6	86.3
16	99	Carl Edwards	14.3	120.3	85.9
17	9	Kasey Kahne	21.6	104.8	83.4
18	83	Brian Vickers	20.7	114.6	79.9
19	17	Matt Kenseth	15.7	116.7	79.6
20	00	David Reutimann	18.4	94.1	74.8
21	83	Reed Sorenson	20.7	106.1	73.0
22	36	Casey Mears	20.5	93.9	69.2
23	7	Bobby Labonte	20.5	121.4	68.9
24	47	Marcos Ambrose	18.7	74.1	67.4
25	20	Joey Logano	15.8	87.1	65.6
26	19	Elliott Sadler	23.0	86.9	65.3
27	46	J.J. Yeley	18.1	81.6	63.1
28	26	David Stremme	26.7	77.6	63.0
29	12	Brad Keselowski	16.0	67.9	62.6
30	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	27.4	93.8	58.7
31	1	Jamie McMurray	26.4	85.2	58.5
32	43	AJ Allmendinger	30.2	97.8	57.7
33	11	Jason Leffler	24.0	57.6	57.6
34	6	David Ragan	27.6	71.1	57.4
35	7	Robby Gordon	25.0	76.8	57.4
36	55	Michael Waltrip	21.1	70.8	57.1
37	66	Scott Riggs	27.1	82.3	56.2
38	0	Mike Bliss	28.5	56.1	54.8
39	66	Jeff Green	25.0	87.1	53.6
40	09	Aric Almirola	23.3	69.0	52.5
41	70	Johnny Sauter	24.8	76.0	51.7
42	66	Dave Blaney	30.1	85.2	51.0
43	37	Tony Raines	28.8	69.9	49.6
44	87	Joe Nemechek	33.4	72.3	47.7
45	28	Travis Kvapil	30.3	75.6	47.4
46	98	Paul Menard	29.3	64.4	46.6
47	78	Regan Smith	29.7	49.2	45.4
48	34	John Andretti	28.0	50.6	44.4
49	37	David Gilliland	35.3	57.7	43.8
50	82	Scott Speed	31.3	53.7	42.6
51	36	P Carpentier	35.0	54.5	40.4
52	64	Mike Wallace	33.0	48.4	39.5
53	45	Terry Labonte	35.0	34.6	34.6
54	34	Kevin Conway	32.0	33.8	33.8
55	21	Bill Elliott	31.7	35.9	33.6
56	71	Andy Lally	37.0	33.5	33.5
57	55	M McDowell	37.8	42.4	33.2
58	37	Kevin Lepage	33.0	38.8	32.3
59	45	Chad McCumbee	42.0	30.3	30.3
60	64	Todd Bodine	40.0	30.1	30.1
61	13	Max Papis	43.0	28.3	28.3
62	98	Boris Said	40.0	24.9	24.9