Winning isn't everything, even within the Loop Data

The off week provided the opportunity to catch up on some reading. Several racing-centric books have hit the shelves in the past few months, including The Blount Report: NASCAR's Most Overrated & Underrated Drivers, Cars, Teams and Tracks.

As the title implies, overrated and underrated get their just dues through chapters that tackle all-time drivers, records and events among many fun-to-argue topics. It's a good read, one not so much to end debates -- rather to start the dialogue. Which got me to thinking ... everyone has heard about Loop Data, but other than the self-explanatory ones -- Average Running Position, Laps Run on the Lead Lap -- some of these are more suited for an SAT exam.

Mark Martin is barely in the top 35, yet his Driver Rating is 13th.

For example, Driver Rating -- a 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. Must have raced in 75 percent of scheduled point-paying races.

It's the stepbrother to the NFL's QB Rating; no one truly knows if the numbers add up, but it's nice to be leading the pack.

Jeff Gordon paces the Driver Rating field with a 120.5 mark. OK, while I cannot break down the numbers with my abacus, I can believe Gordon has the best rating through four races. After all, he is the points leader.

Clint Bowyer, who is second in points, is 14th in Driver Rating -- behind Mark Martin, who is trying to hang on to a spot in the top 35!

Kurt Busch, who is third in points, is second in Driver Rating, ahead of Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson -- who is more than 30 DR points ahead of David Reutimann, who leads the three-time defending champion by 18 points in the chart that really matters.

The problem with the Driver Rating isn't so much that it can be arbitrary in nature, but rather that wins are purported to be such an important component. Really -- considering Matt Kenseth has won half the races to this point and is ninth in DR with an 89.0 mark, more than 31 points behind Gordon?

Chalk it up to another situation in NASCAR where winning isn't rewarded nearly as much as it should be.

What are the most overrated and underrated stats in NASCAR?
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The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.