Dr. Diandra: The all-time best drivers at Darlington

The biggest challenge in compiling a list of all-time best drivers at Darlington — or anywhere else — is comparing drivers from different eras. How do you balance the accomplishments of today’s drivers with those of yesterday’s legends?

Today’s drivers race much more reliable cars, but against a more competitive field. Earlier drivers had more races to run each year, but their cars didn’t always make it to the checkered flag.

Any list of all-time best drivers at Darlington must include David Pearson. He holds Darlington records for most wins (10), most poles (12) and most times winning from the pole (four).

Dale Earnhardt is right behind Pearson in all-time wins with nine. But Pearson made 47 starts at Darlington and Earnhardt made 44. Jeff Gordon has seven wins in 36 races.

Here’s my attempt to compare drivers and determine at least a short list for the all-time best drivers at Darlington.

I started with a list of all 52 Darlington winners. I eliminated drivers with fewer than seven starts, which only got me down to 48 drivers.

Instead of ranking the drivers in order of wins, I ranked them according to their win rate: number of wins divided by number of starts. The table below summarizes the top-11 drivers’ accomplishments.

I extended the list to 11 in honor of Jimmie Johnson, the final driver named to NASCAR’s just-completed list of 75 top drivers.

Ranking by win rate puts Herb Thomas (three wins in seven Darlington starts) at the top with a win rate of 42.9%. Pearson comes in a distant second, winning at about half Thomas’ rate. Earnhardt is third at 20.4%.

Ranking by win rate rather than straight wins produces a solid distribution of drivers over different eras. Current driver Erik Jones is fourth with two wins in 10