Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte. I compiled them by crunching:

• The loop data for the past 15 Sprint Cup races (excluding Daytona and Talladega);
• the loop data for the past four races (excluding Talladega);
• the loop data for the past four races at Charlotte;
• the loop data for the past eight races at the other tracks in the Large Ovals track group (i.e., Fontana, Kansas, Atlanta, Texas, Chicago, Michigan and Kentucky);
• the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Charlotte; and
• the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.

In addition, I made a few adjustments to the rankings per the impressions I gleaned from watching the All Star and Showdown races and prelims last week.

The results:

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Kyle Busch
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Matt Kenseth
5. Greg Biffle
6. Kasey Kahne
7. Brad Keselowski
8. Martin Truex Jr.
9. Carl Edwards
10. Clint Bowyer Continue reading →

Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup All Star race at Charlotte. I compiled them by crunching:

• The loop data for the past 15 Sprint Cup races (excluding Daytona and Talladega);
• the loop data for the past four races (excluding Talladega);
• the loop data for the past four races at Charlotte;
• the loop data for the past eight races at the other tracks in the Large Ovals track group (i.e., Fontana, Kansas, Atlanta, Texas, Chicago, Michigan and Kentucky);
• the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Charlotte; and
• the practice and qualifying data for past seven races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.

Note: This early list doesn’t include whoever gets into the All Star race via the Showdown or the fan vote. 

The results:

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Kyle Busch
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Matt Kenseth
5. Greg Biffle
6. Kasey Kahne
7. Brad Keselowski
8. Carl Edwards
9. Clint Bowyer
10. Kevin Harvick Continue reading →