Mid-Week Rankings: Phoenix I, 2012

Here are my mid-week driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR race at Phoenix. 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 at Phoenix, the loop data for the 2011 races at New Hampshire, Richmond, Martinsville, Pocono and Indy, and the practice and qualifying data for the 2011 races at Phoenix, New Hampshire, Richmond, Martinsville, Pocono and Indy:

  1. Jimmie Johnson
  2. Jeff Gordon
  3. Ryan Newman
  4. Kyle Busch
  5. Carl Edwards
  6. Kevin Harvick
  7. Tony Stewart
  8. Denny Hamlin
  9. Kasey Kahne
  10. A.J. Allmendinger
  11. Clint Bowyer
  12. Greg Biffle
  13. Brad Keselowski
  14. Matt Kenseth
  15. Juan Pablo Montoya
  16. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
  17. Mark Martin
  18. Kurt Busch
  19. Jeff Burton
  20. Martin Truex, Jr.
  21. Joey Logano
  22. Jamie McMurray
  23. Paul Menard
  24. Marcos Ambrose
  25. Regan Smith
  26. Bobby Labonte
  27. Aric Almirola
  28. Casey Mears
  29. David Ragan
  30. David Reutimann
  31. David Gilliland
  32. Dave Blaney
  33. Landon Cassill
  34. Robby Gordon
  35. J.J. Yeley
  36. Travis Kvapil
  37. Michael McDowell
  38. Joe Nemechek
  39. David Stremme
  40. Terry Labonte
  41. Josh Wise
  42. Scott Riggs
  43. Brendan Gaughan
  44. Timmy Hill