Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan. 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 Daytona and Talladega);
- the loop data for the past four races at Michigan;
- 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, Charlotte and Kentucky);
- the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Michigan; and
- the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.
The results:
- Jimmie Johnson
- Greg Biffle
- Matt Kenseth
- Denny Hamlin
- Kasey Kahne
- Kyle Busch
- Kevin Harvick
- Carl Edwards
- Tony Stewart
- Jeff Gordon
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- Ryan Newman
- Mark Martin
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Clint Bowyer
- Brad Keselowski
- Paul Menard
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Jeff Burton
- Joey Logano
- Marcos Ambrose
- Jamie McMurray
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Regan Smith
- Trevor Bayne
- Aric Almirola
- Bobby Labonte
- Kurt Busch
- Landon Cassill
- Casey Mears
- David Ragan
- David Reutimann
- Travis Kvapil
- David Gilliland
- Dave Blaney
- David Stremme
- J.J. Yeley
- Michael McDowell
- Joe Nemechek
- Mike Bliss
- Tony Raines
- Scott Riggs
- Ken Schrader
- Josh Wise
- Austin Dillon(i)
- Stacy Compton