Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol. I compiled them by crunching:
- The loop data for the past 15 Sprint Cup races (excluding Daytona, Talladega, Sonoma and Watkins Glen);
- the loop data for the past four races (excluding Watkins Glen);
- the loop data for the past four races at Bristol;
- the loop data for the past eight races at the other tracks in the Steeps track group (i.e., Dover, Darlington, Las Vegas and Homestead);
- the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Bristol; and
- the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Steeps.
The results:
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
- Carl Edwards
- Greg Biffle
- Jeff Gordon
- Kyle Busch
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- Kasey Kahne
- Ryan Newman
- Brad Keselowski
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Kevin Harvick
- Brian Vickers
- Denny Hamlin
- Tony Stewart
- Clint Bowyer
- Paul Menard
- Marcos Ambrose
- Sam Hornish, Jr.
- Aric Almirola
- Joey Logano
- Kurt Busch
- Jamie McMurray
- Jeff Burton
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Regan Smith
- Bobby Labonte
- David Gilliland
- David Ragan
- Casey Mears
- Travis Kvapil
- Landon Cassill
- Dave Blaney
- Danica Patrick
- J.J. Yeley
- David Stremme
- Michael McDowell
- Stephen Leicht
- Joe Nemechek
- Reed Sorenson
- Jason Leffler (i)
- Scott Speed
- Ken Schrader
- Scott Riggs
- Josh Wise
- Mike Bliss
- Kelly Bires