Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Richmond. 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 Richmond;
- the loop data for the past eight races at other tracks in the Flats track group (i.e., Martinsville, Phoenix, Indy, Pocono and New Hampshire);
- the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Richmond; and
- the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Flats.
The results:
- Denny Hamlin
- Jimmie Johnson
- Carl Edwards
- Kyle Busch
- Kasey Kahne
- Kevin Harvick
- Jeff Gordon
- Mark Martin
- Clint Bowyer
- Brad Keselowski
- Greg Biffle
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- Ryan Newman
- Matt Kenseth
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Paul Menard
- Tony Stewart
- Marcos Ambrose
- Joey Logano
- Jeff Burton
- Regan Smith
- Jamie McMurray
- Sam Hornish, Jr.
- Aric Almirola
- Kurt Busch
- Bobby Labonte
- Casey Mears
- David Reutimann
- David Ragan
- Landon Cassill
- Dave Blaney
- Mark Green
- David Gilliland
- Travis Kvapil
- Joe Nemechek
- Michael McDowell
- David Stremme
- Josh Wise
- J.J. Yeley
- Mike Bliss
- Ken Schrader
- Reed Sorenson
- Scott Riggs
- Stephen Leicht