Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Dover. 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 Dover;
- the loop data for the past eight races at the other tracks in the Steeps track group (i.e., Bristol, Darlington, Las Vegas and Homestead);
- the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Dover; and
- the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Steeps.
The results:
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
- Kyle Busch
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- Greg Biffle
- Carl Edwards
- Denny Hamlin
- Jeff Gordon
- Kasey Kahne
- Brad Keselowski
- Clint Bowyer
- Kevin Harvick
- Mark Martin
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Tony Stewart
- Ryan Newman
- Joey Logano
- Paul Menard
- Marcos Ambrose
- Jeff Burton
- Aric Almirola
- Jamie McMurray
- Regan Smith
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (i)
- Sam Hornish, Jr.
- Bobby Labonte
- Kurt Busch
- David Ragan
- Casey Mears
- David Gilliland
- Landon Cassill
- Danica Patrick
- Travis Kvapil
- Michael McDowell
- David Stremme
- J.J. Yeley
- Joe Nemechek
- Reed Sorenson
- Scott Speed
- Josh Wise
- Mike Bliss
- Scott Riggs
- T.J. Bell
- Cole Whitt
- Jason Leffler (i)
- Kelly Bires