Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Charlotte. 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 Talladega);
- the loop data for the past four races at Charlotte;
- 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, Michigan and Kentucky);
- the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Charlotte; and
- the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.
- Jimmie Johnson
- Denny Hamlin
- Greg Biffle
- Kyle Busch
- Kasey Kahne
- Matt Kenseth
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Mark Martin
- Brad Keselowski
- Carl Edwards
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Kevin Harvick
- Jeff Gordon
- Clint Bowyer
- Marcos Ambrose
- Tony Stewart
- Ryan Newman
- Paul Menard
- Joey Logano
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Aric Almirola
- Jamie McMurray
- Kurt Busch
- Jeff Burton
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Regan Smith
- Trevor Bayne(i)
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Bobby Labonte
- David Ragan
- David Reutimann
- Casey Mears
- Landon Cassill(i)
- David Gilliland
- Travis Kvapil
- Dave Blaney
- Scott Speed(i)
- Michael McDowell
- Reed Sorenson (i)
- David Stremme
- J J Yeley
- Joe Nemechek
- Josh Wise(i)
- Mike Bliss
- T.J. Bell
- Scott Riggs
- Cole Whitt
The man needs a win to get into the wild-card hunt, and he knows it. That means his Chevy Impala might come to the track this weekend with a front bumper off a Silverado.