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.

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Greg Biffle
4. Kyle Busch
5. Kasey Kahne
6. Matt Kenseth
7. Martin Truex Jr.
8. Mark Martin
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Carl Edwards
11. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
12. Kevin Harvick
13. Jeff Gordon
14. Clint Bowyer
15. Marcos Ambrose
16. Tony Stewart
17. Ryan Newman
18. Paul Menard
19. Joey Logano
20. Sam Hornish Jr.
21. Aric Almirola
22. Jamie McMurray
23. Kurt Busch
24. Jeff Burton
25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
26. Regan Smith
27. Trevor Bayne(i)
28. Juan Pablo Montoya
29. Bobby Labonte
30. David Ragan
31. David Reutimann
32. Casey Mears
33. Landon Cassill(i)
34. David Gilliland
35. Travis Kvapil
36. Dave Blaney
37. Scott Speed(i)
38. Michael McDowell
39. Reed Sorenson (i)
40. David Stremme
41. J J Yeley
42. Joe Nemechek
43. Josh Wise(i)
44. Mike Bliss
45. T.J. Bell
46. Scott Riggs
47. Cole Whitt