Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Phoenix. I compiled them by crunching:
- The loop data for the past 15 Sprint Cup races (excluding Daytona and Talladega);
- the loop data for the past four races (excluding Daytona and Talladega);
- the loop data for the past four races at Phoenix;
- the loop data for the past eight races at the other tracks in the Flats track group (i.e., Richmond, Martinsville, Indy, Pocono and New Hampshire);
- the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Phoenix; and
- the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Flats.
The results:
- Denny Hamlin
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kyle Busch
- Kasey Kahne
- Jeff Gordon
- Mark Martin
- Brad Keselowski
- Clint Bowyer
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- Tony Stewart
- Kevin Harvick
- Greg Biffle
- Ryan Newman
- Matt Kenseth
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Carl Edwards
- Paul Menard
- Joey Logano
- Kurt Busch
- Aric Almirola
- Marcos Ambrose
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Jeff Burton
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Jamie McMurray
- Bobby Labonte
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Danica Patrick
- Casey Mears
- David Ragan
- David Reutimann
- Travis Kvapil
- David Gilliland
- Dave Blaney
- Michael McDowell
- David Stremme
- Joe Nemechek
- Josh Wise
- Mike Bliss
- J.J. Yeley
- Scott Riggs
- Scott Speed
- Ken Schrader
Note: I updated these Tuesday to reflect the entry list.