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 and Talladega);
• the loop data for the past four race;
• the loop data for the past four races at Richmond;
• the loop data for the past eight races at the 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:

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Kyle Busch
3. Jeff Gordon
4. Clint Bowyer
5. Kasey Kahne
6. Carl Edwards
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Mark Martin
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
10. Brad Keselowski
11. Matt Kenseth
12. Martin Truex Jr.
13. Greg Biffle
14. Brian Vickers
15. Ryan Newman
16. Joey Logano
17. Tony Stewart
18. Paul Menard
19. Jeff Burton
20. Jamie McMurray
21. Juan Pablo Montoya
22. Kurt Busch
23. Aric Almirola
24. Marcos Ambrose
25. A.J. Allmendinger
26. Bobby Labonte
27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
28. David Ragan
29. Danica Patrick
30. Casey Mears
31. Landon Cassill
32. David Reutimann
33. Dave Blaney
34. Travis Kvapil
35. David Gilliland
36. David Stremme
37. Brian Keselowski
38. Timmy Hill
39. Michael McDowell
40. Joe Nemechek
41. Josh Wise
42. J.J. Yeley
43. Mike Bliss