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 and Talladega);
• the loop data for the past four races;
• the loop data for the past four races at Dover;
• the loop data for the past seven 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:

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