Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Atlanta. 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 Watkins Glen);
- the loop data for the past four races at Atlanta;
- the loop data for the past eight races at other tracks in the Large Ovals track group (i.e., Michigan, Kentucky, Fontana, Charlotte, Texas, and Kansas);
- the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Atlanta; and
- the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.
The results:
- Matt Kenseth
- Kyle Busch
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kasey Kahne
- Kurt Busch
- Carl Edwards
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- Denny Hamlin
- Clint Bowyer
- Jeff Gordon
- Greg Biffle
- Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
- Kevin Harvick
- Brad Keselowski
- Brian Vickers
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Ryan Newman
- Joey Logano
- Mark Martin
- Paul Menard
- Marcos Ambrose
- Jeff Burton
- Jamie McMurray
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Aric Almirola
- A.J. Allmendinger
- David Ragan
- Austin Dillon
- Casey Mears
- Danica Patrick
- Bobby Labonte
- David Gilliland
- David Reutimann
- Dave Blaney
- Travis Kvapil
- David Stremme
- Landon Cassill
- Scott Speed
- J.J. Yeley
- Michael McDowell
- Joe Nemechek
- Josh Wise
- Mike Bliss
- Timmy Hill