Early Rankings: Phoenix II, 2013

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 Talladega and Watkins Glen);
  • the loop data for the past four races (excluding 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, IndyPocono 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:

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