Early Rankings: Phoenix I, 2014

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 DaytonaTalladega and Watkins Glen);
  • the loop data for the past four races (excluding Daytona);
  • 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, MartinsvilleIndyPocono 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. Jeff Gordon
  6. Kevin Harvick
  7. Kasey Kahne
  8. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  9. Tony Stewart
  10. Kurt Busch
  11. Clint Bowyer
  12. Joey Logano
  13. Denny Hamlin
  14. Carl Edwards
  15. Martin Truex Jr.
  16. Ryan Newman
  17. Greg Biffle
  18. Paul Menard
  19. Aric Almirola
  20. Jamie McMurray
  21. Marcos Ambrose
  22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  23. Brian Vickers
  24. A J Allmendinger
  25. Austin Dillon
  26. Kyle Larson
  27. Casey Mears
  28. Brian Scott
  29. David Ragan
  30. Danica Patrick
  31. Justin Allgaier
  32. David Gilliland
  33. Blake Koch
  34. Ryan Truex
  35. Alex Bowman
  36. Travis Kvapil
  37. Reed Sorenson
  38. Landon Cassill
  39. Michael Annett
  40. Dave Blaney
  41. Cole Whitt
  42. Parker Kligerman
  43. Josh Wise
  44. Michael McDowell
  45. Joe Nemechek
  46. Morgan Shepherd