Early Rankings: Bristol I, 2014

Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol. 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 (excluding Daytona);
  • the loop data for the past four races at Bristol;
  • the loop data for the past six races at the other tracks in the Steeps track group (i.e., DoverDarlingtonLas Vegas and Homestead);
  • the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Bristol; and
  • the practice and qualifying data for past six races at the aforementioned Steeps.

The results:

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