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 Daytona, Talladega, Phoenix 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, Martinsville, Indy, Pocono 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:
- Kevin Harvick
- Brad Keselowski
- Jeff Gordon
- Joey Logano
- Jimmie Johnson
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Denny Hamlin
- Matt Kenseth
- Kyle Larson
- Ryan Newman
- Jamie McMurray
- Kasey Kahne
- Clint Bowyer
- Carl Edwards
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Brian Vickers
- Tony Stewart
- Paul Menard
- Greg Biffle
- Aric Almirola
- AJ Allmendinger
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- David Ragan
- Austin Dillon
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Regan Smith
- Casey Mears
- Danica Patrick
- Justin Allgaier
- Trevor Bayne
- David Gilliland
- Michael Annett
- Cole Whitt
- Reed Sorenson
- Landon Cassill
- Alex Bowman
- Brett Moffitt
- Josh Wise
- Travis Kvapil
- J.J Yeley
- Jeb Burton
- Tanner Berryhill(i)
- Mike Bliss
- Brendan Gaughan
- Matt Dibenedetto