Update: I’ve now completed my final Atlanta driver rankings.
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, and Watkins Glen);
- the loop data for the past four races (excluding Daytona);
- 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 seven races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.
The results:
- Kevin Harvick
- Joey Logano
- Brad Keselowski
- Kyle Busch
- Carl Edwards
- Matt Kenseth
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Denny Hamlin
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kurt Busch
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Ryan Newman
- Kyle Larson
- Jamie McMurray
- Kasey Kahne
- Austin Dillon
- Paul Menard
- Greg Biffle
- Clint Bowyer
- Aric Almirola
- AJ Allmendinger
- David Ragan
- Ryan Blaney
- Brian Scott
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Danica Patrick
- Casey Mears
- Ty Dillon
- Trevor Bayne
- Chase Elliott
- Chris Buescher
- Regan Smith
- Landon Cassill
- Michael Annett
- Michael McDowell
- Cole Whitt
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Josh Wise
- Jeffrey Earnhardt