Kevin Harvick is my top pick by a mile in my early Phoenix driver rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)

Update: I’ve now completed my final Phoenix driver rankings.

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, Sonoma 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, 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:

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Joey Logano
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Kyle Busch
5. Kurt Busch
6. Jimmie Johnson
7. Carl Edwards
8. Martin Truex Jr.
9. Matt Kenseth
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
11. Denny Hamlin
12. Kyle Larson
13. Jamie McMurray
14. Ryan Newman
15. Kasey Kahne
16. Austin Dillon
17. Paul Menard
18. Chase Elliott
19. Aric Almirola
20. Greg Biffle
21. AJ Allmendinger
22. Clint Bowyer
23. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
24. Casey Mears
25. Ryan Blaney
26. Danica Patrick
27. David Ragan
28. Ty Dillon
29. Trevor Bayne
30. Landon Cassill
31. Brian Scott
32. Chris Buescher
33. Regan Smith
34. Cole Whitt
35. Michael Annett
36. Matt DiBenedetto
37. Michael McDowell
38. Josh Wise
39. Joey Gase