Early Rankings: Phoenix I, 2016

Kevin Harvick photo

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, 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. 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

3 thoughts on “Early Rankings: Phoenix I, 2016

  1. Jed Henson Post author

    KuBu did look great in the prelims, but that doesn’t mean we should throw out all previous loop data and practice data. And Harvick dominates that earlier data. KuBu could easily win, of course, but I don’t think he’s the favorite.

    Does anybody still wear a jock?

  2. Fantasy Racing Expert

    The historical data for Kevin Harvick at Phoenix is unmatched by any other current driver. I also had him #1 in my rankings. Geno, if you disagree, please respond with some data of your own maybe?

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