Kevin Harvick tops my early Bristol I driver rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)

Update: I’ve completed my final Bristol I driver rankings.

Here are my early driver rankings for Sunday’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;
• the loop data for the past four races at Bristol;
• the loop data for the past five races at the other tracks in the Steeps track group (i.e., Dover, Darlington, Las Vegas and Homestead);
• the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Bristol; and
• the practice and qualifying data for past five races at the aforementioned Steeps.

The results:

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