Update: I’ve posted my final Pocono I 2016 driver rankings, which improve upon these early rankings.
Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Pocono. 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 Pocono;
- the loop data for the past seven races at the other tracks in the Flats track group (i.e., Martinsville, Phoenix, Indy, Richmond and New Hampshire);
- the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Pocono; and
- the practice and qualifying data for past seven races at the aforementioned Flats.
The results:
- Kevin Harvick
- Kurt Busch
- Brad Keselowski
- Carl Edwards
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Kyle Busch
- Jimmie Johnson
- Joey Logano
- Matt Kenseth
- Denny Hamlin
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Kyle Larson
- Ryan Newman
- Kasey Kahne
- Austin Dillon
- Jamie McMurray
- Chase Elliott
- Greg Biffle
- AJ Allmendinger
- Paul Menard
- Tony Stewart
- Clint Bowyer
- Ryan Blaney
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Danica Patrick
- Aric Almirola
- Casey Mears
- David Ragan
- Trevor Bayne
- Landon Cassill
- Brian Scott
- Cole Whitt
- Chris Buescher
- Regan Smith
- Michael Annett
- Michael McDowell
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Josh Wise
- Reed Sorenson
- #32 Car – TBA