Early Rankings: Michigan II, 2016

Kevin Harvick photo

Kevin Harvick tops my early Michigan II driver rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)

Update: I’ve posted my final Michigan II driver rankings, which improve upon these early rankings.

Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Michigan. I compiled them by crunching:

  • The loop data for the past 15 Sprint Cup races (excluding DaytonaTalladega, Watkins Glen and Sonoma;
  • the loop data for the past four races;
  • the loop data for the past four races at Michigan;
  • the loop data for the past seven races at other tracks in the Large Ovals track group (i.e., FontanaKansasTexasCharlotte, Atlanta, Chicagoland and Kentucky;
  • the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Michigan; and
  • the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.

The results:

  1. Kevin Harvick
  2. Martin Truex Jr.
  3. Carl Edwards
  4. Joey Logano
  5. Kyle Busch
  6. Brad Keselowski
  7. Matt Kenseth
  8. Denny Hamlin
  9. Jimmie Johnson
  10. Kurt Busch
  11. Austin Dillon
  12. Kyle Larson
  13. Ryan Newman
  14. Chase Elliott
  15. Jamie McMurray
  16. Tony Stewart
  17. Ryan Blaney
  18. Kasey Kahne
  19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  20. Paul Menard
  21. #88 Car TBA (Bowman?)
  22. Greg Biffle
  23. AJ Allmendinger
  24. Trevor Bayne
  25. Aric Almirola
  26. Danica Patrick
  27. Clint Bowyer
  28. Casey Mears
  29. Chris Buescher
  30. David Ragan
  31. Brian Scott
  32. Landon Cassill
  33. Michael McDowell
  34. Regan Smith
  35. Matt DiBenedetto
  36. Cole Whitt
  37. Michael Annett
  38. Josh Wise
  39. Jeffrey Earnhardt
  40. Reed Sorenson