Update: I’ve posted my final Phoenix II driver rankings, which improve upon the below early 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:
- Kevin Harvick
- Kyle Busch
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Matt Kenseth
- Joey Logano
- Carl Edwards
- Jimmie Johnson
- Denny Hamlin
- Brad Keselowski
- Kyle Larson
- Chase Elliott
- Kurt Busch
- Kasey Kahne
- Jamie McMurray
- Ryan Newman
- Alex Bowman
- Austin Dillon
- Ryan Blaney
- AJ Allmendinger
- Tony Stewart
- Paul Menard
- Greg Biffle
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Aric Almirola
- Danica Patrick
- Casey Mears
- Trevor Bayne
- Clint Bowyer
- David Ragan
- Chris Buescher
- Michael McDowell
- Regan Smith
- Brian Scott
- D.J. Kennington
- Landon Cassill
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Michael Annett
- Reed Sorenson
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Gray Gaulding