Early Rankings: Phoenix I, 2017

Kevin Harvick photo

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

Update: I’ve posted my final Phoenix I 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 Daytona);
  • 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. Kyle Busch
  4. Martin Truex Jr.
  5. Kyle Larson
  6. Brad Keselowski
  7. Matt Kenseth
  8. Jimmie Johnson
  9. Chase Elliott
  10. Denny Hamlin
  11. Kurt Busch
  12. Kasey Kahne
  13. Jamie McMurray
  14. Erik Jones
  15. Ryan Newman
  16. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  17. Austin Dillon
  18. Ryan Blaney
  19. Paul Menard
  20. AJ Allmendinger
  21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  22. Aric Almirola
  23. Danica Patrick
  24. Trevor Bayne
  25. Clint Bowyer
  26. Ty Dillon
  27. Daniel Suarez
  28. Michael McDowell
  29. Chris Buescher
  30. David Ragan
  31. Landon Cassill
  32. Matt DiBenedetto
  33. Cole Whitt
  34. Reed Sorenson
  35. Jeffrey Earnhardt
  36. Corey LaJoie
  37. Gray Gaulding
  38. Timmy Hill
  39. Derrike Cope