Here are my early driver rankings for Sunday’s NASCAR 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:
- Kyle Busch
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Kyle Larson
- Brad Keselowski
- Joey Logano
- Kevin Harvick
- Chase Elliott
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
- Denny Hamlin
- Ryan Blaney
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Kurt Busch
- Erik Jones
- Kasey Kahne
- Jamie McMurray
- Ryan Newman
- Austin Dillon
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- AJ Allmendinger
- Clint Bowyer
- Paul Menard
- Trevor Bayne
- Aric Almirola
- Daniel Suarez
- Ty Dillon
- Chris Buescher
- Danica Patrick
- Michael McDowell
- David Ragan
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Landon Cassill
- Cole Whitt
- Corey LaJoie
- Gray Gaulding
- Reed Sorenson
- Timmy Hill
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Derrike Cope