Early Rankings: Bristol I, 2017

Kyle Busch photo

Kyle Busch tops my early Bristol I driver rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)

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., DoverDarlingtonLas 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:

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