Update: I’ve posted my final driver rankings for Richmond I, which improve upon the below early rankings.
Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Cup race at Richmond. 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 Richmond;
- the loop data for the past eight races at the other tracks in the Flats track group (i.e., Martinsville, Phoenix, Indy, Pocono and New Hampshire);
- the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Richmond; and
- the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Flats.
The results:
- Kyle Busch
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Joey Logano
- Brad Keselowski
- Kyle Larson
- Jimmie Johnson
- Kevin Harvick
- Matt Kenseth
- Denny Hamlin
- Chase Elliott
- Jamie McMurray
- Kurt Busch
- Kasey Kahne
- Erik Jones
- Ryan Newman
- Clint Bowyer
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Austin Dillon
- Ryan Blaney
- AJ Allmendinger
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Trevor Bayne
- Paul Menard
- Aric Almirola
- Danica Patrick
- Ty Dillon
- Daniel Suarez
- Chris Buescher
- David Ragan
- Michael McDowell
- Landon Cassill
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Cole Whitt
- Corey LaJoie
- Reed Sorenson
- Gray Gaulding
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Timmy Hill