Early Rankings: Dover I, 2017

Martin Truex Jr photo

Martin Truex Jr. tops my early Dover I driver rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)

Update: I’ve posted my final Dover I driver rankings, which improve upon the below early rankings.

Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Cup race at Dover. 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 Dover;
  • the loop data for the past five races at the other tracks in the Steeps track group (i.e., BristolDarlingtonLas Vegas and Homestead);
  • the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Dover; and
  • the practice and qualifying data for past five races at the aforementioned Steeps.

The results:

  1. Martin Truex Jr.
  2. Kevin Harvick
  3. Kyle Busch
  4. Kyle Larson
  5. Matt Kenseth
  6. Denny Hamlin
  7. Joey Logano
  8. Jimmie Johnson
  9. Chase Elliott
  10. Brad Keselowski
  11. Jamie McMurray
  12. Kurt Busch
  13. Ryan Blaney
  14. Erik Jones
  15. Kasey Kahne
  16. Ryan Newman
  17. Austin Dillon
  18. Clint Bowyer
  19. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  21. Daniel Suarez
  22. Paul Menard
  23. AJ Allmendinger
  24. Trevor Bayne
  25. #43 Car
  26. Ty Dillon
  27. Chris Buescher
  28. Danica Patrick
  29. David Ragan
  30. Michael McDowell
  31. Landon Cassill
  32. Matt DiBenedetto
  33. Cole Whitt
  34. Carl Long
  35. Ryan Sieg
  36. Gray Gaulding
  37. Ross Chastain
  38. Jeffrey Earnhardt
  39. Cody Ware