Update: I’ve posted my final Pocono I driver rankings, which improve upon the below early rankings.
Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Cup race at Pocono. I compiled them by crunching:
- The loop data for the past 15 Cup races (excluding Daytona and Talladega);
- the loop data for the past four races;
- the loop data for the past four races at Pocono;
- the loop data for the past eight races at the other tracks in the Flats track group (i.e., Martinsville, Phoenix, Indy, Richmond and New Hampshire);
- the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Pocono; and
- the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Flats.
The results:
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Kyle Busch
- Kevin Harvick
- Matt Kenseth
- Kyle Larson
- Joey Logano
- Brad Keselowski
- Jimmie Johnson
- Denny Hamlin
- Chase Elliott
- Kurt Busch
- Jamie McMurray
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Ryan Blaney
- Ryan Newman
- Austin Dillon
- Kasey Kahne
- Erik Jones
- Clint Bowyer
- AJ Allmendinger
- Daniel Suarez
- Paul Menard
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Ty Dillon
- Trevor Bayne
- Danica Patrick
- Chris Buescher
- Darrell Wallace Jr
- David Ragan
- Landon Cassill
- Michael McDowell
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Corey LaJoie
- Cole Whitt
- Gray Gaulding
- Reed Sorenson
- Derrike Cope
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Cody Ware