Early Rankings: Michigan I, 2017

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

Here are my early driver rankings for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Michigan. 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;

    Martin Truex Jr photo

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

  • the loop data for the past four races at Michigan;
  • the loop data for the past seven races at other tracks in the Large Ovals track group (i.e., FontanaKansasTexasCharlotte and Kentucky;
  • the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Michigan; and
  • the practice and qualifying data for past seven races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.

The results:

  1. Martin Truex Jr.
  2. Kevin Harvick
  3. Kyle Larson
  4. Kyle Busch
  5. Chase Elliott
  6. Matt Kenseth
  7. Joey Logano
  8. Brad Keselowski
  9. Jimmie Johnson
  10. Ryan Blaney
  11. Denny Hamlin
  12. Jamie McMurray
  13. Kurt Busch
  14. Erik Jones
  15. Austin Dillon
  16. Ryan Newman
  17. Kasey Kahne
  18. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  19. Daniel Suarez
  20. Clint Bowyer
  21. Trevor Bayne
  22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  23. Paul Menard
  24. Ty Dillon
  25. AJ Allmendinger
  26. Danica Patrick
  27. Chris Buescher
  28. David Ragan
  29. Michael McDowell
  30. Darrell Wallace Jr.
  31. Landon Cassill
  32. Matt DiBenedetto
  33. Cole Whitt
  34. Corey LaJoie
  35. Gray Gaulding
  36. Reed Sorenson
  37. Jeffrey Earnhardt
  38. #51 car