Early Rankings: Watkins Glen, 2017

Kyle Busch photo

Kyle Busch tops my early Watkins Glen driver rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)

Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Cup race at Watkins Glen. 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 at Watkins Glen;
  • the loop data for the past four races at Sonoma;
  • the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Watkins Glen; and
  • the practice and qualifying data for past four races at Sonoma.

The results:

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