Early Rankings: Michigan II, 2017

Martin Truex Jr photo

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

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

Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Cup race at Michigan. I compiled them by crunching:

  • The loop data for the past 15 Cup races (excluding DaytonaTalladega, Watkins Glen and Sonoma;
  • the loop data for the past four races;
  • 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, Atlanta, Chicagoland and Kentucky;
  • the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Michigan; and
  • the practice and qualifying data for past eight races at the aforementioned Large Ovals.

The results:

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