Update: I’ve posted my final Bristol II driver rankings, which improve upon the below early rankings.
Here are my early driver rankings for this week’s NASCAR Cup race at Bristol. I compiled them by crunching:
- The loop data for the past 15 Cup races (excluding Daytona, Talladega, Watkins Glen and Sonoma;
- the loop data for the past four races;
- the loop data for the past four races at Bristol;
- the loop data for the past six races at the other tracks in the Steeps track group (i.e., Dover, Darlington, Las Vegas and Homestead);
- the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Bristol; and
- the practice and qualifying data for past six races at the aforementioned Steeps.
The results:
- Martin Truex Jr
- Kyle Busch
- Kevin Harvick
- Denny Hamlin
- Kyle Larson
- Matt Kenseth
- Chase Elliott
- Erik Jones
- Joey Logano
- Brad Keselowski
- Jimmie Johnson
- Ryan Blaney
- Kurt Busch
- Daniel Suarez
- Kasey Kahne
- Jamie McMurray
- Ryan Newman
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Austin Dillon
- Clint Bowyer
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- AJ Allmendinger
- Trevor Bayne
- Paul Menard
- Aric Almirola
- Chris Buescher
- Ty Dillon
- Danica Patrick
- Michael McDowell
- David Ragan
- Landon Cassill
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Cole Whitt
- Corey LaJoie
- Joey Gase
- JJ Yeley
- Carl Long
- #51 Driver TBA
- Reed Sorenson
- Jeffrey Earnhardt
- Derrike Cope