Early Rankings: Phoenix II, 2017

Kyle Busch photo

Kyle Busch tops my early Phoenix II driver rankings. (photo courtesy nascar)

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

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

  • The loop data for the past 15 Cup races (excluding Daytona, Talladega, Sonoma and Watkins Glen);
  • the loop data for the past four races (excluding Talladega);
  • the loop data for the past four races at Phoenix;
  • the loop data for the past seven races at the other tracks in the Flats track group (i.e., Richmond, MartinsvilleIndyPocono and New Hampshire);
  • the practice and qualifying data for the past four races at Phoenix; and
  • the practice and qualifying data for past seven races at the aforementioned Flats.

The results:

  1. Kyle Busch
  2. Martin Truex Jr
  3. Kevin Harvick
  4. Denny Hamlin
  5. Kyle Larson
  6. Brad Keselowski
  7. Chase Elliott
  8. Matt Kenseth
  9. Joey Logano
  10. Ryan Blaney
  11. Jimmie Johnson
  12. Kurt Busch
  13. Erik Jones
  14. Jamie McMurray
  15. Dale Earnhardt Jr
  16. Kasey Kahne
  17. Daniel Suarez
  18. Clint Bowyer
  19. Ryan Newman
  20. Austin Dillon
  21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr
  22. Paul Menard
  23. Aric Almirola
  24. Danica Patrick
  25. AJ Allmendinger
  26. Trevor Bayne
  27. Ty Dillon
  28. Chris Buescher
  29. Michael McDowell
  30. David Ragan
  31. Landon Cassill
  32. Matt DiBenedetto
  33. Cole Whitt
  34. Corey LaJoie
  35. #83 Car TBA
  36. Joey Gase
  37. Jeffrey Earnhardt
  38. Derrike Cope
  39. DJ Kennington
  40. #51 Car TBA