Welcome to our ninth year of staff predictions! Each week, our experts attempt to tell you who the winner of each Cup race will be. Take a look to see who your favorite writers think will win it all (or at least score some points) this week!
Think you can out-prognosticate our staff? Leave your picks in the comments and see how they stack up!
How we roll:Each driver can be picked only twice each week. We can’t pick the same driver two weeks in a row. And if anyone is daring enough to pick from a pool of higher-risk drivers…well, he or she reaps some serious bonus points!
Prediction Scoring
+5 – Win
+3 – 2nd-5th
+1 – 6th-10th
0 – 11th-20th
-1 – 21st-30th
-2 – 31st-36th
-3 – 37th-40th
High-Risk Drivers—Atlanta:
Michael McDowell
Landon Cassill
David Ragan
Regan Smith
Casey Mears
Michael Annett
This week’s predictions: QuikTrip Folds of Honor 500
Tom Bowles, Editor-In-Chief: Matt Kenseth.
Amy Henderson, Senior Editor: My pick this week is Jimmie Johnson.
Jeff Wolfe, Senior Writer: Kevin Harvick.
Matt Stallknecht, Senior Editor: Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
Mark Howell, Senior Writer: My pick is Chase Elliott for his first career Cup win.
Joseph Wolkin, Assistant Editor: Joey Logano.
Phil Allaway, Newsletter Editor: I’m picking Kyle Larson to get No. 1 on Sunday. It’s his kind of driving.
Jeff Meyer, Semi-retired Contributor: Kyle Busch.
Aaron Bearden, Assistant Editor: Give me Paul Menard.
Tony Lumbis, Financial Manager: I’m feeling risky this week. Let’s go with Casey Mears.
Zach Catanzareti, Contributor: I’ll be having fun this year picking underdogs for every week: Ms. Danica in Atlanta.
Mike Neff, Short Track Coordinator: Kyle Busch.
Kevin Rutherford, Senior Editor: I’m with Phil: Kyle Larson.
Jason Schultz, Contributor: Carl Edwards.
Danny Peters, Senior Writer: Kenseth for me too.
Huston Ladner, Senior Editor: Joey Logano.
Dustin Albino, Contributor: Jimmie Johnson.
Clayton Caldwell, Contributor: I’ll take Stenhouse, too.
Bryan Gable, Contributor: Kevin Harvick.
Dan Greene, Webmaster: Martin Truex, Jr.
Jerry Jordan, Contributor: Kurt Busch.
Sean Fesko, Contributor: Carl Edwards.
Vito Pugliese, Senior Writer: Brad Keselowski.
Daytona 500
Writer | Pick | Finishing Position | Points |
Sean Fesko | Denny Hamlin | 1st | 5 |
Danny Peters | Denny Hamlin | 1st | 5 |
Tom Bowles | Kyle Busch | 3rd | 3 |
Mark Howell | Kyle Busch | 3rd | 3 |
Huston Ladner | Carl Edwards | 5th | 3 |
Jeff Meyer | Carl Edwards | 5th | 3 |
Dan Greene | Joey Logano | 6th | 1 |
Jerry Jordan | Joey Logano | 6th | 1 |
Tony Lumbis | Kurt Busch | 10th | 1 |
Summer Bedgood | Kurt Busch | 10th | 1 |
Kevin Rutherford | Matt Kenseth | 14th | 0 |
Zach Catanzareti | Jimmie Johnson | 16th | 0 |
Clayton Caldwell | Jamie McMurray | 17th | 0 |
Jeff Wolfe | Ryan Blaney | 19th | 0 |
Bryan Gable | Brad Keselowski | 20th | 0 |
Aaron Bearden | Brad Keselowski | 20th | 0 |
Phil Allaway | Landon Cassill | 23rd | -1 |
Amy Henderson | Casey Mears | 32nd | -2 |
Joseph Wolkin | Greg Biffle | 34th | -2 |
Vito Pugliese | Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | 36th | -2 |
Mike Neff | Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | 36th | -2 |
Standings
Writer | Points | Behind | Starts | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 |
Sean Fesko | 5 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Danny Peters | 5 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Tom Bowles | 3 | -2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Mark Howell | 3 | -2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Huston Ladner | 3 | -2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Jeff Meyer | 3 | -2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Dan Greene | 1 | -4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Jerry Jordan | 1 | -4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Tony Lumbis | 1 | -4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Summer Bedgood | 1 | -4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Kevin Rutherford | 0 | -5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Zach Catanzareti | 0 | -5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Clayton Caldwell | 0 | -5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Aaron Bearden | 0 | -5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Jeff Wolfe | 0 | -5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bryan Gable | 0 | -5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Phil Allaway | -1 | -6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Amy Henderson | -2 | -7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Joseph Wolkin | -2 | -7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Vito Pugliese | -2 | -7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Mike Neff | -2 | -7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
My pick is Cousin Carl in that #19 car
Amy, could you please tell me when the comments section is going to be fixed? This article shows that there is a comment yet when I go into the article I cannot see any comments. I sent an e-mail to Beth Lunkenheimer last week as well as a follow-up to the “Contact Us” section explaining the issues with the site and comments section that some of us are experiencing yet I haven’t heard back from anyone.
I’ve seen that sometimes and have to reload the page, which usually takes care of it.
Rg72, I’ve tried that many times with mixed results on various computers and phones, at times each showing different amounts of comments for articles. Even now this article is reporting two comments although there is three comments. Something changed or isn’t working in the last month or so (as others have commented on as well).
In addition to this even typing a comment the text appears to drag when typing which makes it very hard to add a comment (I now write in Word and then paste my comment into the comments box).
It is happening to me too. Something isn’t right.