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2016 Frontstretch Cup: Staff Predictions for the AAA 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks

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 bonus: Win: +3; 2nd-5th: +2; 6th-10th: +1

High-Risk Drivers — Dover I:
Michael McDowell
Brian Scott
Michael Annett
Matt DiBenedetto
Josh Wise
Trevor Bayne
Landon Cassill

This week’s predictions: AAA 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks

Amy Henderson, Senior Editor: I’m going with Jimmie Johnson this week. I don’t love his starting spot, but he’s ridiculously good at the Monster Mile.
Mike Neff, Short Track Coordinator:  Way to go out on a limb, Amy. I guess I’ll take Joey Logano.
Jeff Wolfe, Senior Writer: Burt Kusch … I mean Kurt Busch.
Huston Ladner, Senior Editor: Carl Edwards.
Tony Lumbis, Financial Manager:
Matt DiBenedetto.
Dan Greene, Webmaster: Kurt Busch.
Zach Catanzareti, Contributor: 42 Larson 42 Larson 42!
Joseph Wolkin, Assistant Editor:
Kyle Busch.
Jason Schultz, Contributor: Carl Edwards.
Dustin Albino, Contributor: The No. 48.
Clayton Caldwell, Contributor:
I’ll take a risk here and go Brian Scott. RPM is good here!
Sean Fesko, Staff Writer: Kevin Harvick.
Vito Pugliese, Senior Writer: Matt Kenseth.
Michael Finley, Contributor:
Kevin Harvick.
Bryan Gable, Contributor:
Matt Kenseth.

GoBowling.com 400

Writer Pick Finishing Position Points
Jeff Wolfe Kyle Busch 1st 5
Vito Pugliese Kyle Busch 1st 5
Joseph Wolkin Kurt Busch 3rd 3
Tony Lumbis Matt Kenseth 4th 3
Dustin Albino Matt Kenseth 4th 3
Bryan Gable Chase Elliott 9th 1
Huston Ladner Carl Edwards 11th 0
Jeff Meyer Carl Edwards 11th 0
Amy Henderson Martin Truex, Jr. 14th 0
Danny Peters Martin Truex, Jr. 14th 0
Dan Greene Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 15th 0
Jason Schultz Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 15th 0
Sean Fesko Jimmie Johnson 17th 0
Clayton Caldwell Jimmie Johnson 17th 0
Phil Allaway Kyle Larson 35th -2

 

Standings

 Writer Points Behind Starts Wins Top 5 Top 10
Jeff Wolfe 21 1 3 5 7
Bryan Gable 18 -3 9 0 5 8
Dustin Albino 18 -3 10 2 4 7
Jeff Meyer 17 -4 11 1 5 7
Danny Peters 11 -10 11 1 4 6
Tony Lumbis 10 -11 11 0 3 4
Clayton Caldwell 10 -11 10 0 2 5
Jason Schultz 9 -12 10 0 3 6
Huston Ladner 8 -13 10 0 2 4
Sean Fesko 8 -13 11 1 4 5
Aaron Bearden 7 -14 8 0 2 4
Amy Henderson 5 -16 11 3 4 5
Dan Greene 4 -17 11 0 1 6
Jerry Jordan 4 -17 2 0 1 2
Mike Neff 4 -17 3 0 2 2
Mark Howell 4 -17 9 1 2 4
Vito Pugliese 4 -17 1 1 1 5
Tom Bowles 3 -18 2 0 1 1
Joseph Wolkin 3 -18 11 1 2 3
Phil Allaway 2 -19 9 1 2 2
Summer Bedgood 1 -20 1 0 0 1
Greg Davis -1 -22 1 0 0 0
Matt Stallknecht -1 -22 5 0 0 3
Kevin Rutherford -2 -23 3 0 0 0
Zach Catanzareti -3 -24 10 0 0 2

 

About the author

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.

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2 Comments
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JohnDoe

Chase Elliott ;-)

DoninAjax

I’m betting on Nyquist on Saturday in a race that matters. That probably means he’ll lose.