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—Kentucky
Matt DiBenedetto
Danica Patrick
Reed Sorenson
Josh Wise
Michael McDowell
Lando Cassill
Cole Whitt
This week’s predictions: Quaker State 400
Amy Henderson, Senior Editor: My pick this week is Kyle Busch. Joe Gibbs Racing has been crazy strong at the 1.5-milers this year, and with my luck lately, I need to turn things around.
Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer: Trevor Bayne.
Dan Greene, Webmaster: Martin Truex, Jr.
Tony Lumbis, Financial Manager: Matt Kenseth.
Joseph Wolkin, Assistant Editor: Ryan Blaney.
Mark Howell, Senior Writer: Give me Cousin Carl for the win at Kentucky.
Huston Ladner, Senior Editor: KyBu.
Vito Pugliese, Senior Writer: Matt Kenseth.
Jeff Wolfe, Senior Writer: Kevin Harvick.
Greg Davis, Senior Writer: Because Hendrick hasn’t won in awhile- Chase Elliott.
Aaron Bearden, Assistant Editor: Loey Jogano…er, Joey Logano.
Bryan Gable, Contributor: Kevin Harvick has been solid, well, everywhere this year. I’ll go with him.
Jeff Meyer, Can’t-Quite-Retiree:  Kyle Larson. Bound to happen sooner or later!
Danny Peters, Senior Writer: Carl Edwards, please.
Clayton Caldwell, Contributor:Â I’ll go Brad Keselowski please.
Sean Fesko, Staff Writer: Jimmie Johnson.
Jason Schultz, Contributor:Â Joey Logano.
Corey Brewer, Contributor: Martin Truex, Jr.
Dustin Albino, Contributor: Brad Keselowski.
Coke Zero 400
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| Writer | Pick | Finishing Position | Points |
| Jason Schultz | Trevor Bayne | 3rd | 3 |
| Clayton Caldwell | Kyle Larson* | 6th | 2 |
| Zach Catanzareti | Kyle Larson* | 6th | 2 |
| Sean Fesko | Austin Dillon | 7th | 1 |
| Greg Davis | Casey Mears | 12th | 0 |
| Bryan Gable | Denny Hamlin | 17th | 0 |
| Amy Henderson | Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | 21st | -1 |
| Danny Peters | Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | 21st | -1 |
| Michael Finley | Bobby Labonte | 24th | -1 |
| Dan Greene | Tony Stewart | 26th | -1 |
| Jeff Wolfe | Tony Stewart | 26th | -1 |
| Vito Pugliese | Matt Kenseth | 28th | -1 |
| Aaron Bearden | Matt Kenseth | 28th | -1 |
| Dustin Albino | Landon Cassill | 31st | -2 |
| Corey Brewer | Chase Elliott | 32nd | -2 |
| Huston Ladner | Jimmie Johnson | 35th | -2 |
| Joseph Wolkin | Brian Scott | 37th | -3 |
| Mark Howell | Kevin Harvick | 39th | -3 |
Standings
| Â Writer | Points | Behind | Starts | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 |
| Bryan Gable | 29 | — | 15 | 1 | 8 | 11 |
| Jeff Wolfe | 28 | -1 | 17 | 3 | 8 | 10 |
| Clayton Caldwell | 21 | -8 | 16 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Dustin Albino | 21 | -8 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 9 |
| Tony Lumbis | 21 | -8 | 16 | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| Jeff Meyer | 20 | -9 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| Danny Peters | 20 | -9 | 15 | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| Vito Pugliese | 19 | -10 | 17 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| Jason Schultz | 19 | -10 | 15 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| Dan Greene | 17 | -12 | 17 | 1 | 4 | 10 |
| Huston Ladner | 12 | -17 | 15 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| Aaron Bearden | 11 | -18 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Mark Howell | 9 | -20 | 15 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Sean Fesko | 9 | -20 | 17 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Zach Catanzareti | 8 | -21 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Phil Allaway | 6 | -23 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Amy Henderson | 5 | -24 | 17 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Jerry Jordan | 4 | -25 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Mike Neff | 3 | -26 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Tom Bowles | 3 | -26 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Joseph Wolkin | 2 | -27 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| Corey Brewer | 2 | -27 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Summer Bedgood | 1 | -28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Greg Davis | 0 | -29 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Matt Stallknecht | -1 | -30 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Kevin Rutherford | -2 | -31 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Finley | -3 | -32 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
I’m with Jimmie Johnson