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—Watkins Glen
Michael McDowell
Landon Cassill
Danica Patrick
Casey Mears
Aric Almirola
David Ragan
Paul Menard
This week’s predictions: Cheez-It 355 at the Glen
Amy Henderson, Senior Editor: I’m going with Kyle Busch this week. As always, I apologize in advance for that. Sorry, Rowdy fans.
Aaron Bearden, Assistant Editor: Simon Pagenaud. Crap, wrong week….I guess I’ll stick with the 22 team. Give me Logano.
Dan Greene, Webmaster: Martin Truex, Jr. He just extended his contract; as a thank you to Barney Visser, he’ll win the race.
Tony Lumbis, Financial Manager: Casey Mears taps into his Indy roots and has a solid day at the road course.
Jeff Meyer, Sorta-kinda Retired: I’m going with Jeff Gordon! That would be so cool.
Jeff Wolfe, Senior Writer: Had some Nature’s Bakery bars at Pocono on Sunday and Monday. Loved them. So picking Danica Patrick.
Bryan Gable, Contributor: Brad Keselowski.
Clayton Caldwell, Contributor: I’ll take A.J. Allmendinger please!
Dustin Albino, Contributor: Kyle Larson.
Sean Fesko, Staff Writer: Tony Stewart.
Mike Neff, Short Tracks Editor: Joey Logano, please.
Phil Allaway, Newsletter Editor: I noticed a Neon Warrior in the High-risk group. I suppose you don’t remember that Paul Menard ran a full season of Trans-Am before moving to the then-Busch Series and made his Cup debut at Watkins Glen. If it’s not obvious, I’m going with the sideburned Menard this week.
Vito Pugliese, Senior Writer: I’ll take No. 2.
Corey Brewer, Contributor: Carl Edwards.
Joseph Wolkin, Assistant Editor: AJ Allmendinger.
Pennsylvania 400
| Writer | Pick | Finishing Position | Points |
| Dan Greene | Tony Stewart | 5th | 3 |
| Jeff Meyer | Tony Stewart | 5th | 3 |
| Tony Lumbis | Denny Hamlin | 7th | 1 |
| Joseph Wolkin | Denny Hamlin | 7th | 1 |
| Dustin Albino | Carl Edwards | 8th | 1 |
| Corey Brewer | Carl Edwards | 8th | 1 |
| Huston Ladner | Kyle Busch | 9th | 1 |
| Danny Peters | Kurt Busch | 10th | 1 |
| Vito Pugliese | Austin Dillon | 13th | 0 |
| Sean Fesko | Matt Kenseth | 17th | 0 |
| Zach Catanzareti | Jeff Gordon | 27th | -1 |
| Michael Finley | Jeff Gordon | 27th | -1 |
| Bryan Gable | Chase Elliott | 33rd | -2 |
| Clayton Caldwell | Chase Elliott | 33rd | -2 |
| Mark Howell | Paul Menard | 35th | -2 |
| Amy Henderson | Martin Truex, Jr. | 38th | -3 |
| Jeff Wolfe | Martin Truex, Jr. | 38th | -3 |
Standings
| Writer | Points | Behind | Starts | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 |
| Bryan Gable | 31 | — | 19 | 2 | 9 | 13 |
| Jeff Wolfe | 29 | -2 | 21 | 3 | 9 | 12 |
| Dustin Albino | 28 | -3 | 18 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| Tony Lumbis | 28 | -3 | 20 | 2 | 7 | 11 |
| Jeff Meyer | 26 | -5 | 18 | 1 | 8 | 10 |
| Danny Peters | 25 | -6 | 18 | 3 | 7 | 12 |
| Dan Greene | 24 | -7 | 21 | 1 | 6 | 13 |
| Clayton Caldwell | 24 | -7 | 20 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| Vito Pugliese | 21 | -10 | 21 | 2 | 5 | 12 |
| Jason Schultz | 16 | -15 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| Huston Ladner | 14 | -17 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| Mark Howell | 10 | -21 | 19 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Zach Catanzareti | 10 | -21 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Corey Brewer | 10 | -21 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Amy Henderson | 8 | -23 | 21 | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| Aaron Bearden | 8 | -23 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Sean Fesko | 7 | -24 | 20 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Phil Allaway | 6 | -25 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Jerry Jordan | 4 | -27 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Mike Neff | 3 | -28 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Tom Bowles | 3 | -28 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Summer Bedgood | 1 | -30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Matt Stallknecht | -1 | -32 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Joseph Wolkin | -1 | -32 | 21 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Greg Davis | -2 | -33 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kevin Rutherford | -2 | -33 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Finley | -5 | -36 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
The Frontstretch Staff is made up of a group of talented men and women spread out all over the United States and Canada. Residing in 15 states throughout the country, plus Ontario, and widely ranging in age, the staff showcases a wide variety of diverse opinions that will keep you coming back for more week in and week out.