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—Bristol II
Brian Scott
Landon Cassill
Danica Patrick
Casey Mears
Aric Almirola
David Ragan
AJ Allmendinger
This week’s predictions: Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol
Amy Henderson, Senior Editor: I think I’ll take Carl Edwards this weekend.
Dan Greene, Webmaster: Smoke.
Tony Lumbis, Financial Manager: John’s explanation below sold me. I’m also going with Stenhouse.
Jeff Meyer, Sorta-kinda Retired: I’m going with Carl Edwards too. Â In the spring, my Lisa rode with Carl on the driver into lap and he won! Â This race, my dear friend who is camping with us, Michelle, is riding with him!
Jeff Wolfe, Senior Writer: Brad Keselowski.
Bryan Gable, Contributor: Kurt Busch.
Clayton Caldwell, Contributor: I’ll take Joey Logano.
Dustin Albino, Contributor: The No. 20
Sean Fesko, Staff Writer: Joey Logano.
Mike Neff, Short Tracks Editor: I’ll take Dale Earnhardt Jr.. Oh wait, he doesn’t $*#%!*# race anymore. I guess I’ll take Kyle Busch.
Vito Pugliese, Senior Writer: Put me down for Matt Kenseth.
Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer: Kyle Larson.
Danny Peters, Senior Writer: No. 2.
Huston Ladner, Senior Editor: Denny Hamlin.
Corey Brewer, Contributor: I’ll go Kyle Busch.
Joseph Wolkin, Assistant Editor: YOLO. Greg Biffle.
John Douglas, Contributor (The new guy): Well, being my first prediction, I think a small bit of explaining should be in order. Firstly, I’m choosing Ricky Stenhouse Jr…. Now lower that eyebrow of curiosity and take a look at his past performances. By far Stenhouse Jr.’s best track on the schedule, Bristol has garnered Stenhouse multiple top 5’s and 10’s and his avg. finish is the best in the Cup Series at Thunder Valley. Now on to the real reason. As a passionate dirt fan and writer , seeing Bryan Clauson’s former Xfinity Series paint scheme on his friend’s car will be a fitting tribute, and a great story.
Cheez-it 355 at The Glen
| Writer | Pick | Finishing Position | Points |
| Aaron Bearden | Joey Logano | 2nd | 3 |
| Mike Neff | Joey Logano | 2nd | 3 |
| Bryan Gable | Brad Keselowski | 3rd | 3 |
| Vito Pugliese | Brad Keselowski | 3rd | 3 |
| Clayton Caldwell | AJ Allmendinger | 4th | 3 |
| Joseph Wolkin | AJ Allmendinger | 4th | 3 |
| Sean Fesko | Tony Stewart | 5th | 3 |
| Amy Henderson | Kyle Busch | 6th | 1 |
| Dan Greene | Martin Truex, Jr. | 7th | 1 |
| Tony Lumbis | Casey Mears* | 12th | 0 |
| Jeff Meyer | Jeff Gordon | 14th | 0 |
| Corey Brewer | Carl Edwards | 15th | 0 |
| Jeff Wolfe | Danica Patrick* | 21st | -1 |
| Phil Allaway | Paul Menard* | 22nd | -1 |
| Dustin Albino | Kyle Larson | 29th | -1 |
Standings
| Â Writer | Points | Behind | Starts | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 |
| Bryan Gable | 34 | — | 20 | 2 | 10 | 14 |
| Jeff Wolfe | 28 | -6 | 22 | 3 | 9 | 12 |
| Tony Lumbis | 28 | -6 | 21 | 2 | 7 | 11 |
| Dustin Albino | 27 | -7 | 19 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| Clayton Caldwell | 27 | -7 | 21 | 2 | 6 | 11 |
| Jeff Meyer | 26 | -8 | 19 | 1 | 8 | 10 |
| Danny Peters | 25 | -9 | 18 | 3 | 7 | 12 |
| Dan Greene | 25 | -9 | 22 | 1 | 6 | 13 |
| Vito Pugliese | 24 | -10 | 22 | 2 | 6 | 13 |
| Jason Schultz | 16 | -18 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| Huston Ladner | 14 | -20 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| Aaron Bearden | 11 | -23 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 6 |
| Mark Howell | 10 | -24 | 19 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Zach Catanzareti | 10 | -24 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Corey Brewer | 10 | -24 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Sean Fesko | 10 | -24 | 21 | 1 | 5 | 7 |
| Amy Henderson | 9 | -25 | 22 | 3 | 6 | 10 |
| Mike Neff | 6 | -28 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Phil Allaway | 5 | -29 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Jerry Jordan | 4 | -30 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Tom Bowles | 3 | -31 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Joseph Wolkin | 2 | -32 | 22 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| Summer Bedgood | 1 | -33 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Matt Stallknecht | -1 | -35 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Greg Davis | -2 | -36 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kevin Rutherford | -2 | -33 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Finley | -5 | -39 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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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