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—Michigan II
Brian Scott
Alex Bowman
AJ Allmendinger
Casey Mears
Cole Whitt
Ryan Blaney
David Ragan
This week’s predictions: Pure Michigan 400
Amy Henderson, Senior Editor:Â I’m going with Matt Kenseth. Â He’s from Wisconsin, which is sort of near Michigan…
Dan Greene, Webmaster: Martin Truex, Jr. He was fast in practice and it’s hard to bet against Toyota this year.
Tony Lumbis, Financial Manager: Ryan Blaney. He’s been good at intermediate tracks but just needs to stay out of trouble to get the finish to go with it. I think it might happen this week.
Jeff Meyer, Sorta-kinda Retired: Kevin Harvick, please.
Jeff Wolfe, Senior Writer: Going with Carl Edwards.
Bryan Gable, Contributor: I’ll take Joey Logano. He and Team Penske have been a great combination in the Irish Hills.
Clayton Caldwell, Contributor: An old Roger Penske track…gotta go with a Roger Penske driver- Brad Keselowski.
Dustin Albino, Contributor: Kyle Larson.
Aaron Bearden, Assistant Editor: Martin Truex, Jr.
Sean Fesko, Staff Writer: Kyle Larson.
Vito Pugliese, Senior Writer: Chase Elliott for the win.
Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer: Ryan Blaney.
Danny Peters, Senior Writer: I’m picking Joey Logano. He was fast last time out at Michigan. His only redeeming quality is that he has a French Bulldog like we do.
Huston Ladner, Senior Editor: Guess I’ll go with the Big M&M – Kyle Busch.
Corey Brewer, Contributor: Brad Keselowski.
Joseph Wolkin, Assistant Editor: Jimmie Johnson.
 Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol
Â
| Writer | Pick | Finishing Position | Points |
| Tony Lumbis | Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. | 2nd | 3 |
| John Douglas | Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. | 2nd | 3 |
| Huston Ladner | Denny Hamlin | 3rd | 3 |
| Amy Henderson | Carl Edwards | 6th | 1 |
| Jeff Meyer | Carl Edwards | 6th | 1 |
| Aaron Bearden | AJ Allmendinger* | 9th | 2 |
| Clayton Caldwell | Joey Logano | 10th | 1 |
| Sean Fesko | Joey Logano | 10th | 1 |
| Joseph Wolkin | Greg Biffle | 16th | 0 |
| Mark Howell | Greg Biffle | 16th | 0 |
| Zach Catanzareti | Kyle Larson | 24th | -1 |
| Dan Greene | Tony Stewart | 30th | -1 |
| Jeff Wolfe | Brad Keselowski | 33rd | -2 |
| Danny Peters | Brad Keselowski | 33rd | -2 |
| Dustin Albino | Matt Kenseth | 37th | -3 |
| Vito Pugliese | Matt Kenseth | 37th | -3 |
| Bryan Gable | Kurt Busch | 38th | -3 |
| Mike Neff | Kyle Busch | 39th | -3 |
| Corey Brewer | Kyle Busch | 39th | -3 |
Standings
| Â Writer | Points | Behind | Starts | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 |
| Bryan Gable | 31 | — | 21 | 2 | 10 | 14 |
| Tony Lumbis | 31 | — | 22 | 2 | 8 | 12 |
| Clayton Caldwell | 28 | -3 | 22 | 2 | 6 | 12 |
| Jeff Meyer | 27 | -4 | 21 | 1 | 8 | 11 |
| Jeff Wolfe | 26 | -5 | 23 | 3 | 9 | 12 |
| Dustin Albino | 24 | -7 | 20 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| Dan Greene | 24 | -7 | 23 | 1 | 6 | 13 |
| Danny Peters | 23 | -8 | 19 | 3 | 7 | 12 |
| Vito Pugliese | 21 | -10 | 23 | 2 | 6 | 13 |
| Huston Ladner | 17 | -14 | 19 | 0 | 5 | 10 |
| Jason Schultz | 16 | -15 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 9 |
| Aaron Bearden | 13 | -18 | 15 | 0 | 4 | 10 |
| Sean Fesko | 11 | -20 | 22 | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| Mark Howell | 10 | -21 | 20 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Amy Henderson | 10 | -21 | 23 | 3 | 6 | 11 |
| Zach Catanzareti | 9 | -22 | 21 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Corey Brewer | 7 | -24 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Phil Allaway | 5 | -26 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Jerry Jordan | 4 | -27 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Mike Neff | 3 | -28 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Tom Bowles | 3 | -28 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| John Douglas | 3 | -28 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Joseph Wolkin | 2 | -29 | 23 | 1 | 4 | 7 |
| Summer Bedgood | 1 | -30 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Matt Stallknecht | -1 | -32 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Greg Davis | -2 | -33 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kevin Rutherford | -2 | -33 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Finley | -5 | -36 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
My Pick for Michigan #42 Kyle Larson
That was quite simple – wasn’t ist? ;-)