Welcome to our 10th 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 writer picks the drivers they they think will win the first two stages and the overall race. We can’t pick the same driver two weeks in a row or more than four times in a season. The first two stages pay one bonus point, with three bonus points if someone can get all three winners correct. Overall race points remain the same:
Prediction Scoring
+5 – Win
+3 – 2nd-5th
+1 – 6th-10th
0 – 11th-20th
-1 – 21st-30th
-2 – 31st-36th
-3 – 37th-40th
This week’s predictions: Alabama 500
Writer | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Race Winner |
Amy Henderson | Brad Keselowski | Michael McDowell | Brad Keselowski |
Corey Brewer | Brad Keselowski | Kyle Busch | Brad Keselowski |
Mark Howell | Brad Keselowski | Clint Bowyer | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Dustin Albino | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Jamie McMurray | Brad Keselowski |
Clayton Caldwell | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Brad Keselowski | David Ragan |
Davey Segal | Denny Hamlin | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Bryan Gable | Chase Elliott | Denny Hamlin | Brad Keselowski |
Michael Massie | Kyle Busch | Denny Hamlin | Brad Keselowski |
Huston Ladner | Brad Keselowski | Matt Kenseth | Clint Bowyer |
Christian Koelle | Brad Keselowski | Ryan Blaney | Jamie McMurray |
Vito Pugliese | Brad Keselowski | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Joey Logano |
Jeff Wolfe | Danica Patrick | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Brad Keselowski |
Frank Velat | Brad Keselowski | Jamie McMurray | Kurt Busch |
Results: Bank of America 500
Writer | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Race Winner | Winner Pick Finish | Total Points |
Amy Henderson | Martin Truex Jr. | Martin Truex Jr. | Kyle Larson | 10th | 1 |
Corey Brewer | Denny Hamlin | Martin Truex Jr. | Kyle Larson | 10th | 1 |
Mark Howell | Kyle Larson | Brad Keselowski | Chase Elliott | 2nd | 3 |
Dustin Albino | Denny Hamlin | Kyle Busch | Kevin Harvick | 3rd | 3 |
Clayton Caldwell | Martin Truex Jr. | Martin Truex Jr. | Kevin Harvick | 3rd | 3 |
Davey Segal | Kyle Busch | Martin Truex Jr. | Martin Truex Jr. | 1st | 5 |
Bryan Gable | Kevin Harvick | Kyle Busch | Kevin Harvick | 3rd | 4 |
Michael Massie | Denny Hamlin | Matt Kenseth | Jimmie Johnson | 7th | 1 |
Samarth Kanal | Denny Hamlin | Kevin Harvick | Kyle Busch | 29th | 0 |
Dan Greene | Martin Truex Jr. | Kyle Busch | Chase Elliott | 2nd | 3 |
Christian Koelle | Kevin Harvick | Clint Bowyer | Brad Keselowski | 15th | 0 |
John Haverlin | Kevin Harvick | Kyle Busch | Chase Elliott | 2nd | 4 |
Standings
Writer | Points | Behind | Starts | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 |
Davey Segal | 62 | — | 30 | 7 | 14 | 19 |
Corey Brewer | 59 | -3 | 30 | 3 | 12 | 19 |
Amy Henderson | 57 | -5 | 30 | 3 | 14 | 21 |
Bryan Gable | 47 | -15 | 27 | 4 | 9 | 17 |
Mark Howell | 46 | -16 | 30 | 0 | 13 | 19 |
Dustin Albino | 46 | -16 | 30 | 2 | 13 | 17 |
Clayton Caldwell | 45 | -17 | 30 | 2 | 11 | 16 |
Dan Greene | 44 | -18 | 25 | 2 | 12 | 16 |
Huston Ladner | 42 | -20 | 27 | 2 | 10 | 12 |
Michael Massie | 42 | -20 | 28 | 4 | 8 | 13 |
Jeff Wolfe | 34 | -28 | 27 | 3 | 8 | 13 |
Joseph Wolkin | 33 | -29 | 21 | 1 | 9 | 13 |
Vito Pugliese | 31 | -31 | 19 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
Frank Velat | 25 | -37 | 19 | 2 | 7 | 9 |
John Haverlin | 18 | -44 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
John Douglas | 17 | -45 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
Samarth Kanal | 13 | -49 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
Matteo Marcheschi | 12 | -50 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Greg Davis | 10 | -52 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
Christian Koelle | 5 | -57 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Michael Finley | 3 | -59 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Phil Allaway | 0 | -62 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Zach Catanzareti | -1 | -63 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Tom Bowles | -2 | -64 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Danny Peters | -3 | -65 | 1 | 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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