Yahoo Fantasy NASCAR: 2014 Preseason Driver Group Rankings

To get a handle on which drivers look to have the strongest Sprint Cup season this year, I’ve handicapped every 2014 race and copied all those driver rankings into a spreadsheet. I then gave each position a score, added up each driver’s total score and finally sorted the drivers according to those scores, from highest to lowest.

Then I broke those rankings into the A, B and C groups of the Yahoo Fantasy NASCAR format. If you play that game and pursue a driver start-saving strategy, the below driver rankings should give you a decent baseline to work from.

Oh, and the “handicapping six months out” qualifier I noted in my Who Makes NASCAR’s 2014 Chase? post applies here as well.

Yahoo Group A Preseason Rankings

  1. Jimmie Johnson
  2. Matt Kenseth
  3. Kyle Busch
  4. Dale Earnhardt. Jr.
  5. Jeff Gordon
  6. Kasey Kahne
  7. Clint Bowyer
  8. Kevin Harvick
  9. Kurt Busch

Yahoo Group B Preseason Rankings

  1. Brad Keselowski
  2. Joey Logano
  3. Martin Truex. Jr.
  4. Carl Edwards
  5. Denny Hamlin
  6. Greg Biffle
  7. Ryan Newman
  8. Tony Stewart
  9. Paul Menard
  10. Marcos Ambrose
  11. Brian Vickers
  12. Jamie McMurray
  13. Aric Almirola
  14. Ricky Stenhouse. Jr.
  15. AJ Allmendinger
  16. Casey Mears
  17. David Ragan
  18. David Gilliland

Before I list the Group C drivers, a couple caveats are in order. First, the list likely includes several drivers who won’t actually race in Sprint Cup this year—at this point, who knows? It also includes several drivers who will definitely run only a part time schedule this season (I’ve marked each with an asterisk), and probably a few who might run part time (each marked with two asterisks). And, it’s probably missing some drivers, too.

Yahoo Group C Preseason Rankings

  1. Juan Pablo Montoya* (probably Indy only)
  2. Jeff Burton*
  3. Austin Dillon
  4. Kyle Larson
  5. Trevor Bayne* (maybe seven races?)
  6. Bobby Labonte*
  7. Danica Patrick
  8. Justin Allgaier
  9. Landon Cassill
  10. Brian Scott*
  11. Michael Annett
  12. Reed Sorenson
  13. Dave Blaney
  14. Michael McDowell
  15. Josh Wise
  16. Cole Whitt*
  17. Ryan Truex*
  18. David Reutimann**
  19. Travis Kvapil**
  20. Ty Dillon*
  21. Ryan Blaney*
  22. Parker Kligerman*
  23. Joe Nemechek*
  24. Elliott Sadler**
  25. David Stremme**
  26. J.J. Yeley*
  27. Tony Raines**
  28. Timmy Hill*
  29. Mike Bliss**

* Indicates driver will likely run only part time.

** Indicates driver might run part time.

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