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
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
- Kyle Busch
- Dale Earnhardt. Jr.
- Jeff Gordon
- Kasey Kahne
- Clint Bowyer
- Kevin Harvick
- Kurt Busch
Yahoo Group B Preseason Rankings
- Brad Keselowski
- Joey Logano
- Martin Truex. Jr.
- Carl Edwards
- Denny Hamlin
- Greg Biffle
- Ryan Newman
- Tony Stewart
- Paul Menard
- Marcos Ambrose
- Brian Vickers
- Jamie McMurray
- Aric Almirola
- Ricky Stenhouse. Jr.
- AJ Allmendinger
- Casey Mears
- David Ragan
- 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
- Juan Pablo Montoya* (probably Indy only)
- Jeff Burton*
- Austin Dillon
- Kyle Larson
- Trevor Bayne* (maybe seven races?)
- Bobby Labonte*
- Danica Patrick
- Justin Allgaier
- Landon Cassill
- Brian Scott*
- Michael Annett
- Reed Sorenson
- Dave Blaney
- Michael McDowell
- Josh Wise
- Cole Whitt*
- Ryan Truex*
- David Reutimann**
- Travis Kvapil**
- Ty Dillon*
- Ryan Blaney*
- Parker Kligerman*
- Joe Nemechek*
- Elliott Sadler**
- David Stremme**
- J.J. Yeley*
- Tony Raines**
- Timmy Hill*
- Mike Bliss**
* Indicates driver will likely run only part time.
** Indicates driver might run part time.
I predict that dale erinhart Jr will win the Daytona 500