It’s officially Fantasy NASCAR season, which means it’s time to break out the Fantasy Racing Online algorithm and see how the numbers shake out.
There are quite a few statistics that go into the Power Rankings formula, including recent performance both overall and at Daytona specifically, similar track performance, projected strength of the car, and a few other variables.
Below you will find the Early Daytona 500 Power Rankings for the first race of the season. These do not include starting position, practice data, or any other information that may help shape the Power Index.
Speaking of which, here’s a quick overview of the Power Index number: essentially, zero (0) is considered average; the more negative a number is in the Power Index, the stronger that driver is considered in the Fantasy NASCAR world. The opposite holds true as well: the more above zero a driver is, the worse he is considered for Fantasy NASCAR that week.
Early Daytona 500 Fantasy NASCAR Power Rankings
| Rank | Driver | Power Index |
| 1. | Almirola, Aric | -20.1 |
| 2. | Logano, Joey | -15.3 |
| 3. | Newman, Ryan | -14.8 |
| 4. | Truex, Jr., Martin | -14.1 |
| 5. | Dillon, Austin | -13.2 |
| 6. | Larson, Kyle | -10.4 |
| 7. | Hamlin, Denny | -10.4 |
| 8. | Wallace, Bubba | -9.9 |
| 9. | Busch, Kyle | -8.7 |
| 10. | Bowman, Alex | -5.7 |
| 11. | Stenhouse, Jr., Ricky | -4.7 |
| 12. | Blaney, Ryan | -2.8 |
| 13. | Menard, Paul | -2.3 |
| 14. | Bowyer, Clint | -2.2 |
| 15. | Busch, Kurt | -2.2 |
| 16. | Jones, Erik | -1.7 |
| 17. | Keselowski, Brad | -1.7 |
| 18. | Harvick, Kevin | -1.1 |
| 19. | McDowell, Michael | -0.7 |
| 20. | Buescher, Chris | 4.6 |
| 21. | McMurray, Jamie | 5.3 |
| 22. | Ragan, David | 5.7 |
| 23. | Johnson, Jimmie | 5.7 |
| 24. | Dillon, Ty | 6.5 |
| 25. | Elliott, Chase | 7.6 |
| 26. | Hemric, Daniel | 11.5 |
| 27. | DiBenedetto, Matt | 13.3 |
| 28. | Chastain, Ross | 13.7 |
| 29. | Cassill, Landon | 15.1 |
| 30. | Preece, Ryan | 17.5 |
| 31. | Byron, William | 17.7 |
| 32. | Suarez, Daniel | 20.2 |
| 33. | Reddick, Tyler | 20.5 |
| 34. | Tifft, Matt | 20.5 |
| 35. | LaJoie, Corey | 26.8 |
Negative is good and positive is bad??????? Are you a socialist democrat?