An August filled of Cup Series action kicks off this weekend with the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Now, this is a relatively short race mile-wise, but drivers still have to make 301 circuits around this 1-mile track on Sunday, so it’ll be a long one for them in the cars. Last year at this track we saw most of the drivers starting near the front finish there as well, as seven of the top eight starters ended up inside the top 10. Will we see that again this weekend with the random draw now a factor?
There are quite a few statistics that go into the Power Index formula, including recent performance both overall and at Loudon specifically, similar track performance, projected strength of the car, practice speeds, starting position, and a few other variables.
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.
Loudon Fantasy NASCAR Power Rankings
| Rank | Driver | Power Index |
| 1. | Busch, Kyle | -45.6 |
| 2. | Hamlin, Denny | -45.1 |
| 3. | Harvick, Kevin | -42.5 |
| 4. | Keselowski, Brad | -39.9 |
| 5. | Truex, Jr., Martin | -36.1 |
| 6. | Logano, Joey | -29.8 |
| 7. | Blaney, Ryan | -26.6 |
| 8. | Elliott, Chase | -25.7 |
| 9. | Almirola, Aric | -25.2 |
| 10. | Busch, Kurt | -20.2 |
| 11. | Jones, Erik | -16.6 |
| 12. | Bowyer, Clint | -13.8 |
| 13. | Byron, William | -12.5 |
| 14. | Reddick, Tyler | -6.7 |
| 15. | DiBenedetto, Matt | -6.1 |
| 16. | Johnson, Jimmie | -3.6 |
| 17. | Bowman, Alex | -0.8 |
| 18. | Kenseth, Matt | 0.6 |
| 19. | Newman, Ryan | 4.1 |
| 20. | Dillon, Austin | 9.4 |
| 21. | Custer, Cole | 14.2 |
| 22. | Bell, Christopher | 15.5 |
| 23. | McDowell, Michael | 20.9 |
| 24. | Buescher, Chris | 22.9 |
| 25. | Stenhouse, Jr., Ricky | 23.6 |
| 26. | Dillon, Ty | 28.5 |
| 27. | Wallace, Bubba | 29.8 |
| 28. | Preece, Ryan | 30.7 |
| 29. | LaJoie, Corey | 32.2 |
| 30. | Suarez, Daniel | 36.0 |
| 31. | Nemechek, John H | 37.5 |
| 32. | Poole, Brennan | 41.7 |
| 33. | Yeley, JJ | 50.7 |
| 34. | Smithley, Garrett | 52.3 |
| 35. | Houff, Quin | 54.1 |
| 36. | Gase, Joey | 55.6 |
| 37. | Davison, James | 59.2 |
| 38. | Hill, Timmy | 62.8 |
