We close out the first round of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with the annual Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol on Saturday night. There are 500 laps scheduled around this half-mile bull ring, and even though 250 miles isn’t a super long distance, this can end up being a very long race–especially if you’re a driver that has issues during it. This will technically be the third race at Bristol this season, as we raced here back in May during the regular season, and the All Star Race was here back in July as well.
There are quite a few statistics that go into the Power Index formula, including recent performance both overall and at Bristol 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.
Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Fantasy NASCAR Power Rankings
| Rank | Driver | Power Index |
| 1. | Hamlin, Denny | -34.3 |
| 2. | Busch, Kyle | -32.9 |
| 3. | Keselowski, Brad | -30.7 |
| 4. | Harvick, Kevin | -30.5 |
| 5. | Elliott, Chase | -29.1 |
| 6. | Truex, Jr., Martin | -21.2 |
| 7. | Bowyer, Clint | -20.7 |
| 8. | Logano, Joey | -19.3 |
| 9. | Johnson, Jimmie | -17.4 |
| 10. | Dillon, Austin | -16.9 |
| 11. | Blaney, Ryan | -11.3 |
| 12. | Bowman, Alex | -8.9 |
| 13. | Byron, William | -6.4 |
| 14. | Jones, Erik | -4.8 |
| 15. | Busch, Kurt | 2.1 |
| 16. | Bell, Christopher | 3.1 |
| 17. | Kenseth, Matt | 4.2 |
| 18. | Almirola, Aric | 5.6 |
| 19. | Custer, Cole | 8.7 |
| 20. | Stenhouse, Jr., Ricky | 10.0 |
| 21. | DiBenedetto, Matt | 10.3 |
| 22. | Reddick, Tyler | 12.5 |
| 23. | Newman, Ryan | 14.3 |
| 24. | McDowell, Michael | 20.8 |
| 25. | Buescher, Chris | 22.3 |
| 26. | Wallace, Bubba | 23.7 |
| 27. | Preece, Ryan | 27.0 |
| 28. | Suarez, Daniel | 28.6 |
| 29. | Nemechek, John H | 33.2 |
| 30. | Dillon, Ty | 34.5 |
| 31. | LaJoie, Corey | 48.8 |
| 32. | Yeley, JJ | 57.4 |
| 33. | Houff, Quin | 61.0 |
| 34. | Hill, Timmy | 65.4 |
| 35. | Gaulding, Gray | 66.8 |
| 36. | Smithley, Garrett | 68.7 |
| 37. | Gase, Joey | 72.0 |
| 38. | Sorenson, Reed | 72.7 |
| 39. | Bilicki, Josh | 74.2 |
| 40. | Davison, James | 75.7 |
