The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is in Thunder Valley this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway for some good, old fashioned short track racing. Bristol is one of the most iconic tracks on the schedule and always produces some great racing. This weekend, rain in threatening to disrupt that racing, but the good news is that Bristol has lights and, since it’s only a half-mile in length, it dries pretty quickly once NASCAR starts treating the surface. Overall, it’s rare for someone to not hit a rough patch here at Bristol, and that’s why there’s no driver with a career average finish better than 11th at this track. Kyle Busch is the leader among active drivers when it comes to wins–he has 7–and is also the defending winner of this race. His brother, Kurt, is close behind with 6 wins at Bristol, and he’s the most recent winner, as he went to victory lane in the fall last year.
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.
Bristol Fantasy NASCAR Power Index Rankings
| Rank | Driver | Power Index |
| 1. | Harvick, Kevin | -40.6 |
| 2. | Hamlin, Denny | -39.1 |
| 3. | Logano, Joey | -36.1 |
| 4. | Bowyer, Clint | -36.0 |
| 5. | Jones, Erik | -35.7 |
| 6. | Elliott, Chase | -32.7 |
| 7. | Johnson, Jimmie | -30.6 |
| 8. | Busch, Kyle | -26.7 |
| 9. | Stenhouse, Jr., Ricky | -21.1 |
| 10. | Truex, Jr., Martin | -17.1 |
| 11. | Blaney, Ryan | -14.4 |
| 12. | Larson, Kyle | -13.3 |
| 13. | Suarez, Daniel | -12.6 |
| 14. | Almirola, Aric | -9.7 |
| 15. | Busch, Kurt | -9.3 |
| 16. | Dillon, Austin | -8.1 |
| 17. | Keselowski, Brad | -4.3 |
| 18. | Byron, William | -3.2 |
| 19. | DiBenedetto, Matt | -1.5 |
| 20. | Bowman, Alex | 2.3 |
| 21. | Menard, Paul | 3.6 |
| 22. | Newman, Ryan | 4.8 |
| 23. | Buescher, Chris | 12.0 |
| 24. | Dillon, Ty | 14.9 |
| 25. | Hemric, Daniel | 21.0 |
| 26. | Ragan, David | 29.5 |
| 27. | Wallace, Bubba | 33.8 |
| 28. | Preece, Ryan | 35.7 |
| 29. | LaJoie, Corey | 45.9 |
| 30. | McDowell, Michael | 52.1 |
| 31. | Tifft, Matt | 52.5 |
| 32. | Cassill, Landon | 60.1 |
| 33. | Chastain, Ross | 69.9 |
| 34. | Gaulding, Gray | 75.6 |
| 35. | Houff, Quin | 78.9 |
| 36. | Currey, Bayley | 80.5 |
| 37. | Hill, Timmy | 86.2 |
