The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is in Talladega, Alabama this weekend for the 10th race of the 2019 season. This is the second race on what used to be known as the restrictor plate tracks, but NASCAR decided to scrap the restrictor plates here at Talladega and Daytona moving forward, instead moving to a tapered spacer. Races at these tracks are interesting because there’s a bit more parity among all the cars with the pack drafting as well as how one wreck can take out the entire field. In other words, you can pretty much make a case to pick anyone in the field in Fantasy NASCAR this weekend.
There are quite a few statistics that go into the Power Index formula, including recent performance both overall and at Talladega 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.
Talladega Fantasy NASCAR Power Index Rankings
| Rank | Driver | Power Index |
| 1. | Hamlin, Denny | -28.6 |
| 2. | Logano, Joey | -24.4 |
| 3. | Busch, Kurt | -22.5 |
| 4. | Almirola, Aric | -22.1 |
| 5. | Stenhouse, Jr., Ricky | -16.7 |
| 6. | Busch, Kyle | -16.7 |
| 7. | Keselowski, Brad | -13.4 |
| 8. | Harvick, Kevin | -10.5 |
| 9. | Bowyer, Clint | -10.4 |
| 10. | Menard, Paul | -9.2 |
| 11. | Dillon, Austin | -7.1 |
| 12. | Johnson, Jimmie | -5.5 |
| 13. | Dillon, Ty | -5.4 |
| 14. | Blaney, Ryan | -4.0 |
| 15. | Newman, Ryan | -3.2 |
| 16. | Elliott, Chase | -1.8 |
| 17. | Larson, Kyle | 0.0 |
| 18. | Truex, Jr., Martin | 0.1 |
| 19. | Suarez, Daniel | 0.7 |
| 20. | Preece, Ryan | 0.8 |
| 21. | Jones, Erik | 1.1 |
| 22. | Wallace, Bubba | 2.3 |
| 23. | Bowman, Alex | 4.5 |
| 24. | Byron, William | 10.4 |
| 25. | Buescher, Chris | 10.7 |
| 26. | Ragan, David | 14.3 |
| 27. | Chastain, Ross | 14.4 |
| 28. | McDowell, Michael | 18.1 |
| 29. | DiBenedetto, Matt | 18.3 |
| 30. | Cassill, Landon | 23.6 |
| 31. | Hemric, Daniel | 28.4 |
| 32. | Tifft, Matt | 30.1 |
| 33. | LaJoie, Corey | 35.4 |
| 34. | Gaughan, Brendan | 38.3 |
| 35. | Kligerman, Parker | 39.7 |
| 36. | Earnhardt, Jeffrey | 41.4 |
| 37. | Haley, Justin | 44.6 |
| 38. | Sorenson, Reed | 49.5 |
| 39. | Barrett, Stanton | 55.2 |
| 40. | Ware, Cody | 56.2 |
