The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series hits the halfway point of the “regular” season this weekend with the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This marks the 13th points-paying race of the year for the series, with 13 more races to go until the Playoff field is set for the final ten to determine a champion. When it comes to Charlotte Motor Speedway, this is a 1.5-mile track, and if you’re looking for comparisons, be sure to look back to the Kansas, Texas, and Las Vegas races this season. Also, I’ve put together a little statistical sheet for those events that you can look at, which includes average finish, average start, average running position, average DraftKings dominator points, and more. Click here to check that out.
There are quite a few statistics that go into the Power Index formula, including recent performance both overall and at Charlotte 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.
Charlotte Fantasy NASCAR Power Index Rankings
| Rank | Driver | Power Index |
| 1. | Harvick, Kevin | -41.0 |
| 2. | Busch, Kyle | -40.9 |
| 3. | Busch, Kurt | -35.4 |
| 4. | Hamlin, Denny | -34.7 |
| 5. | Keselowski, Brad | -33.3 |
| 6. | Truex, Jr., Martin | -32.8 |
| 7. | Bowyer, Clint | -31.4 |
| 8. | Elliott, Chase | -29.5 |
| 9. | Logano, Joey | -24.8 |
| 10. | Jones, Erik | -24.2 |
| 11. | Suarez, Daniel | -23.1 |
| 12. | Almirola, Aric | -20.7 |
| 13. | Johnson, Jimmie | -17.9 |
| 14. | Dillon, Austin | -14.8 |
| 15. | Stenhouse, Jr., Ricky | -9.5 |
| 16. | Bowman, Alex | -5.8 |
| 17. | Larson, Kyle | -2.8 |
| 18. | Blaney, Ryan | -0.5 |
| 19. | Byron, William | 1.0 |
| 20. | Newman, Ryan | 9.5 |
| 21. | Menard, Paul | 10.7 |
| 22. | Hemric, Daniel | 13.8 |
| 23. | Buescher, Chris | 15.1 |
| 24. | Preece, Ryan | 24.1 |
| 25. | Wallace, Bubba | 25.9 |
| 26. | Dillon, Ty | 32.6 |
| 27. | Ragan, David | 37.0 |
| 28. | McDowell, Michael | 38.4 |
| 29. | DiBenedetto, Matt | 41.6 |
| 30. | LaJoie, Corey | 47.0 |
| 31. | Tifft, Matt | 48.6 |
| 32. | Chastain, Ross | 53.8 |
| 33. | Kligerman, Parker | 64.4 |
| 34. | Cassill, Landon | 66.7 |
| 35. | Ware, Cody | 72.1 |
| 36. | Currey, Bayley | 74.8 |
| 37. | Houff, Quin | 79.5 |
| 38. | Sorenson, Reed | 84.3 |
| 39. | McLeod, BJ | 88.6 |
| 40. | Gase, Joey | 92.9 |
