Round 3 of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs kicks off this weekend with 500 scheduled laps around Martinsville Speedway. Nicknamed “The Paperclip,” this half-mile track produces some great racing, and with weather in the forecast, we could be looking at the First Data 500 ending at night on Sunday. Another thing to note about Martinsville is that very often the same guys finish up front time after time. Don’t be surprised if that happens again this weekend, particularly with the Playoff drivers.
There are quite a few statistics that go into the Power Index formula, including recent performance both overall and at Martinsville 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.
Martinsville First Data 500 Fantasy NASCAR Power Rankings
| Rank | Driver | Power Index |
| 1. | Truex, Jr., Martin | -53.0 |
| 2. | Hamlin, Denny | -47.4 |
| 3. | Busch, Kyle | -38.5 |
| 4. | Elliott, Chase | -37.4 |
| 5. | Bowyer, Clint | -37.1 |
| 6. | Keselowski, Brad | -33.0 |
| 7. | Harvick, Kevin | -32.2 |
| 8. | Logano, Joey | -24.2 |
| 9. | Blaney, Ryan | -22.3 |
| 10. | Almirola, Aric | -21.2 |
| 11. | Johnson, Jimmie | -15.0 |
| 12. | Bowman, Alex | -10.5 |
| 13. | Larson, Kyle | -4.7 |
| 14. | Byron, William | -3.6 |
| 15. | DiBenedetto, Matt | 0.4 |
| 16. | Suarez, Daniel | 0.6 |
| 17. | Newman, Ryan | 2.4 |
| 18. | Busch, Kurt | 3.8 |
| 19. | Dillon, Austin | 4.3 |
| 20. | Menard, Paul | 4.9 |
| 21. | Jones, Erik | 6.2 |
| 22. | Dillon, Ty | 6.2 |
| 23. | McDowell, Michael | 7.7 |
| 24. | Stenhouse, Jr., Ricky | 15.8 |
| 25. | Buescher, Chris | 20.6 |
| 26. | Preece, Ryan | 21.4 |
| 27. | Wallace, Bubba | 24.2 |
| 28. | Hemric, Daniel | 26.7 |
| 29. | Ragan, David | 29.1 |
| 30. | LaJoie, Corey | 35.4 |
| 31. | Crafton, Matt | 43.1 |
| 32. | Chastain, Ross | 61.1 |
| 33. | Cassill, Landon | 62.3 |
| 34. | Sorenson, Reed | 70.9 |
| 35. | Yeley, JJ | 71.4 |
| 36. | McLeod, BJ | 72.5 |
| 37. | Smithley, Garrett | 76.2 |
| 38. | Hill, Timmy | 89.5 |
