NASCAR Cup Series: Preseason 2019 Driver Power Rankings

With the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season scheduled to get underway next weekend, how do the sport’s 33 full-time drivers rank against one another?

NASCAR Cup Series action is set to resume next weekend with the opening race of the 2019 season following the conclusion of a three-month offseason.

This race, which is the 61st annual Daytona 500, is the first of 36 races on the 2019 schedule, which is set to go into mid-November. This race is scheduled to take place this Sunday, February 17 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Right after the year 2019 began, we published our Way-too-early Driver Power Rankings for the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season. In this article, we analyzed and ranked each of the sport’s 33 projected full-time drivers.

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While the start of the 2019 season is a lot closer now than it was more than one month ago when these power rankings were released, these power rankings were released in the offseason and it is still the offseason.

As a result, this edition of Preseason Driver Power Rankings contains just a simple list of rankings. This article does not contain a full-length slideshow with an in-depth analysis for each driver.

If you are interested in reading an in-depth analysis for each of the 33 projected full-time drivers, here is a link to the Way-too-early Driver Power Rankings for the 2019 season.

There have been no changes in these particular rankings from the time the Way-too-early Driver Power Rankings were released until now.

Ross Chastain, who is set to compete full-time in the Cup Series for Premium Motorsports this season, will not be eligible to earn points as a result of the fact that he is set to drive full-time and earn points in the Xfinity Series this season. As a result, he has not been included in these rankings despite the fact that he is technically a full-time Cup Series driver.

Here are the Preseason NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings for the 2019 season. As the season begins, this is how these rankings are set to look.

Rank – Driver – Car, Team, Manufacturer
1st – Kyle Busch – #18, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota
2nd – Kevin Harvick – #4, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
3rd – Chase Elliott – #9, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet
4th – Joey Logano – #22, Team Penske, Ford
5th – Martin Truex Jr. – #19, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota
6th – Brad Keselowski – #2, Team Penske, Ford
7th – Aric Almirola – #10, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
8th – Kyle Larson – #42, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet
9th – Ryan Blaney – #12, Team Penske, Ford
10th – Erik Jones – #20, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota
11th – Kurt Busch – #1, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet
12th – Denny Hamlin – #11, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota
13th – Clint Bowyer – #14, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
14th – Alex Bowman – #88, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet
15th – Jimmie Johnson – #48, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet
16th – William Byron – #24, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet
17th – Daniel Suarez – #41, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford
18th – Austin Dillon – #3, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet
19th – Ryan Newman – #6, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford
20th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – #17, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford
21st – Matt DiBenedetto – #95, Leavine Family Racing, Toyota
22nd – Paul Menard – #21, Wood Brothers Racing, Ford
23rd – Daniel Hemric – #8, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet
24th – Chris Buescher – #37, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet
25th – Ryan Preece – #47, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet
26th – Ty Dillon – #13, Germain Racing, Chevrolet
27th – David Ragan – #38, Front Row Motorsports, Ford
28th – Michael McDowell – #34, Front Row Motorsports, Ford
29th – Darrell Wallace Jr. – #43, Richard Petty Motorsports, Chevrolet
30th – Matt Tifft – #36, Front Row Motorsports, Ford
31st – Corey LaJoie – #32, Go Fas Racing, Ford
32nd – Landon Cassill – #00, StarCom Racing, Chevrolet
33rd – Tanner Berryhill – #97, Obaika Racing, Toyota

For a description of how the NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings are set to be calculated throughout the 2019 season, click here.

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The 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season is scheduled to get underway with the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida next Sunday, February 17. The 2019 schedule, which you can see here, is comprised of 36 races from then until mid-November, so be sure not to miss any of them.

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