2008 NASCAR Fantasy Racing Rankings

by Eric McGuire , Updated Friday, January 18, 2008

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The season just ended in November, but for race fans the short off season can't end soon enough. This will be one of the most competitive seasons in history. There are as many as twenty drivers who you could pick to make the Chase without being called crazy. Around twelve of those twenty are fully capable of bringing home the season championship. Obviously, with only twelve Chase slots, that makes luck (both good and bad) all the more important.

2008 begins with many questions. Some of these will have semi-concrete answers after the first few races, when season long contenders will begin to emerge. Others will have to wait, as it seems to be an annual tradition for a driver to come out of left field and get red hot around the start of June. Here are a few things to keep an eye on as you start to make your fantasy picks for the first few weeks of the season:

#1 How will Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin fare as Joe Gibbs racing switches to Toyota? It may be best to wait until the Gibbs cars get a few races under their belt before placing them on your rosters, even with Stewart's prowess at Daytona. They may impress right off the bat, but with the difficulty Toyota has had thus far in assimilating to Cup, there is no way to predict immediate success.

#2 How will Dale Earnhardt Jr. fare with Hendrick Motorsports? There are no guarantees, but his transition should be much easier than that of Gibbs to Toyota. Earnhardt joins the flagship Cup organization and will be expected to produce immediate dividends.

#3 Have teams closed the gap on Hendrick? The COT will be the only car used in 2008 and while Hendrick dominated in the first half of the season, other teams also showed muscle later in the year. Look for Penske, Roush, and RCR to have closed the gap even further.

Like last year, only those drivers locked into the field via the owner's points standings or a past champion's provisional will be listed in the top 35, so you won't be seeing Michael Waltrip, David Reutimann, Brian Vickers, or Chad Little (okay, the last one was a joke). Keep in mind that the rankings for Daytona will be posted closer to the start of the season. As always with a restrictor plate race, they will differ greatly from what you see in the big picture.

Preseason Top 35 Driver Rankings

1. Jimmie Johnson, #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

As good as Jeff Gordon is, Johnson is the consensus number one pick. Can he join Cale Yarborough and win three Cup titles in a row? He has never finished out of the top 5 in the season standings over the course of his career and has 2 runner up finishes to go with his 2 championships. This team has no weaknesses and after winning 4 of the last 5 races last season (10 victories overall), he should be one of your first thoughts on a weekly basis when selecting your drivers.

2. Jeff Gordon, #24 DuPont Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

Somehow, I ranked Gordon 7th going into 2007. I won't make that mistake again. He returned to prominence last year, showing dominance on every track configuration. This is evidenced by wins at Talladega, Charlotte, Phoenix, Darlington, and Pocono. He also scored a mind boggling 30 top 10's last year (6 more than Jimmie Johnson). The DuPont team feels like it may have won the title last season were they more aggressive with their set ups during the Chase. Like the 48, Gordon should be one of your top options on a weekly basis this year.

3. Matt Kenseth, #17 DeWalt Tools Ford, Roush-Fenway Racing

Another year with the COT should allow the Roush group to close the gap and nobody did more with less than Kenseth in 2007. He ended the season with five consecutive top 5 finishes and a dominating win at Homestead. The negative? Robbie Reiser has moved into a managerial role at Roush, meaning Kenseth will be starting the year with a new crew chief for the first time in his career. In truth, I wish I could have ranked Kenseth and the two drivers that follow 5th. None of them seem like a clear cut 3rd or 4th in the rankings.

4. Tony Stewart, #20 Home Depot Toyota, Gibbs Racing

Stewart is always an enticing fantasy choice based on his ability alone. It would be a shock to see Gibbs racing struggle for long, even if they are making the switch to Toyota. Stewart had some bad luck during the Chase (and throughout the year), but he is always a threat to win and take the championship. He had wins last season at Watkins Glen, Chicagoland, and Indianapolis and was incredibly strong at Atlanta, Bristol, and Phoenix. These race tracks are all very different and speak to Stewart's ability to drive any type of vehicle with four wheels anywhere on the planet.

5. Kurt Busch, #2 Miller Lite Dodge, Penske Racing South

This team came on strong in the second half of the season, showing that it may be capable of winning the championship in 2008. Nobody doubts the talent of Kurt Busch, but in the last five years or so Penske has been just a step behind the Hendrick and Roush teams. Busch won at Pocono and Michigan (tracks which require a ton of horsepower) and also finished 2nd in the season finale at Homestead. As always, he will be a top pick on the short tracks. The 77 Penske team with Sam Hornish will actually have the owner points accumulated by the 2 team in order to make sure they make each of the first 5 races. This will not be a problem or have any bearing on the rest of the year, since Busch is the most recent Cup Champion not locked into the field.

6. Denny Hamlin, #11 FedEx Toyota, Gibbs Racing

Hamlin was great during his rookie season and he only got better in 2007. He could easily be in the top 5 on this list, but the change to Toyota played a factor in the ranking. Still, Hamlin is a dominating driver at Pocono, won in New Hampshire, is one of the top 5 short track drivers on the circuit, finished 2nd on the road course at Watkins Glen, scored a top 5 at Talladega, a 2nd at Darlington, and a 3rd at Homestead. In just two years, he boasts an impressive resume and is the type of driver that is consistent enough to derail the Johnson/Gordon freight train at the top of the standings.

7. Carl Edwards, #99 Office Depot Ford, Roush-Fenway Racing

Like Kenseth, Edwards ended the season strong. He was dominant in the race at Phoenix (before an engine failure) and scored top 5's at Homestead and Atlanta. Edwards won at Michigan, Dover, and Bristol and narrowly missed victories at Atlanta, Fontana, and Chicago. This team does not have an obvious Achilles heal and anytime it has a bad run on a certain type of race track it seems to finish in the top 10 the next time it goes back (see 29th place finish at Fontana, win at Michigan).

8. Clint Bowyer, #07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

Bowyer improved upon a solid rookie season in which he scored four top 5's to finish 3rd in the overall standings at the conclusion of the Chase. Bowyer had a strong regular season, but his best finish was 3rd at Bristol until he won to start the Chase at Dover. He also finished 2nd at both Charlotte and Kansas, showing that he is capable of gathering top 5's on any type of race track. It feels strange ranking Bowyer ahead of teammates Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton, but the fact is he was far more consistent in 2007.

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