NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Quaker State 400 at Kentucky

Similar Tracks: Atlanta Motor Speedway • Charlotte Motor Speedway • Chicagoland Speedway  Darlington Raceway • Homestead-Miami Speedway • Kansas Speedway 

Las Vegas Motor Speedway • New Hampshire Motor • Texas Motor Speedway

Distance: 1.5 Miles

Kentucky Speedway hosted its first NASCAR Sprint Cup race in 2011. With only a handful of statistics to work with this week, I recommend not getting caught up in the rules package difference and not factoring in last year's statistics. Instead, let's take a look at this year's driver performance on 1.5 miles "cookie-cutter" tracks as well as past performance.

The Fabulous Four
Nope, we aren't talking about The Beatles, but these elite drivers who have dominated the first five intermediate track races this year:

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Brad Keselowski
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr.  

It is important to note that Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the No. 88 team are the only team to sweep the top five at intermediate tracks this year so far.

Intermediate Track Statistics for Active Drivers

September 4, 1950 (Southern 500) to May 24, 2015 (Coca-Cola 600)

1. Jimmie Johnson, 26 wins, 155 races, 71 Top 5s, 108 Top 10s, Avg Fin 10.52
2. Jeff Gordon, 24 wins, 221 races, 93 Top 5s, 132 Top 10s, Avg Fin 13.24
3. Tony Stewart,15 wins, 175 races, 50 Top 5s, 88 Top 10s, Avg Fin 13.47
4. Matt Kenseth, 13 wins, 174 races, 57 Top 5s, 97 Top 10s, Avg Fin 12.63
5. Carl Edwards, 11 wins, 123 races, 45 Top 5s, 70 Top 10s, Avg Fin 12.78
6. Kevin Harvick 10 wins, 163 races, 42 Top 5s, 80 Top 10s, Avg Fin 13.66
7. Greg Biffle, 9 wins, 142 races, 34 Top 5s, 59  Top 10s, Avg Fin 15.38
8. Kasey Kahne, 8 wins, 130 races, 35 Top 5s, 55 Top 10s, Avg Fin 15.28
9. Kyle Busch, 7 wins, 119 races, 37  Top 5s, 54 Top 10s, Avg Fin 15.45
10. Denny Hamlin, 7 wins, 111 races, 27 Top 5s, 54 Top 10s, Avg Fin 13.88       

Recent Pole Winners:

2014 Brad Keselowski
2013 Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The Likely Suspects: Load your fantasy roster with these drivers to score some big points: Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenneth, Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin. 

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick this week is a tie between Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson. I will round out my team with Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, David Ragan and Danica Patrick.

My final four: Jimmie Johnson, Martin Truex Jr., Greg Biffle and David Ragan.

Enjoy the race! Post your comments here or follow me on Twitter @purplecatpr.