NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington

Track Classification: Intermediate

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

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

Distance: 1.366 miles

Drivers with Most Top 10s (Last 5 Years):
By Race

All with 4 - Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman
All with 3 - Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon

By Track

All with 3 - Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Ryan Newman
All with 2 - Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne

Recent Pole Winners:  

2014 Kevin Harvick
2013 Kurt Busch

The Likely Suspects: Racing under the lights at Darlington never disappoints. Tempers will rise. Cars will sport some nasty Darlington stripes and the racing is superb. Look for these elite drivers to perform well: Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth.

My 2 Cents: My no-brainer pick this week is a tie between Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. Denny Hamlin is also a fine choice. My next picks are Carl Edwards, Austin Dillon, Clint Bowyer and Greg Biffle. I'll round out my team with Justin Allgaier and Ryan Blaney

My final four: Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Austin Dillon and Justin Allgaier.

Points to ponder:

• Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) has the most wins at Darlington in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with 14.
• Jeff Gordon leads all active drivers at Darlington with seven wins and best average starting position of 6.824. His HMS teammate Jimmie Johnson has the second most wins in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at  Darlington amongst active drivers with three.
• The Coors Light pole starting position is the most proficient starting position in the field, producing more winners (20) than any other starting spot at Darlington.
• Kasey Kahne leads all active drivers with four poles at Darlington. 
• Most NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Darlington -- 96 of 111 races or 86.4% -- have been won from a top-10 starting position. The outside front row has produced the second-most wins (17). 
• Jeff Gordon (6.8), Ryan Newman (8.6) and Kasey Kahne (9.1) are the only active drivers with an average starting position in the top 10.  

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