NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Round Two, Race Two at Kansas

Track Classification: Intermediate

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

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

Distance: 1.5 Miles

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

By Race

Both with 4 - Carl Edwards, Paul Menard and Jimmie Johnson
All with 3 - Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon

By Track

Jimmie Johnson - 8

Matt Kenseth - 7

Carl Edwards - 6

All with 5 -  Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr.

Recent Pole Winners:  

2014 & 2013 Kevin Harvick

The Likely Suspects:  The cookie-cutter 1.5 mile tracks and champions like Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick usually are a good pairing. In addition to these champs, look for these drivers to run well this weekend: Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr., Paul Menard and Kyle Larson.  

My 2 Cents: Hmm. Well this is certainly getting interesting. Do you think it is possible to go three consecutive weekends with mechanical issues with the  No. 48 team? Yikes. My no-brainer pick this week is Kevin Harvick. My next choices are: Matt Kenseth, Kyle Larson, Paul Menard, Aric Almirola and Kasey Kahne. If you have any Edwards and Truex Jr. starts left, pull Kahne and Almirola. I will complete my team with Landon Cassill and Ryan Blaney.

My final four: Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Paul Menard and Ryan Blaney.

Points to ponder:

• Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman are tied for the most runner-up finishes at Kansas Speedway with two each. 
• Jeff Gordon leads the series in top-five finishes at Kansas Speedway with 11, followed by Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson with seven each.
• Jimmie Johnson leads the series in top-10 finishes at Kansas Speedway with 15, followed by Jeff Gordon (13), Carl Edwards (11) and Matt Kenseth (11).
• Three active NSCS drivers have an average finishing position at Kansas Speedway inside the top 10 – Jimmie Johnson (9.055), Kyle Larson (9.666) and Jeff Gordon (9.947).   
• Paul Menard has participated in the most Cup races at Kansas Speedway without posting a DNF (13).
• Jimmie Johnson leads the Sprint Cup Series in laps led at Kansas Speedway with 596 laps led in 18 starts.

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