NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Bank of America 500 at Charlotte

Track Classification: Intermediate

Similar Tracks: Atlanta Motor Speedway • Chicagoland Speedway • Darlington Raceway  Homestead-Miami Speedway • Kansas 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 5 - Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards
All with 4 -  Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Kasey Kahne
All with 3 - Joey Logano, Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman

By Track

Both with 8 - Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin
Carl Edwards - 7
Brad Keselowski - 6

All with 5 - Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch  

Recent Pole Winners:  

2015 Matt Kenseth
2014 Kyle Busch

Last Year's Race Winner: Joey Logano

Likely Suspects: The Bank of America 500 at Charlotte is the Round Two opener, making it a great opportunity for drivers like Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon who run well here. However, these Charlotte elite drivers will be racing hard to keep them out of Victory Lane: Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth and the two-time winner from Round One, Martin Truex Jr.

My 2 Cents: Going into this playoff round the driver who used to be synonymous with Charlotte Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson, sits in the precarious position of 11th place in the standings. Could he make some noise this weekend? Or will Kevin Harvick, who is usually pretty respectable here, bounce back after a disappointing 37th place finish at Dover?

My no-brainer pick this week is Kevin Harvick. My next picks are: Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Austin Dillon, Ryan Newman and Greg Biffle. If you have Martin Truex Jr. starts left, I'd pull Ryan Newman. I will complete my team with Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman.

My Final Four: Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Austin Dillon and Ryan Blaney

Points to Ponder:

• 49 different drivers have won at Charlotte Motor Speedway, led by Jimmie Johnson with seven wins. 
• The second-place starting position is the most proficient starting position in the field, producing more winners (17) than any other starting position at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 
• Joey Logano leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in average finishing position at Charlotte with a 9.533.
• Jimmie Johnson leads all active drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in laps led at Charlotte with 1,740 laps led in 30 starts.
• Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth lead all active drivers in the series with top-10 finishes at Charlotte with 18 each. 
• Martin Truex Jr. set the single-race record for the most miles led earlier this season at Charlotte when he led 591 miles (394 laps) in the Coca-Cola 600.

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