NASCAR Fantasy Fusion: Kansas Cutoff Race

By Carol D'Agostino

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

By Race

Both with 4 - Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson
All with 3 - Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard and Kyle Busch 

By Track

All with 6 - Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano

All with 5 - Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski
All with 4 - Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch 

Recent Pole Winners:  

2016 Matt Kenseth
2015 Brad Keselowski

Last Year's Race Winner: Kevin Harvick

The Likely Suspects: Being back at a cookie cutter track will hopefully allow us all to regain some points after the Talladega crash fest. Look for these drivers to run well this weekend: Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. 

My 2 Cents: With Talladega in the rearview mirror, we should all be taking a collective sigh of relief. Not so fast. Kansas is a cutoff race this year. My no-brainer pick this week is Mr. Cookie Cutter himself Martin Truex Jr. My next choices are Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Blaney, Paul Menard and Kurt Busch. I will complete my team with Ty Dillon and Daniel Suarez.

My Final Four: Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch and Ty Dillon.

Points to Ponder:

• Fifteen drivers have Coors Light poles at Kansas, led by Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne with three each. 
• Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick are the only two drivers to win consecutive Coors Light poles at Kansas Speedway (Johnson: 2007-2008 and Harvick: fall of 2013-spring 2014 sweep).
• Eight drivers have won the pole for the Playoff races at Kansas. The five active drivers are: Kasey Kahne (three), Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth (two each) and Brad Keselowski.
• There have been14 different winners at Kansas Speedway, led by Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson with three each. Nine of the 14 Kansas winners are currently active. 
• Eight different drivers have won the Kansas Playoff races. Active drivers are led by Jimmie Johnson (2008 and 2011), Kevin Harvick (2013 and 2016) and Joey Logano. 
• Hendrick Motorsports leads the series in wins at Kansas with six: Jeff Gordon (three: 2001, 2002 and 2014) and Jimmie Johnson (three: 2008, 2011 and 2015).
• Matt Kenseth is the only active Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver that has posted consecutive wins at Kansas Speedway (fall 2012, spring 2013).  
• Kevin Harvick has the series most runner-up finishes at Kansas with three, followed by Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr and Ryan Newman with two each.   
• Jeff Gordon leads the series in top-five finishes at Kansas Speedway with 11, followed by Jimmie Johnson with nine, while Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle each have seven. 
• Jimmie Johnson leads the series in top-10 finishes at Kansas with 17, followed by Jeff Gordon (14), Carl Edwards (13) and Matt Kenseth (13). 
• The top five active Kansas Playoff race lap leaders (2004-2016) are: Matt Kenseth (590 laps led, 18%), Jimmie Johnson (536 laps led, 16%), Kevin Harvick (329 laps led, 10%), Joey Logano (199 laps led, 8%) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (114 laps led, 4%).   
• Jimmie Johnson (22 starts) leads all active drivers in the MENCS at Kansas Speedway with an average finishing position of 9.591.

Remember, if you're playing Yahoo! Fantasy Auto Racing, your pick deadline is Friday, October 20, at 5 a.m. EDT.

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