Fantasy NASCAR rankings: Showtime Southern 500

May 7, 2011 @ 08:40:12

By Brian Polking

Last weekend at Richmond, fantasy owners were reminded why the elite drivers in the sport are so valuable to a fantasy team. Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart started their night with absolutely terrible cars. If the race would have been a 200-mile event, both drivers would have finished off the lead lap and outside the top 25. However, both drivers were able to rebound during the course of the night and salvage top-10 finishes for both themselves and their fantasy owners.

With the series heading to Darlington this weekend and with rain wiping out almost every practice session, many drivers are likely going to find themselves starting Saturday night's race with less-than-perfect cars. The teams that are able to dial their cars in during the course of the night are going to come out on top, and for fantasy owners, uncertainty means the top options are even more valuable than they already are.

The bottom line is that when you are unsure about which drivers are going to run well, the safe plays are always the Johnsons and Stewarts of the world. These drivers run in the top-five and challenge for wins when they have a good car, and they still manage decent finishes when they have a bad car. In limited start formats, missing out on a top-five with one of these elite options isn't ideal, but a top-10 is much better than a finish outside the top 20 with a more unproven option.

Rk	Driver	Car No.	Make	Sponsor	Team	Starting Pos
1	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	Hendrick Motorsports	5
2	Denny Hamlin	11	Toyota	FedEx	Joe Gibbs Racing	3
3	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet	Lowe's Home Improvement	Hendrick Motorsports	19
4	Kyle Busch	18	Toyota	M&M's	Joe Gibbs Racing	14
5	Ryan Newman	39	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	Stewart-Haas Racing	2
6	Carl Edwards	99	Ford	Aflac	Roush Fenway Racing	4
7	Tony Stewart	14	Chevrolet	Office Depot	Stewart-Haas Racing	9
8	Matt Kenseth	17	Ford	Crown Royal	Roush Fenway Racing	20
9	Greg Biffle	16	Ford	3M	Roush Fenway Racing	22
10	Juan Pablo Montoya	42	Chevrolet	Target	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	16
11	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet	Budweiser	Richard Childress Racing	13
12	Jamie McMurray	1	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	12
13	Mark Martin	5	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	Hendrick Motorsports	28
14	Brad Keselowski	2	Dodge	Miller Lite	Penske Championship Racing	10
15	Clint Bowyer	33	Chevrolet	Cheerios	Richard Childress Racing	26
16	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	Richard Childress Racing	24
17	Kasey Kahne	4	Toyota	Red Bull	Red Bull Racing	1
18	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	88	Chevrolet	Mountain Dew AMP Energy	Hendrick Motorsports	30
19	Martin Truex Jr.	56	Toyota	NAPA	Michael Waltrip Racing	29
20	David Ragan	6	Ford	UPS	Roush Fenway Racing	11
21	Kurt Busch	22	Dodge	Shell/Pennzoil	Penske Championship Racing	25
22	David Reutimann	00	Toyota	Aaron's	Michael Waltrip Racing	36
23	Joey Logano	20	Toyota	Home Depot	Joe Gibbs Racing	17
24	Brian Vickers	83	Toyota	Red Bull	Red Bull Racing	8
25	Paul Menard	27	Chevrolet	Menard's	Richard Childress Racing	18
26	Marcos Ambrose	9	Ford	Stanley Black & Decker	Richard Petty Motorsports	6
27	A.J. Allmendinger	43	Ford	Best Buy	Richard Petty Motorsports	7
28	Regan Smith	78	Chevrolet	Furniture Row	Furniture Row Racing	23
29	Bobby Labonte	47	Toyota	Bush's Baked Beans	JTG Daugherty Racing	15
30	Travis Kvapil	38	Chevrolet	Long John Silver's	Front Row Motorsports	21
31	Robby Gordon	7	Dodge	SPEED Energy	Robby Gordon Motorsports	43
32	Casey Mears	13	Toyota	GEICO	Germain Racing	32
33	David Gilliland	34	Ford	Taco Bell	Front Row Motorsports	37
34	Ken Schrader	32	Ford	C&J Energy	FAS Lane Racing	40
35	Landon Cassill	09	Chevrolet	Security Benefit	Phoenix Racing	27
36	Mike Skinner	60	Toyota	Big Red	Germain Racing	34
37	T.J. Bell	50	Toyota	Little Joe's Autos	MAKE Motorsports	33
38	David Stremme	30	Dodge	TBA	Inception Motorsports	38
39	Tony Raines	37	Ford	TBA	Front Row Motorsports	35
40	J.J. Yeley	46	Chevrolet	Red Line Oil	Whitney Motorsports	31
41	Michael McDowell	66	Toyota	RaceHP.com	HP Racing	39
42	Dave Blaney	36	Chevrolet	Golden Corral	Tommy Baldwin Racing	42
43	Joe Nemechek	87	Toyota	AM FM Energy	NEMCO Motorsports	41

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Brian Polking

Racing has been part of Brian's life ever since he can remember, and he spent his childhood at dirt tracks throughout Ohio and Kentucky watching his father race. NASCAR naturally became his favorite sport, and he has been following the Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series for most of his life. Brian majored in journalism and economics at Ohio State University and becoming a sports writer has always been his dream. Although he has covered everything from minor league baseball to the NCAA tournament, his passion has always been NASCAR. Brian has served as a NASCAR writer for a variety of sites, eventually becoming head editor of the NASCAR section for Fanball.com. His knowledge of NASCAR comes from his life-long love of racing, and he tries to add a personal touch to every article he writes. Brian is always up for talking NASCAR with anyone that wants to. Brian joined KFFL's team in 2011.

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