Fantasy NASCAR rankings: Toyota/Save Mart 350

June 25, 2011 @ 09:30:10

By Brian Polking

Last season's race at Infineon Raceway was one of the roughest in recent memory, with drivers spending a majority of the race bumping one another out of the way. Multi-car spins were a common sight, and a violent wreck triggered by a Jeff Gordon tap on Martin Truex Jr. highlighted the carnage. Needless to say, the race was far from kind to fantasy owners. Unfortunately, it appears the 2011 race could be a repeat after qualifying put some surprising faces at the front of the field.

Joey Logano came out of nowhere to grab the pole for Sunday's race, and he was followed by Jamie McMurray and Paul Menard. All three drivers have had limited success at road courses, especially Menard and Logano. That being said, these three drivers will lead the field to the green at a track where passing has been historically difficult. Couple that with the fact that road course aces like Juan Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch are all starting outside the top 15, and you have a recipe for some physical racing as the big names try to fight their way to the front.

Sunday's race could also prove to be a breakout day for Richard Petty Motorsports. Marcos Ambrose and A.J. Allmendinger both qualified inside the top 10, and both drivers have had a history of success at road courses. In fact, Ambrose had last year's race in the bag before stalling his car under caution and losing the lead with just two laps to go. The organization has been up and down in 2011, but Allmendinger and Ambrose are both capable of getting to Victory Lane this weekend.

Rk	Driver	Car No.	Make	Sponsor	Team	Starting Pos
1	Juan Pablo Montoya	42	Chevrolet	Target	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	17
2	Marcos Ambrose	9	Ford	Stanley Black & Decker	Richard Petty Motorsports	8
3	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	Hendrick Motorsports	13
4	Tony Stewart	14	Chevrolet	Office Depot	Stewart-Haas Racing	20
5	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet	Lowe's Home Improvement	Hendrick Motorsports	12
6	Kyle Busch	18	Toyota	M&M's	Joe Gibbs Racing	19
7	Denny Hamlin	11	Toyota	FedEx	Joe Gibbs Racing	4
8	Kasey Kahne	4	Toyota	Red Bull	Red Bull Racing	6
9	A.J. Allmendinger	43	Ford	Best Buy	Richard Petty Motorsports	7
10	Clint Bowyer	33	Chevrolet	Cheerios	Richard Childress Racing	9
11	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet	Budweiser	Richard Childress Racing	26
12	Ryan Newman	39	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	Stewart-Haas Racing	5
13	Kurt Busch	22	Dodge	Shell/Pennzoil	Penske Championship Racing	11
14	Carl Edwards	99	Ford	Aflac	Roush Fenway Racing	23
15	Greg Biffle	16	Ford	3M	Roush Fenway Racing	22
16	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	88	Chevrolet	Mountain Dew AMP Energy	Hendrick Motorsports	18
17	Jamie McMurray	1	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	2
18	Mark Martin	5	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	Hendrick Motorsports	16
19	Brian Vickers	83	Toyota	Red Bull	Red Bull Racing	10
20	Matt Kenseth	17	Ford	Crown Royal	Roush Fenway Racing	33
21	Robby Gordon	7	Dodge	SPEED Energy	Robby Gordon Motorsports	28
22	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	Richard Childress Racing	25
23	David Ragan	6	Ford	UPS	Roush Fenway Racing	34
24	Martin Truex Jr.	56	Toyota	NAPA	Michael Waltrip Racing	14
25	Paul Menard	27	Chevrolet	Menard's	Richard Childress Racing	3
26	Joey Logano	20	Toyota	Home Depot	Joe Gibbs Racing	1
27	Brad Keselowski	2	Dodge	Miller Lite	Penske Championship Racing	15
28	David Reutimann	00	Toyota	Aaron's	Michael Waltrip Racing	32
29	Andy Lally	71	Ford	TRG Motorsports	TRG Motorsports	41
30	David Gilliland	34	Ford	Taco Bell	Front Row Motorsports	29
31	Casey Mears	13	Toyota	GEICO	Germain Racing	27
32	P.J. Jones	77	Dodge	SPEED Energy	Robby Gordon Motorsports	35
33	Bobby Labonte	47	Toyota	Bush's Baked Beans	JTG Daugherty Racing	21
34	Regan Smith	78	Chevrolet	Furniture Row	Furniture Row Racing	24
35	Boris Said	51	Chevrolet	Security Benefit	Phoenix Racing	30
36	Chris Cook	37	Ford	Front Row Motorsports	Front Row Motorsports	42
37	Terry Labonte	32	Ford	C&J Energy	FAS Lane Racing	39
38	Dave Blaney	36	Chevrolet	Golden Corral	Tommy Baldwin Racing	36
39	Mike Skinner	60	Toyota	Big Red	Germain Racing	37
40	David Mayhew	66	Toyota	RaceHP.com	HP Racing	38
41	Brian Simo	81	Chevrolet	WhitneysCollision.com	Whitney Motorsports	40
42	Andy Pilgrim	46	Chevrolet	Red Line Oil	Whitney Motorsports	43
43	Joe Nemechek	87	Toyota	NEMCO Motorsports	NEMCO Motorsports	31

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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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