Fantasy NASCAR rankings: Quaker State 400

July 8, 2011 @ 19:12:21

By Brian Polking

What was expected to be an unpredictable inaugural Cup race at Kentucky Speedway became even more dicey for fantasy owners when qualifying and one of the two practice sessions were rained out. The 1.5-mile track is famous for its bumpy, rough surface, and thanks to Mother Nature, the tricky asphalt will be even slicker Saturday night. With minimal practice time and a relatively rubber-free track, drivers and fantasy owners are heading into uncharted territory when the green flag waves.

Since qualifying was canceled, the starting lineup was set by top speeds from the lone practice session held Friday. The end result is a rather fantasy-friendly mixture of big names and sleepers starting inside the top 10. In fact, owners may want to lean toward starting a few more sleepers than usual. Track position should be critical due to the lack of practice time, and any driver starting near the front should see a boost in their value. If there are a few long green-flag runs at the start of Saturday’s race, a lot of cars could end up going a lap down.

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