Fantasy NASCAR rankings: Lenox Industrial Tools 301

July 16, 2011 @ 10:24:07

By Brian Polking

It has been an up and down season for Stewart-Haas Racing, but after qualifying at New Hampshire Friday, it appears the organization is gearing up for a strong second half. The SHR duo of Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart swept the Front Row with Newman claiming his first pole of the year and fifth career pole at NHMS. Both drivers have two career wins at the 1.0-mile track, and fantasy owners may want to add the teammates to their rosters before the green flag Sunday.

Another pair of teammates that have been on fire as of late will also be rolling off in the top five. Penkse Racing drivers Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski will start third and fifth, respectively. Busch has been a stud as New Hampshire in his career, tallying three wins and five finishes of sixth or better in his last six starts at the track. Meanwhile, Keselowski appears to be a young driver finally living up to his potential at the Cup level. Both are worthy of a roster spot this weekend, and Keselowski could end up being the top sleeper.

Keselowski will likely be competing with David Reutimann for that honor. Reutimann qualified fourth for Sunday's event, and he rolls into Loudon with plenty of momentum after a second-place finish last weekend at Kentucky. More importantly, he has finished in the top 15 in his last five starts at NHMS. Reutimann has finished as high as fourth at the track, and a top-10 finish and possibly a top-five appear to be within reach Sunday.

Rk	Driver	Car No.	Make	Sponsor	Team	Starting Pos
1	Tony Stewart	14	Chevrolet	Office Depot	Stewart-Haas Racing	2
2	Clint Bowyer	33	Chevrolet	Cheerios	Richard Childress Racing	12
3	Denny Hamlin	11	Toyota	FedEx	Joe Gibbs Racing	14
4	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	Hendrick Motorsports	7
5	Kurt Busch	22	Dodge	Shell/Pennzoil	Penske Championship Racing	4
6	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet	Lowe's Home Improvement	Hendrick Motorsports	28
7	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet	Budweiser	Richard Childress Racing	18
8	Kyle Busch	18	Toyota	M&M's	Joe Gibbs Racing	19
9	Brad Keselowski	2	Dodge	Miller Lite	Penske Championship Racing	5
10	Ryan Newman	39	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	Stewart-Haas Racing	1
11	Carl Edwards	99	Ford	Aflac	Roush Fenway Racing	15
12	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	88	Chevrolet	Mountain Dew AMP Energy	Hendrick Motorsports	27
13	Greg Biffle	16	Ford	3M	Roush Fenway Racing	20
14	Kasey Kahne	4	Toyota	Red Bull	Red Bull Racing	10
15	Juan Pablo Montoya	42	Chevrolet	Target	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	8
16	David Reutimann	00	Toyota	Aaron's	Michael Waltrip Racing	3
17	A.J. Allmendinger	43	Ford	Best Buy	Richard Petty Motorsports	17
18	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	Richard Childress Racing	6
19	Martin Truex Jr.	56	Toyota	NAPA	Michael Waltrip Racing	13
20	Joey Logano	20	Toyota	Home Depot	Joe Gibbs Racing	16
21	Matt Kenseth	17	Ford	Crown Royal	Roush Fenway Racing	30
22	David Ragan	6	Ford	UPS	Roush Fenway Racing	26
23	Mark Martin	5	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	Hendrick Motorsports	24
24	Jamie McMurray	1	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	25
25	Marcos Ambrose	9	Ford	Stanley Black & Decker	Richard Petty Motorsports	22
26	Regan Smith	78	Chevrolet	Furniture Row	Furniture Row Racing	11
27	Paul Menard	27	Chevrolet	Menard's	Richard Childress Racing	9
28	Brian Vickers	83	Toyota	Red Bull	Red Bull Racing	21
29	Bobby Labonte	47	Toyota	Bush's Baked Beans	JTG Daugherty Racing	23
30	Scott Wimmer	7	Dodge	SPEED Energy	Robby Gordon Motorsports	42
31	Mike Bliss	32	Ford	U.S. Chrome	FAS Lane Racing	41
32	J.J. Yeley	38	Ford	Long John Silver's	Front Row Motorsports	38
33	Landon Cassill	51	Chevrolet	Security Benefit	Phoenix Racing	32
34	David Gilliland	34	Ford	Taco Bell	Front Row Motorsports	34
35	Dave Blaney	36	Chevrolet	Golden Corral	Tommy Baldwin Racing	37
36	Casey Mears	13	Toyota	GEICO	Germain Racing	31
37	Erik Darnell	46	Chevrolet	Red Line Oil	Whitney Motorsports	40
38	Andy Lally	71	Ford	TRG Motorsports	TRG Motorsports	43
39	Jeff Green	55	Ford	Front Row Motorsports	Front Row Motorsports	36
40	David Stremme	30	Chevrolet	Foxwoods Resort Casino	Inception Motorsports	29
41	Mike Skinner	60	Toyota	Big Red	Germain Racing	39
42	Michael McDowell	66	Toyota	RaceHP.com	HP Racing	33
43	Joe Nemechek	87	Toyota	NEMCO Motorsports	NEMCO Motorsports	35

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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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