Fantasy NASCAR rankings: Geico 400

September 17, 2011 @ 14:08:03

By Brian Polking

For just the ninth time in his career, Matt Kenseth will start a race from the pole. When he leads the field to the green Sunday at Chicagoland, he could be setting the tone for a big start to the 2011 Chase. No driver has led more laps at the track without winning than Kenseth, and he will be piloting the same car that he won with in dominating fashion at Texas earlier this year.

While Kenseth is an easy pick for owners, qualifying was unkind to many pre-race favorites. Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick were all fast in practice, and they also happen to be the only drivers with multiple wins at Chicagoland. However, all three will start outside the top 20 Sunday, along with defending race winner David Reutimann.

In all likelihood, all four drivers should have fast enough cars to get to the front. That being said, starting in the back does increase the chances of at least one of them getting caught up in someone else's mess. Owners should be surprised if trouble strikes one of these big names as they work their way to the front.

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

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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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