Fantasy NASCAR rankings: Tums Fast Relief 500

October 29, 2011 @ 16:00:08

By Brian Polking

If Carl Edwards holds on to his current point lead and goes on to win his first career Cup Series title, he may have to thank Mother Nature. Rain forced the cancellation of qualifying at Martinsville Speedway Saturday, setting the field by owner points and putting Edwards on the pole at a track that has been one of his worst. Martinsville is known for tough passing conditions and a treacherous pit road, and now, Edwards will have track position and the best pit stall both working in his favor. Sunday's race is still his biggest hurdle, but that hurdle has suddenly gotten a lot smaller.

Of course, the same can be said for his teammate and second-place Matt Kenseth as well as fourth-place Tony Stewart. Kenseth hasn't been much better at Martinsville than Edwards, but starting on the outside of the front row should help his cause. Meanwhile, Stewart - a notoriously terrible qualifier - will roll off inside the top five at one of his better tracks. Not to mention the fact that all three title contenders will enjoy the added benefit of avoiding the bumping and banging that goes on in the middle of the pack at the start of the race.

While Edwards, Kenseth and Stewart were among the beneficiaries of Saturday's washout, potential sleeper picks like Jamie McMurray, Joey Logano and Juan Pablo Montoya all have their work cut out for them. All three have had success at Martinsville in the past, but they will now start outside the top 20 this weekend. Granted, a poor qualifying effort shouldn't eliminate them from fantasy consideration, but all three options are a bit riskier than they would have been had they qualified closer to the front.

Rk	Driver	Car No.	Make	Sponsor	Team	Starting Pos
1	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet	Lowe's Home Improvement	Hendrick Motorsports	7
2	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	Hendrick Motorsports	10
3	Denny Hamlin	11	Toyota	FedEx	Joe Gibbs Racing	11
4	Kyle Busch	18	Toyota	M&M's	Joe Gibbs Racing	6
5	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet	Budweiser	Richard Childress Racing	5
6	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	88	Chevrolet	Mountain Dew AMP Energy	Hendrick Motorsports	9
7	Tony Stewart	14	Chevrolet	Office Depot	Stewart-Haas Racing	4
8	Clint Bowyer	33	Chevrolet	Cheerios	Richard Childress Racing	13
9	Carl Edwards	99	Ford	Aflac	Roush Fenway Racing	1
10	Brad Keselowski	2	Dodge	Miller Lite	Penske Championship Racing	3
11	Ryan Newman	39	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	Stewart-Haas Racing	12
12	Juan Pablo Montoya	42	Chevrolet	Target	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	20
13	Joey Logano	20	Toyota	Home Depot	Joe Gibbs Racing	22
14	Matt Kenseth	17	Ford	Crown Royal	Roush Fenway Racing	2
15	Jamie McMurray	1	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	27
16	Mark Martin	5	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	Hendrick Motorsports	19
17	Kurt Busch	22	Dodge	Shell/Pennzoil	Penske Championship Racing	8
18	A.J. Allmendinger	43	Ford	Best Buy	Richard Petty Motorsports	16
19	Paul Menard	27	Chevrolet	Menard's	Richard Childress Racing	38
20	David Ragan	6	Ford	UPS	Roush Fenway Racing	18
21	Martin Truex Jr.	56	Toyota	NAPA	Michael Waltrip Racing	24
22	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	Richard Childress Racing	23
23	Greg Biffle	16	Ford	3M	Roush Fenway Racing	15
24	David Reutimann	00	Toyota	Aaron's	Michael Waltrip Racing	28
25	Kasey Kahne	4	Toyota	Red Bull	Red Bull Racing	14
26	Marcos Ambrose	9	Ford	Stanley Black & Decker	Richard Petty Motorsports	17
27	Bobby Labonte	47	Toyota	Bush's Baked Beans	JTG Daugherty Racing	29
28	Brian Vickers	83	Toyota	Red Bull	Red Bull Racing	25
29	Regan Smith	78	Chevrolet	Furniture Row	Furniture Row Racing	37
30	Casey Mears	13	Toyota	GEICO	Germain Racing	33
31	Ken Schrader	32	Ford	U.S. Chrome	FAS Lane Racing	34
32	Scott Speed	46	Ford	Red Line Oil	Whitney Motorsports	39
33	Reed Sorenson	7	Dodge	SPEED Energy	Robby Gordon Motorsports	21
34	David Gilliland	34	Ford	Taco Bell	Front Row Motorsports	31
35	Robby Gordon	77	Dodge	SPEED Energy	Robby Gordon Motorsports	26
36	Landon Cassill	51	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction	Phoenix Racing	30
37	Dave Blaney	36	Chevrolet	Golden Corral	Tommy Baldwin Racing	32
38	Travis Kvapil	38	Ford	Long John Silver's	Front Row Motorsports	35
39	Hermie Sadler	71	Ford	Home Smart	TRG Motorsports	36
40	J.J. Yeley	55	Ford	Front Row Motorsports	Front Row Motorsports	43
41	David Stremme	30	Chevrolet	Inception Motorsports	Inception Motorsports	42
42	Michael McDowell	66	Toyota	James Fund	HP Racing	40
43	Joe Nemechek	87	Toyota	NEMCO Motorsports	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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