Fantasy NASCAR rankings: Ford 400

November 19, 2011 @ 05:42:43

By Brian Polking

When the green flag waves Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Carl Edwards will be in control of his championship destiny. He has a three-point lead on Tony Stewart entering the race, and he has a better career record at Homestead, including wins in two of his last three starts at the track. Edwards has been better than “Smoke” all weekend long, beating him on the charts in both practice sessions and topping it off by winning the pole. He has been the more consistent driver throughout the year, and it his title to lose this weekend.

Of course, facing an uphill battle is nothing new for Stewart this season. He struggled during the regular season, limped into the Chase, and even admitted that he was simply taking up a spot in the playoffs. He needed four victories just to put himself in contention for the title, and unless he manages a record-setting fifth victory during the Chase, Stewart probably won’t win the championship. That being said, the pressure is squarely on the No. 99 team, and Stewart can continue to race with nothing to lose as he has throughout the playoffs.

In the end, the 2011 season has felt like Edwards’ year for quite some time. He led in points during the regular season for a majority of the weeks, and while other drivers ran hot and cold, Edwards rarely faltered. He was the hot pick to dethrone Jimmie Johnson before the year began, and even though he isn’t racing Johnson for the title Sunday, Edwards is still preparing to become the next face of NASCAR. Stewart deserves a ton of credit for putting himself in position to win his third title, but just as he stole the spotlight from veteran Jeff Gordon with a pair of titles in a four year span early in his career, Edwards will likely return the favor Sunday.

Rk	Driver	Car No.	Make	Sponsor	Team	Starting Pos.
1	Carl Edwards	99	Ford	Aflac	Roush Fenway Racing	1
2	Tony Stewart	14	Chevrolet	Office Depot	Stewart-Haas Racing	15
3	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet	Budweiser	Richard Childress Racing	21
4	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet	Lowe's Home Improvement	Hendrick Motorsports	9
5	Matt Kenseth	17	Ford	Crown Royal	Roush Fenway Racing	6
6	Kasey Kahne	4	Toyota	Red Bull	Red Bull Racing	3
7	A.J. Allmendinger	43	Ford	Best Buy	Richard Petty Motorsports	12
8	Denny Hamlin	11	Toyota	FedEx	Joe Gibbs Racing	10
9	Brad Keselowski	2	Dodge	Miller Lite	Penske Championship Racing	5
10	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	Hendrick Motorsports	7
11	Greg Biffle	16	Ford	3M	Roush Fenway Racing	8
12	Clint Bowyer	33	Chevrolet	Cheerios	Richard Childress Racing	17
13	Ryan Newman	39	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	Stewart-Haas Racing	14
14	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	Richard Childress Racing	31
15	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	88	Chevrolet	Mountain Dew AMP Energy	Hendrick Motorsports	11
16	Martin Truex Jr.	56	Toyota	NAPA	Michael Waltrip Racing	2
17	Marcos Ambrose	9	Ford	Stanley Black & Decker	Richard Petty Motorsports	18
18	Kyle Busch	18	Toyota	M&M's	Joe Gibbs Racing	19
19	Paul Menard	27	Chevrolet	Menard's	Richard Childress Racing	23
20	Mark Martin	5	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	Hendrick Motorsports	25
21	Kurt Busch	22	Dodge	Shell/Pennzoil	Penske Championship Racing	4
22	David Reutimann	00	Toyota	Aaron's	Michael Waltrip Racing	28
23	David Ragan	6	Ford	UPS	Roush Fenway Racing	13
24	Trevor Bayne	21	Ford	Motorcraft	Wood Brothers Racing	20
25	Jamie McMurray	1	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	26
26	Joey Logano	20	Toyota	Home Depot	Joe Gibbs Racing	32
27	Brian Vickers	83	Toyota	Red Bull	Red Bull Racing	24
28	Juan Pablo Montoya	42	Chevrolet	Target	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	27
29	Regan Smith	78	Chevrolet	Furniture Row	Furniture Row Racing	16
30	Bobby Labonte	47	Toyota	Bush's Baked Beans	JTG Daugherty Racing	35
31	Casey Mears	13	Toyota	GEICO	Germain Racing	39
32	Cole Whitt	84	Toyota	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull Racing	29
33	Dave Blaney	35	Chevrolet	Golden Corral	Tommy Baldwin Racing	34
34	Landon Cassill	51	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction	Phoenix Racing	22
35	Mike Bliss	71	Ford	School Media	TRG Motorsports	43
36	Travis Kvapil	38	Ford	Vampt	Front Row Motorsports	40
37	T.J. Bell	32	Ford	Green Smoke	FAS Lane Racing	41
38	David Gilliland	34	Ford	Taco Bell	Front Row Motorsports	38
39	David Stremme	30	Chevrolet	Inception Motorsports	Inception Motorsports	36
40	Geoff Bodine	36	Chevrolet	Luke & Associates	Tommy Baldwin Racing	42
41	J.J. Yeley	55	Ford	Ingersoll Rand	Front Row Motorsports	30
42	Michael McDowell	66	Toyota	HP Racing	HP Racing	33
43	Joe Nemechek	87	Toyota	TBA	NEMCO Motorsports	37

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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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