Fantasy NASCAR rankings: STP 400

by Brian Polking on April 21, 2012 @ 13:32:01 PDT

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It has been a rather quiet season for Penske Championship Racing. Outside of a win at Bristol by Brad Keselowski, the organization hasn't been able to find much consistency. If qualifying for Sunday's race at Kansas was any indication, the team's fortunes could soon be changing. A.J. Allmendinger grabbed the pole for the STP 400, Brad Keselowski will roll off 11th, and even Sam Hornish Jr. qualified 10th. From a fantasy standpoint, all three drivers are intriguing plays. Keselowski finished first and third at Kansas last season, Allmendinger enters the race with three straight top-15 finishes, and Hornish could make a nice sleeper in his first Cup start of the season.

The other organization that enjoyed a strong showing in qualifying was Michael Waltrip Racing. All three MWR drivers will start in the top eight, and with as well as they have been running in 2012, Mark Martin, Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr. are all worthy of a roster spot for Sunday's race. As a former winner at Kansas, Martin looks like an especially strong play. Not to mention the fact that he is coming off a top-five finish last weekend at Texas and finished in the top-10 the last time the series visited Kansas.

Two teams that didn't have the qualifying session many expected were Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing. However, fantasy owners would be crazy to dismiss drivers from either organization. All three RFR drivers have at least three straight top-10 finishes at Kansas, and point leader Greg Biffle is a two-time winner at the track. HMS drivers Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are two-time winners, as well. Expect the RFR and HMS drivers to be among those heading to the front once the green flag drops.

Rk	Driver	Car No.	Make	Sponsor	Team	Starting Pos
1	Greg Biffle	16	Ford	3M	Roush Fenway Racing	17
2	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet	Lowe's Home Improvement	Hendrick Motorsports	15
3	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	Hendrick Motorsports	20
4	Carl Edwards	99	Ford	Subway	Roush Fenway Racing	21
5	Matt Kenseth	17	Ford	Best Buy	Roush Fenway Racing	18
6	Brad Keselowski	2	Dodge	Miller Lite	Penske Championship Racing	11
7	Tony Stewart	14	Chevrolet	Office Depot	Stewart-Haas Racing	23
8	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet	Budweiser	Richard Childress Racing	2
9	Denny Hamlin	11	Toyota	FedEx	Joe Gibbs Racing	4
10	Kasey Kahne	5	Chevrolet	Farmers Insurance	Hendrick Motorsports	9
11	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	88	Chevrolet	Mountain Dew AMP Energy	Hendrick Motorsports	7
12	Mark Martin	55	Toyota	Aaron's Dream Machine	Michael Waltrip Racing	5
13	Clint Bowyer	15	Toyota	5 Hour Energy	Michael Waltrip Racing	8
14	Martin Truex Jr.	56	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	Michael Waltrip Racing	6
15	A.J. Allmendinger	22	Dodge	Shell/Pennzoil	Penske Championship Racing	1
16	Paul Menard	27	Chevrolet	Menard's	Richard Childress Racing	19
17	Kyle Busch	18	Toyota	M&M's	Joe Gibbs Racing	25
18	Marcos Ambrose	9	Ford	Stanley Black & Decker	Richard Petty Motorsports	28
19	Ryan Newman	39	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	Stewart-Haas Racing	13
20	Kurt Busch	51	Chevrolet	Tag Heuer	Phoenix Racing	14
21	Joey Logano	20	Toyota	Home Depot	Joe Gibbs Racing	3
22	Jamie McMurray	1	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	36
23	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	Richard Childress Racing	12
24	Aric Almirola	43	Ford	Medallion Financial	Richard Petty Motorsports	26
25	Regan Smith	78	Chevrolet	Furniture Row	Furniture Row Racing	29
26	Juan Pablo Montoya	42	Chevrolet	Clorox	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	39
27	Sam Hornish Jr.	12	Ford	TWD Drywall	Leavine Fenton Racing	10
28	David Ragan	34	Ford	Scorpion Truck Bed Liners	Front Row Motorsports	27
29	Casey Mears	13	Ford	GEICO	Germain Racing	40
30	Landon Cassill	83	Toyota	Burger King	BK Racing	32
31	Bobby Labonte	47	Toyota	Kingsford	JTG Daugherty Racing	30
32	David Gilliland	38	Ford	MHP	Front Row Motorsports	22
33	David Reutimann	10	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Tommy Baldwin Racing	16
34	Dave Blaney	36	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Tommy Baldwin Racing	33
35	David Stremme	30	Toyota	Inception Motorsports	Inception Motorsports	24
36	Reed Sorenson	32	Ford	Jani-King	FAS Lane Racing	42
37	Travis Kvapil	93	Toyota	Burger King	BK Racing	35
38	Mike Bliss	19	Toyota	Humphrey Smith Racing	Humphrey Smith Racing	43
39	Josh Wise	26	Ford	Morristown Driver's Service	Front Row Motorsports	38
40	J.J. Yeley	49	Dodge	SKF	Penske Championship Racing	31
41	Michael McDowell	98	Ford	Curb Records	Phil Parsons Racing	37
42	Scott Riggs	23	Chevrolet	North Texas Pipe	R3 Motorsports	34
43	Joe Nemechek	87	Toyota	AM/FM Energy	NEMCO Motorsports	41

About 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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