Fantasy Preview: Las Vegas

The Series takes its annual once a year stop at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but this time, they'll be the first major racing series to return to the track since the death of Indy Racing League driver Dan Wheldon. 

I'm sure this will be on the drivers' minds, but we all must move on and this will be a good way to get that going provided it's a clean race. Carl Edwards captured his only win of the 2011 season here last year and if he's going to win the championship this year, he'll need to win here again plus a handful of other races. This is a 1.5 mile, fun, fast track that offers a lot of passing with the reconfiguration of the track that happened several years back. Lets see who you're gonna want on your fantasy team this week!

FANTASY PREVIEW: LAS VEGAS

The Favorites:

Jimmie Johnson: Just like last weekend at Phoenix, this guy is dominant at this track. 4 career wins here, including 3 in-a-row at one point and an average finish of 10.6, need I say more? Though he does only have one top 10 in the last four races here, that one top 10 was a win. Plus, I'm sure he's still pissed off about the Chad Knaus penalty. 

Carl Edwards: Yes, he was last year's winner, and yes, he's going to be a threat to win again this year. 2 career wins here in only six starts and an average finish of 11th, plus he's only finished worse than 14th here twice. You're gonna want this guy on your team this week.

Jeff Gordon: He was running 10th here last year before he blew a tire and crashed. He has run well here his whole career and has 6 top 5's, more than any other driver. He's only won here once, but he's always in contention for a top 5.

The Darkhorses:

Joey Logano: He has one top 10 here in three starts and has started in 6th the last two races here. Logano seems to run well at fast, 1.5 mile tracks and with two top 10's already this season, he could make that 3-for-3 this weekend.

Martin Truex Jr.: He finished 6th here last year and that is his only career top 10 here. But he's running the strongest he's ever run in his career and I expect him to keep up his hot streak just like Joey Logano. Also, he's only not completed 3 laps in 6 career races at Vegas.

Clint Bowyer: His last three races at Vegas, 2nd, 8th, 15th. Not too bad, plus he'll have a good car just like teammate Truex. And they'll both be taking notes from other teammate Mark Martin who is notoriously good at Vegas.

Stay Away From:

Juan Pablo Montoya: He finished 3rd here last year......thats his only bright spot here. He owns an average finish of 22nd here and hasn't started this season hot. So it seems that he won't get the Vegas monkey off his back this year.

Jamie McMurray: The teammate to Montoya, things don't look much better for him. He only has one top 10 here in his last four starts and he's in the same boat as Montoya, a crappy start to the season. I'm not expecting him to turn it around here.

Kurt Busch: He's the hometown boy, he should be pumped up right? Maybe, but he's struggled at his hometown track recently. Aside from a 9th here last year, he hadn't finished better than 16th since 2005. Not really sure if his team, Phoenix Racing, can deliver strong cars to the 1.5 mile tracks.

Good luck picking! Only two days to Sunday!