Fantasy Preview: Chicagoland

The Chase kicks off this weekend from the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. and the Chase field is finally set. Don't expect some of the drivers outside of the Chase to not put up a fight during these races though, especially with guys like Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards outside of the top-10. So let's see who you need on your team this week!

Fantasy Preview: Chicagoland

The Favorites:

Tony Stewart: The defending winner of this race, Stewart is the only driver with three wins at Chicagoland and stat-wise, he just dominates. An average finish of 8.7 and only two finishes outside of the top-10 ever here means you need to have him on your team.

Kevin Harvick: He won the first two races ever at this track in 2001 and 2002 and has a career average finish of 10.4 here which is damn good. He's been a bit up and down over the last five years here, but he was runner-up to Stewart in 2011 and worth the buy.

Mark Martin: He scored a win here for Hendrick Motorsports in 2009 and has an average finish of 12.5. Not to mention he has some good speed under the hood being with Michael Waltrip Racing right now.

The Darkhorses:

Ryan Newman: He missed the Chase, but don't expect him to lay down for the next ten weeks. Chicagoland has been good to Newman, who has one win at the track and has only finished outside of the top-10 once in the last five races here.

Kasey Kahne: Now with Hendrick, it's hard to count him out anywhere now. He struggled at Chicagoland early in his career, but he hasn't finished outside of the top-15 in the last four races here. Worth the pick-up.

Clint Bowyer: It's hard to put him here, he should be one of the favorites. But anyway, he has five top-10's in six career races here and not to mention he's last week's winner. Good momentum, good speed, good pick-up.

Stay Away From:

Carl Edwards: He's probably down about missing the Chase after being runner-up for the championship last year, so that's probably on his mind. It's either feast or famine at Chicagoland for Edwards who has three top-5's and three finishes of 20th or worse.

Greg Biffle: Normally good at 1.5 mile tracks, Biffle is surprisingly off at Chicagoland. He only has one career top-10 here and hasn't finished better than 26th in the last three races here. I think he could be a threat still, but I won't risk it this weekend.

Jamie McMurray: He has two top-10's at Chicagoland, but only has a career average finish of 22.9 which is less than stellar. He's been terrible all year for the most part and I don't see things getting better at all.

Good luck picking!

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