Sprint Cup 2012: Race 32: Kansas -- Tough Challenge for the Front Runner

Predicting results at a freshly paved race track is senseless as the handling characteristics are completely changed; however, from studying yesterday’s Nationwide Series race, it looks like largely a one groove race track where track position will be everything which given the qualifying order, puts some chasers, notably, points leader, Brad Keselowski behind the eight ball.  The chase currently looks like a three man affair between Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin with Clint Bowyer helping his cause tremendously. Kasey Kahne sits on the pole 35 points back, but with five more races, he’ll need some help with drivers above him slipping with so much room to make up. The rest of the field is more than a race’s worth of points. We’re counting them out.

1. Brad Keselowski (0)
2. Jimmie Johnson (-7)
3. Denny Hamlin (-15)
4. Clint Bowyer (-28)
5. Kasey Kahne (-35)

Here’s how they line up…Chase drivers shown in CAPS.

POS		CAR		DRIVER		MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED
1		5		KASEY KAHNE		Chevrolet	Farmers Insurance	191.360
2		55		Mark Martin		Toyota	Aaron's Dream Machine	191.238
3		15		CLINT BOWYER		Toyota	5-Hour Energy	191.130
4		18		Kyle Busch		Toyota	M&M's Halloween	191.096
5		43		Aric Almirola		Ford	Farmland	190.988
6		39		Ryan Newman		Chevrolet	Code 3 Associates	190.853
7		48		JIMMIE JOHNSON		Chevrolet	Lowe's	190.840
8		20		Joey Logano		Toyota	Dollar General	190.813
9		11		DENNY HAMLIN		Toyota	FedEx Freight	190.718
10		29		KEVIN HARVICK		Chevrolet	Budweiser	190.409
11		16		GREG BIFFLE		Ford	3M / Sherwin Williams	190.389
12		17		MATT KENSETH		Ford	Zest	190.376
13		51		AJ Allmendinger		Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction	190.154
14		27		Paul Menard		Chevrolet	Menards / CertainTeed	190.134
15		22		Sam Hornish Jr.		Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil	190.094
16		56		MARTIN TRUEX JR.		Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	189.940
17		99		Carl Edwards		Ford	Fastenal	189.913
18		9		Marcos Ambrose		Ford	Black & Decker	189.827
19		24		JEFF GORDON		Chevrolet	DuPont	189.520
20		31		Jeff Burton		Chevrolet	Caterpillar	189.367
21		1		Jamie McMurray		Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Arctic Cat	189.268
22		47		Bobby Labonte		Toyota	Kingsford	189.268
23		98		Michael McDowell		Ford	K-Love / Curb Records	189.261
24		42		Juan Montoya		Chevrolet	Taylor Swift / Target	188.851
25		2		BRAD KESELOWSKI		Dodge	Miller Lite	188.772
26		83		Landon Cassill		Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	188.646
27		37		J.J. Yeley		Chevrolet	MaxQworkforce	188.633
28		13		Casey Mears		Ford	GEICO	188.600
29		78		Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	Furniture Row / Farm American	188.370
30		19		Mike Bliss		Toyota	Plinker Tactical / Crowne Plaza	188.173
31		93		Travis Kvapil		Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	188.147
32		21		Trevor Bayne		Ford	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	188.055
33		14		TONY STEWART		Chevrolet	Office Depot / Mobil 1	187.859
34		191		Reed Sorenson		Toyota	Plinker Tactical / Crowne Plaza	187.761
35		195		Scott Speed		Ford	B&D Electrical	187.748
36		87		Joe Nemechek		Toyota	AM / FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves	187.578
37		34		David Ragan		Ford	Client One Securities, LLC	187.474
38		38		David Gilliland		Ford	Long John Silver's	187.234
39		88		Regan Smith		Chevrolet	National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew	187.182
40		10		Danica Patrick		Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	186.896
41		36		Dave Blaney+		Chevrolet	TBR / TMone	183.773
42		32		Timmy Hill+		Ford	Southern Pride Trucking / U.S. Chrome	183.624
43		79		Kelly Bires		Ford	Bestway Disposal / Re-Load.biz	187.285
Did Not Qualify
44		33		Cole Whitt		Chevrolet	Moon Shine Attire	186.877
45		30		David Stremme		Toyota	Inception Motorsports	186.027
46		26		Josh Wise*		Ford	MDS Transport	182.500