Fantasy Preview: Kansas

The butterflies are building in the drivers' stomachs, but for the moment they are the cute little insects one sees flying around the garden. With Talladega looming large on the horizon, the butterflies are about to become bats.

Last week was the tip of the iceberg.

Carl Edwards had throttle issues that might have cost him dearly; Kyle Busch was bounced about like a pinball during the closing laps of the Dodge Dealers 400 while Jeff Burton and Tony Stewart had handling issues that for a time stranded them off the lead lap. Everyone's heart sank at some point during the afternoon, but all except four of these men overcame their problems to finish in the top 15. Kevin Harvick finished 20th, which might have been much worse if not for the field-thinning crash in the closing laps.

Kurt Busch (29th), Matt Kenseth (35th) and Denny Hamlin (38th) finished outside the top 25 and used up their respective mulligan for the Chase. In fact, for the elder Busch the playoffs may yet be over since no driver in the short three-year history of the Chase has won the Cup after finishing 25th or worse in back-to-back races. Two weeks ago, Busch was 25th at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Last year, Kansas Speedway was not much kinder to the contenders. In 2006, the Chasers survived Dover International Speedway with an average finish of 18.1 and only two drivers finished in the top five with four in the top 10. They came to Kansas the next week and placed only four of their members in the top 10 again and averaged a result of 16.7.

In last week's race at Dover, the contenders finished with an average result of 16.2, which is below the standard set by the Chasers during the history of this format of 14.0 in 32 events. On the face of it, that might not seem like much of a difference, but drivers can't afford to use a mulligan here with Talladega still on the schedule.

'Cookie-cutter' kings

The battle this week is going to come down to two "cookie-cutter" kings -- Jimmie Johnson and Stewart. These two drivers have alternately commanded the six similarly configured, mile-and-half tracks and in any given week they have the capability to dominate like Bowyer did at New Hampshire a few weeks ago.

Johnson ended the 2006 season nearly perfect when he finished second in three consecutive races at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. This season started out perfectly with back-to-back wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Atlanta. Fantasy owners will be pleased that Johnson has had enough trouble to keep his salary cap manageable. On the other hand, they might be disturbed by the fact that two of these issues came at Texas and Chicagoland Speedway. Johnson experienced trouble in both of those races, however, and his poor results are not indicative of a lack of speed.

In two of the races in which Johnson finished second, he was chasing Stewart across the line. The No. 20 took the checkers at Atlanta and Texas last year, but what might make him most attractive this week was his race at Kansas in the Banquet 400. He came into this event still reeling from missing the Chase and had something to prove. He has less of a chip on his shoulder this year with four top-10s in five "cookie-cutter" races and, in fact, he won the last outing at Chicagoland. Better still, he dodged a bullet last week by finishing among the top 10 with a car that struggled to find the right setup -- and that might just make him feel invincible.