Johnson, Roush drivers have history on their side

When the green flag drops on Sunday, we'll be on the banks of Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the one and only race at the facility in 2009.

LVMS is not a unique facility. The 1.5-mile intermediate oval is very similar to other tracks that are to come in the Sprint Cup schedule. Atlanta, Texas, Charlotte, Chicago and even Kansas share many similarities with the Las Vegas track. This race will serve as a good preview of things to come for the remainder of the season, since this is the most frequent track type in the schedule.

Our recent historical stats at Las Vegas will serve us well this weekend. The track was recently remodeled in the last couple years and the new variable banking has had some impact on the drivers at this facility. The following is our weekly power ranking for the Shelby 427 at Las Vegas.

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Top Fantasy Racing Drivers for Las Vegas

1. Jimmie Johnson
Our defending Sprint Cup champion has good reason to look forward to this weekend's race at Las Vegas. Up until last season's win by Carl Edwards, the No. 48 team had captured the previous three consecutive victories at LVMS. Johnson will look to rebound from last season's poor performance at the intermediate oval, and he should make a good challenge for his fourth career win at the track.

2. Matt Kenseth
Until Jimmie Johnson came along, Kenseth used to be the driver to beat at Las Vegas. The Roush Fenway Racing veteran has two career wins at the track and has led more than 200 laps there in just his last four races. Kenseth will look to get back to Victory Lane at Las Vegas this weekend, but at the very least he makes a good top-five proposition.

3. Kyle Busch
The Las Vegas native loves homecoming weekend in the Sprint Cup Series. Busch has only five career starts at the Las Vegas oval, but he's collected some impressive stats. The JGR ace driver has one pole and three top-10s in those starts. We're willing to bet that Busch could be the next driver to etch his name in Victory Lane at LVMS.

4. Greg Biffle
Roush Fenway drivers have always performed well at Las Vegas, and Biffle is certainly no exception. An excellent qualifier at the track, he's wheeled the No. 16 Ford to two victories (2003 and 2004) and five top-10s in nine career starts at the speedway. Biffle led 70 laps and looked like a potential winner in last season's event before he ran into trouble and finished 20th.

5. Carl Edwards
Don't let the ranking fool you. Edwards won at Las Vegas last season in a very impressive performance. Up until that win, Edwards had only middle-of-the-road numbers at the Las Vegas oval. Based on past history we have to be a bit reserved on Edwards this weekend, but at the same time we have to carefully consider his dominant performance in last season's race at LVMS.

Sprint Cup Series

Driver Standings

Pos.	Driver	Points	Behind
1.	Matt Kenseth	385	--
2.	Jeff Gordon	304	-81
3.	Kurt Busch	294	-91
4.	Tony Stewart	294	-91
5.	Greg Biffle	268	-117

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6. Denny Hamlin
Hamlin will provide a measure of stability this week at Las Vegas. While he's never been a real threat to win at the 1.5-mile oval, Hamlin has been quite consistent at the facility. He owns three consecutive top-10 finishes in three career starts at the speedway. Hamlin may not roll into Victory Lane on Sunday, but he's a very safe fantasy racing play.

7. Mark Martin
Martin won the very first Sprint Cup Series event held at Las Vegas back in 1998. Since then the veteran Hendrick Motorsports driver hasn't revisited Victory Lane at the facility, but he's poured in a stream of consistent numbers at the speedway. Martin owns nine career top-10 finishes at LVMS, more than any driver in the series. He's currently riding a three-race top-10 streak at the intermediate oval with laps led in each of those events.

8. Jeff Burton
Like a lot of other drivers in this list, Burton also owns some victories at Las Vegas. He won back-to-back races during the 1999 and 2000 seasons. Since then, Burton has yet to really challenge for a third win at LVMS, but he's been on top of his game at one of his favorite tracks. He owns two top-10 finishes in his last three starts at the speedway and he's never had a DNF at the intermediate oval.

9. Kevin Harvick
Harvick offers the same consistency that RCR teammate Jeff Burton has at Las Vegas. While he's not known for his qualifying efforts at the speedway, his biggest weakness, Harvick has come on in recent seasons to show he can be competitive at LVMS. The No. 29 Chevrolet has rolled to a pair of top-fives at the oval and he's never failed to finish a race.

10. Elliott Sadler
The surprise driver to make our top-10 ranking this week is Sadler from the Richard Petty Motorsports stable. He's an excellent qualifier at the track as he has shown with top-10 starting spots in three of the last four races there. He's been just as consistent, yet shy of spectacular, in finishing with four top-15 efforts in the last five races at the 1.5-mile oval.

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