Don't bank on it: Vegas not typical cookie-cutter track

It's not politically correct to lump all of the similarly configured, 1.5-mile tracks into a single category, but the proof in their similarity is found in how the cookies crumble.

Perhaps it is simply because teams place so much emphasis on the 1.5-mile unrestricted, intermediate speedways. After all, the doglegged and double-doglegged versions (Las Vegas, Atlanta, Texas, Charlotte, Kansas and Chicagoland) host nine of the 36 points-paying races, which work out to 25 percent of the schedule.

Fantasy Showdown

Our resident experts -- Marc Fein, Mike Bell and Bill Kimm -- roll the dice on Las Vegas with their Studs, Duds and Ones to Watch this weekend.

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For fantasy owners, calling the similarly configured, 1.5-mile tracks "cookie-cutters" is not derision as much as it is shorthand, because several drivers are consistently strong on all.

Determining who runs well on the cookie-cutters is one very important piece of the puzzle, but as is always the case, tiebreakers go to a driver's record at a specific venue. Every track is unique in terms of banking, transition into the corners and age of the track surface, but Las Vegas Motor Speedway may be the most unique of all since it added progressive banking that gets steeper as a driver gets closer to the outside retaining wall.

The Favorites

Three drivers have earned four top-10s in their past five Vegas attempts and they are your favorites this week.

Jeff Gordon has two stats in his favor entering the Shelby American. Not only has he earned four top-10s in the past five years at Vegas, all of those results are sixth or better. The only time he failed to finish that well was in 2008, when he was swept into an accident only a handful of laps from the end. He's also one of the defending winners at this track with a victory in '01. The second reason to recommend him, however, is his overall record on cookie-cutter tracks; last year, his single victory came at Texas before he swept the top 15 on this track type. In fact, seven of his nine races on the cookie-cutters were top-10s.

Related:
• Gordon In the Loop at Vegas

Kyle Busch was a little hit-and-miss on all of the 1.5-mile tracks last year, but in 2008 he finished 11th or better in eight of nine events. While he's stumbled on other courses that rarely has been the case on his home track of Vegas where he won after sitting on the pole last year. In six total starts on this track, he's finished worse than 11th only once and that came as the result of a Lap 11 accident in his inaugural attempt in '04. (Continued)