One and only Indy makes winning paramount (cont'd)

Dark Horses

With a little more momentum on his side, Tony Stewart easily would be one of our favorites in light of his Indy record. Since 2004, he's won this race twice -- in '05 and '07 -- and finished worse than eighth only one time. Since Dover eight weeks ago, he's managed to get the results fantasy owners anticipate during the hot summer months with top-10s in all but two races, but he hasn't shown any of the authority you've grown to expect at this time of year. Still, the last two times the series was on a flat track, Stewart finished second most recently at New Hampshire and third at Pocono.

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Speculation about where he will race in 2011 is not distracting Kasey Kahne and he's managed to deflect those questions by running at the front of the pack in four of his past five races. Second-place finishes at Michigan and Daytona gave the media something entirely different to talk about and the former sprint-car racer certainly has been immune to short-timer's disease. Better still, Kahne's record at Indy has been more "hit" than "miss." In six attempts there, he's earned two top-fives and four top-10s. Still, he hasn't been untouched by trouble with a pair of sub-35th-place results in back-to-back Brickyards in '06 and '07.

Underdogs

With a failure to qualify in 2003 and back-to-back results in the 30s in '07 and '08, David Reutimann certainly would not be on fantasy owners' radar screens this week if not for his victory in at Chicagoland in NASCAR's most recent contest. That was his second career Cup victory, but the first time he ran away from the field and crossed under the checkers in green-flag conditions. Last year, he was an equally pleasant surprise in the Brickyard 400 with an eighth-place finish, and players can expect even better things from him this week.

Stranger things have happened on this historic track, so this week we are going to offer up Jacques Villeneuve as a dark horse. No one expected Montoya to finish second in his first stock-car race at Indy and undoubtedly no one expects much from the part-time entry of Braun Racing, but that could play into your favor. With long straightaways, horsepower is important at Indy, but it is useless unless the driver can get through Turns 2 and 4 perfectly. Former open-wheel racers have a penchant for doing just that on flat tracks and while Villeneuve won't battle for the win, he could earn a surprising top-15.