Follow Stewart on his traditional summer roll (cont'd)

Dark Horses

With 22nd- and 39th-place finishes in his past two Infineon races, Kyle Busch is not going to be on many radar screens this week, and that could make him a great differentiator for your lineup. While he's stumbled a time or two in California, he's been great in New York with a win in 2008 and four consecutive top-10s there. His victory was no fluke either; he dominated that afternoon after starting in the front, so if he gets a good qualification effort in the books this week, snap him up and then sit back and grin if your competitors don't take him.

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Carl Edwards would seem to be another unlikely road racer and that opinion was reinforced by a 39th-place finish at Infineon only a few weeks ago. He was never in contention to win on the highly technical turns on that track, but on the fast open course at the Glen, he's been incredibly strong in recent years. With only one awkward race to start his career in 2005, he's swept the top 10 since and two of his last four efforts have ended in top-fives. Along with Busch, he's going to catch your competition unaware and that makes him a greater value than he would otherwise be.

Road Ringers

This week, the most successful road ringers will probably come with a connection to the No. 26 team. Boris Said is part owner of that car and his road course experience gave them the opportunity to finish strong at Infineon. Miscommunication between the driver and crew chief Frank Stoddard surrounding a pit stop put them a little behind, but they ran well nonetheless and were a factor then and also would have been a factor this week if they were still paired. When the opportunity came to race in the No. 83, however, it was too good to pass up. We were willing to go out on a limb and call Mattias Ekstrom a dark horse when he was in that car, so placing Said on the roster is a far easier decision. No other road ringer has more experience in these heavy stock cars and with solid equipment under him, a top-10 finish is in the cards if he plays his hand correctly.

The other side of that equation is that Said would not have stepped out of his car without an equally strong racer to take his place and that is where Patrick Carpentier comes into the picture. Like Said, he has attempted to make a permanent place for himself at NASCAR's top level and that gives him not only road course experience, but also some oval track laps. He knows how the car will handle in traffic, which separates him from many of the other road ringers who have come and gone. His talent on the twisty tracks speaks for itself, especially when compared with some oval veterans who are frankly fish out of water when they are required to turn both right and left. Running his first race of the season, you will be able to snap him up at a rock bottom price and that will make him one of the best values of the game.