Nationwide Preview: Dollar General 300

July 7, 2009 5:30pm CDT

Fantasy owners will have plenty of Cup drivers at their disposal at Chicagoland for the season finale of the Nationwide Series Challenge Circuit 1 game. Ryan Newman, David Reutimann and Jeff Burton are just a few of the name scheduled to participate. However, the track has played host to some strange finishes and surprise winners since becoming part of the series in 2001, and owners should think twice before expecting this Friday's race to be a typical intermediate track event.

Jimmie Johnson won the first race at the track, picking up his first career Nationwide win. Little did anyone know what Johnson would go on to accomplish in the coming years. Johnny Sauter, Justin Labonte, Bobby Hamilton Jr. and Casey Mears are some other names that have ended up in victory lane over the years. Aside from surprise winners, the track has been surprisingly unkind to big name drivers doing double duty. Cup regulars have delivered some very impressive performances at Chicagoland, but the consistency that fantasy owners normally expect just isn't there.

Last season was an exception to the unpredictability with Cup regulars claiming four of the top five spots and eight of the top 10. Kyle Busch dominated the event, leading by as many as 10 seconds during the final run to the checkers. The race featured an incident between Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick on restart early in the race. Both cars had enough damage to eliminate them from contention, although Stewart did manage to finish in the top 10.

Cup Regulars

His victory in last year's race was Kyle Busch's second consecutive top five at Chicagoland. His first three starts at the track resulted in wrecked racecars, but Busch has gotten a handle on the 1.5-mile speedway since then. He pulled off the weekend sweep here last year.

He just can't seem to gain ground on the Busch no matter how well he runs, and Carl Edwards has to start hipping away at the points lead if he wants to win the title. Edwards has two top fives in four starts at Chicagoland along with a 10.5 finishing average. However, he does enter the race with back-to-back finishes outside the top 10.

With back-to-back top five runs coming at the track entering Friday's race, Brian Vickers seems primed to deliver another solid performance. He has been a staple inside the top 10 in his starts this year, and he has been a near lock for the top 10 at the 1.5-mile tracks.

No driver has been better in the past four races at Chicagoland than Kevin Harvick. He has posted three top fives, including a pair of victories, and has a 6.0 finishing average during that span. Harvick is the only driver with multiple wins at the track in both the Cup and Nationwide Series.

The No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports machine will be piloted by Ryan Newman this Friday, but he has had mixed results in his three starts at Chciagoland. He had a solid third-place run in 2005 but has managed just a 24.0 finishing average overall. In his last start in 2007, Newman finished dead last.

Greg Biffle is another Cup regular with an up and down career at Chicagoland. He has three finishes of eighth or better along with three of 32nd or worse. Biffle obviously has the potential to run up front, but it is tough to predict what owners can expect from his this weekend.

Nationwide Regulars

In two starts, Brad Keselowski has two top 15s, including a third-place finish last season. He is running as good as driver in the series right now and seems to a lock to finish in the top five. Keselowski's 8.5 finishing average is the best of any driver entered in this event.

This Friday's race will be a real test for Jason Leffler. Since posting a seventh-place finish in his debut at the track, he has been unable to crack the top 15 since. Leffler's rough outing at Daytona last weekend snapped a streak of 11 straight top-10 finishes, and it will be interesting to see how he responds.

The numbers are spectacular, but Mike Bliss has managed to finish 11th or better in two of his three starts at Chicagoland. He probably isn't going to win the race, but he is more than capable of running in the top 10. Fantasy owners have to expect solid top 15 to top-10 runs out of Bliss, and his past numbers point to similar results this Friday.

Rookies Justin Allgaier and Brendan Gaughan have been going back and forth all season for Rookie of the Year honors, and fantasy owners are the biggest beneficiary of the battle. Both drivers have been particularly solid at the intermediate tracks. Allgaier is the hotter of the two right now, riding a streak of eight straight finishes of 17th or better, which includes seven top 15s.