By Matt Tuck
July 23, 2008 12:09pm CDT

The Sprint Cup series is gearing up for the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway, affectionately known as The Brickyard. Meanwhile, across town the Nationwide series will be at the short, flat track of O’Reilly Raceway Park.

Although they share the same state, the two tracks are very different. Where The Brickyard is a large, rectangular flat track comparable to Pocono Raceway, O’Reilly is an oval that is slightly more than a half-mile in length, but it also has minimal banking. The size of the track, however, makes for extremely difficult passing and that means fantasy owners will have a challenge this week.

This will be another “opportunity” race, since few Sprint Cup regulars will clamber cross town with such a major event taking place in Indianapolis. Still, those “Claim Jumpers” that make the trip will tough to beat this week.

Claim Jumpers

Kyle Busch will try to pick up where he left off in the Nationwide circuit. Before taking last week to drive in the Craftsman Truck Series, he was first, second and third at Chicagoland Speedway, Daytona International Raceway and New Hampshire International Speedway respectively. He has only three career starts at O’Reilly, though he won there in 2004. He also has two wins, both at Phoenix International Raceway, and a third in his last three starts on the short, flat tracks dating back to the end of last season.

Carl Edwards has something to say to anyone wanting to give Busch the trophy all ready. In four short, flat track starts this year, he has two wins and nothing lower than fifth. He has been in a slump on other types of tracks for more than a month now, but he brings his best game on the flat tracks; three of his four top-10s since early May have come on the low-banked speedways. Be prepared to see him make a run at the win this weekend.

David Reutimann may not have had much luck last week at Gateway—he went home 25th after experiencing crash damage—but he can get the job done on a low-banked speedway. Since 2007, he has a win at Memphis Motorsports Park along with three more top-fives and seven top-10s. This season, he has earned a fifth and three top-10s on that track type. The best news, however is that when the series was last in Indiana, he went home a strong third.

Nationwide Regulars

Anyone that doesn’t have Joey Logano on his or her fantasy roster every time he races is making a mistake. The teenage sensation returned to the Nationwide series last week after a three-week layoff and he didn’t miss a step, earning a second at Gateway International Raceway. That gives him three consecutive finishes of either first or second and four top-10s in five career starts. He doesn’t have experience at O’Reilly—so what? This kid is talented enough to adapt quickly and be in line for a win. It doesn’t hurt that he is driving the No. 20 Toyota, which has dominated the junior circuit in 2008.

Remember the last time Jason Leffler scored a victory? It was last July, it was at O’Reilly and it was the first victory for Toyota in a NASCAR stock car. That gives him three top-fives in his last four starts at the Indiana speedway and it makes him a wanted man in the fantasy world. He heads to O’Reilly with some steam behind him after he was fourth last week at the similarly short, flat track of Gateway. He was also 10th at the Milwaukee Mile earlier this summer, which is counted among the banking-challenged speedways on this circuit.

Jason Keller was last week’s dark horse pick and he exceeded expectations. He was slated to grab a top-10 and instead, he took third. With his past successes on the flat tracks, the odds are in his favor for another impressive performance. Of all the drivers in Saturday’s field, he has the most experience at O’Reilly with 14 consecutive starts. His record there is unmatched; he has two Indiana wins—which came in 1995 and 1999—and nine top-10s. More importantly, he has six top-fives since 1999 and enters the race with a nine-race streak of top-20s there.

Power Rankings for short flat tracks
(known, expected entrants)

Rank	Driver	Pwr Avg
1	Joey Logano	1.63
2	Carl Edwards	5.65
3	Clint Bowyer	7.58
4	David Reutimann	8.97
5	Kyle Busch	11.54
6	Jason Leffler	11.88
7	Scott Wimmer	11.89
8	Jason Keller	13.02
9	Brad Keselowski	13.12
10	Mike Bliss	13.69
11	David Stremme	14.82
12	Cale Gale	15.69
13	David Ragan	15.89
14	Bobby Hamilton Jr	15.91
15	James Buescher	16.82
16	Mike Wallace	17.07
17	Marcos Ambrose	18.52
18	Colin Braun	18.80
19	Chase Miller	21.00
20	Kenny Wallace	21.14
21	Kelly Bires	21.75
22	Landon Cassill	22.73
23	Josh Wise	23.75
24	Steve Wallace	24.06
25	Brad Coleman	24.74
26	Mark Green	24.74
27	Bryan Clauson	25.80
28	Travis Kittleson	27.43
29	Brian Keselowski	31.23
30	D J Kennington	32.06
31	Shelby Howard	32.57
32	Eric McClure	34.84
33	Derrike Cope	36.61
34	Morgan Shepherd	37.00
35	Johnny Chapman	37.60
36	Larry Gunselman	37.70
37	Brett Rowe	37.80
38	Kertus Davis	38.12
39	Brad Teague	38.88
40	Brad Baker	39.00
41	Danny Efland	40.43
42	Chad Beahr	40.50
43	Mike Harmon	41.17
44	Charles Lewandoski	41.25
45	Terry Cook	41.25
46	Kenny Hendrick	42.00
47	Nicholas Tucker	47.00