SI.com's experts weigh in with their predictions for Sunday's race in Kansas City, Kan.
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LARS
ANDERSON |
MARK
BEECH |
TOM
BOWLES |
| The winner of the LifeLock 400 will be ... |
Tony Stewart
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Tony Stewart
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Tony Stewart
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| Why? |
| On Sunday Stewart will be piloting the same car that he drove to Victory Late at both Chicago and Indianapolis earlier this year. One more reason to like Stewart in KC: He's the defending winner of this race.
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Mr. Furious has been solid so far in the Chase, recording a pair of top-10 finishes. That shouldn't change this weekend at Kansas, where Stewart has won once in six starts and has an average finish is 6.5.
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The defending champ at Kansas, Stewart won at sister track Chicagoland this July, fueling the summer surge that left him challenging for the top of the standings. This Sunday, he'll win again and show that when it comes to this Chase, he's the man to beat.
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| Keep an eye on ... |
Kyle Busch
So far, Busch has been the most consistent driver in the Chase. He's only ten points behind Jeff Gordon in the standings and he seems to be following the same script his bother used when he won the title in '04: Don't gamble and simply finish in the top 10 each week.
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Clint Bowyer
The breakout star of the Chase returns to his home track this weekend. Bowyer was strong in his Kansas debut last year until a late race mistake shuffled him back a bit. Still he got a top-10 finish out of his ride...and you know he'll be fired up to improve on that this weekend.
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Jeff Gordon
His winless streak now stands at fourteen races, and the point lead remains just 2 over nemesis Tony Stewart. A two-time winner at Kansas, the No. 24 has struggled there as of late ... a fuel pump failure left him 38th last year. Which road will the Rainbow Warrior travel this year?
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| Don't expect much from ... |
Denny Hamlin
A week after wrecking both himself and Kyle Petty at Dover -- and incurring Petty's fist-shaking wrath in the process -- Hamlin has zero momentum as he heads to Kansas. More worrisome for him, KC is one of his worst tracks on the circuit; his average finish in two career starts is 25.0.
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Denny Hamlin
Has any driver's stock fallen further faster than Hamlin? A month ago, he was among the first rank of favorites to win the Cup. Today, he's in last place in the Chase and coming off of a race where he managed to anger one of the classiest men in the Cup garage. Not good.
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Denny Hamlin
One week removed from fighting with a NASCAR legend, it seems the wind has been knocked right out of the No. 11's sails. With little history nor success at Kansas, expect this to be the weekend where Hamlin wipes away any hope of being a title contender.
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| Mythical SI.com Cup |
TOTAL POINTS: 3,838
Last week: 124 (Martin Truex Jr.) |
TOTAL POINTS: 3,830
Last week: 124 (Martin Truex Jr.) |
TOTAL POINTS: 3,874
Last week: 124 (Martin Truex Jr.) |
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