Two weeks are in during this years Chase and Kyle Busch finds himself mired in an almost impossible hole to climb out of. It’s not just the 210 points that he is out of first place but that there are 11 drivers ahead of him. He can make up ground on some of these guys but I really doubt he can gain that many points on all of them.

            This week we head to Kansas for the first intermediate track on the Chase schedule. Greg Biffle is on a roll right now and I have to stick with him this week at Kansas. Greg won here last year and has finished in the top 3 in 3 of the last 4 races run here. He has also been very good at similar tracks on the circuit throughout his career.

            Carl Edwards has been very good on the intermediate tracks all season and should be good once again this weekend. Carl has won at California and Michigan already this year and has to be smiling when he looks at the upcoming schedule.

            Jimmie Johnson won at California a month ago and came in 2^nd at Chicago earlier this season. He has also made strong runs in both of the California races this season. The top 3 drivers in the standings are three of the best when it comes to a Kansas type track.

            Kyle Busch might have struggled the first 2 weeks of the Chase but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to win and this is one of his favorite type of tracks too. Kyle beat Jimmie Johnson at Chicago this year and finished 2^nd to Carl Edwards at Michigan this fall.

            Jeff Gordon won the first 2 races run at Kansas and has 5 top 10 finishes in 7 races run here. Jeff has struggled on the intermediate tracks as a whole over the last few seasons but he always seems to have a handle on Kansas.

            Kevin Harvick has finished in the top 10 in 8 straight races heading into the race at Kansas this weekend. This is the kind of consistency that will win you a championship with the Chase format the way it is. Kevin finished 6^th at Kansas last year and knows that you don’t have to win to score a lot of points.

            Clint Bowyer has run twice at Kansas and has finished 9^th and 2^nd in those 2 starts. This is Clint’s “home” track because it is the closest track to his hometown that he races on. Clint would love to win here almost as much as he would love to win the Daytona 500.

            Tony Stewart has always run well at Kansas except for last season when he was involved in an accident and finished 39^th. Other than that, Tony won here in 2006 and finished in the top 10 in 4 of his other 5 starts here.

            Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a little above average at Kansas while he was with DEI but should be better here in a Hendrick car. The problem with Junior seems to come about halfway through a race when some type of adjustment just doesn’t work and they can’t seem to get the car back to where it was after that.

            Yahoo Picks for Kansas

            Group A

            Jimmie Johnson (starter)

            Carl Edwards

            Group B

            Greg Biffle (starter)

            Kyle Busch (starter)

            Mark Martin

            Casey Mears

            Group C

            Brian Vickers (starter)

            Travis Kvapil

            Top 5 Overall at Kansas

1.      Greg Biffle

2.      Jimmie Johnson

3.      Carl Edwards

4.      Kyle Busch

5.      Jeff Gordon

Dark Horse: Casey Mears

Stay Away From: Denny Hamlin

As always you can Email me with any questions, comments or suggestions at gutsamaniac@hotmail.com. Good luck once again this weekend!