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Indiana native, 1997 Indy Racing League champ and Brickyard favorite Tony Stewart kissed the bricks for the second time in three years in 2007. Stewart led 65 laps on his way to defeating series rookie Juan Pablo Montoya and four-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon.

Now in his second season, the former open wheeler Montoya has to be considered a threat to win at historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After winning the 2000 Indy 500 in the IRL in his very first attempt, Montoya nearly repeated the feat in his first try at the famed 2.5-mile speedway in a stock car.

Gordon was born in California but moved to Indiana, where he has taken the checkers in 2004, 2001, 1998 and at the inaugural run in 1994.

Matt Kenseth has four top-5 finishes and a 10th in his last six races, including runner-up finishes to Jimmie Johnson in ’06 and Kevin Harvick in ’03. Despite his impressive finishes, Kenseth has only led 28 laps during that stretch.

Rookie imports Dario Franchitti (’07 Indy 500 winner) and Jacques Villeneuve (1995 Indy 500 winner) are both interesting darkhorse candidates, based on Montoya’s showing alone.

It may take some time, but don’t be surprised to see Franchitti’s wife, actress Ashley Judd, jumping up and down in Victory Lane following a longshot win at Indy. Villeneuve’s victory, while more likely, would not be nearly as fun to watch.

FANTASY STALL

Looking at Checkers
Are you willing to bet against Gordon or Stewart?
Pretty Solid Pick
Matt Kenseth
Good Sleeper Pick
Dave Blaney
Runs on Seven Cylinders
Jimmie Johnson won in ’06 but hasn’t done much otherwise.

Insider Tip
This is arguably the biggest race on the schedule, and the teams pull out all the stops.

KEEP AN EYE ON...
Kyle Busch Busch, in three career starts, has bested his previous season’s run each year. What makes this notable is that in his first start he finished 10th and followed that up with seventh- and fourth-place showings.

Kevin Harvick The 2003 brick-kisser, Harvick boasts seventh- and third-place runs in his last two Brickyard outings. Assuming the Childress CoTs perform well on the flat tracks, Harvick — and his band of big-money racers — could become the third team to pick up a second win at Indianapolis.

Hendrick Motorsports It’s hard to imagine someone within the outfit not stepping up at an event as big as this. Jeff Gordon’s performances speak for themselves, while Johnson won this race in ’06 on his way to a championship. As for the “other” teammates: The surnames ‘Earnhardt’ and ‘Mears’ have both adorned Indianapolis trophies in the past; would it be much of a stretch to see history repeat itself with either of these two?


RACE RESULTS FOR Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (Jul 26th, 2009)
DRIVER MANUFACTURER START FINISH POINTS EARNINGS
Jimmie Johnson (#48) Chevrolet 16 1 190 $448,001
Mark Martin (#5) Chevrolet 1 2 175 $336,350
Tony Stewart (#14) Chevrolet 7 3 170 $314,573
Greg Biffle (#16) Ford 12 4 160 $282,000
Brian Vickers (#83) Toyota 6 5 160 $256,548
Kevin Harvick (#29) Chevrolet 19 6 150 $246,253
Kasey Kahne (#9) Dodge 8 7 146 $234,548
David Reutimann (#00) Toyota 5 8 142 $220,848
Jeff Gordon (#24) Chevrolet 22 9 138 $222,376
Matt Kenseth (#17) Ford 25 10 134 $225,065
Juan Pablo Montoya (#42) Chevrolet 2 11 140 $224,048
Joey Logano (#20) Toyota 18 12 127 $216,101
Reed Sorenson (#43) Dodge 9 13 124 $202,851
Ryan Newman (#39) Chevrolet 17 14 121 $190,979
Carl Edwards (#99) Ford 41 15 118 $209,406
David Stremme (#12) Dodge 21 16 115 $194,290
Martin Truex Jr. (#1) Chevrolet 13 17 112 $195,115
Clint Bowyer (#33) Chevrolet 10 18 109 $167,025
Casey Mears (#07) Chevrolet 27 19 111 $177,525
A.J. Allmendinger (#44) Dodge 33 20 103 $158,675
Jamie McMurray (#26) Ford 24 21 100 $164,125
Marcos Ambrose (#47) Toyota 11 22 97 $169,248
Bobby Labonte (#96) Ford 31 23 94 $182,454
David Ragan (#6) Ford 29 24 91 $160,425
Jeff Burton (#31) Chevrolet 38 25 88 $195,731
Bill Elliott (#21) Ford 4 26 85 $148,625
Kurt Busch (#2) Dodge 40 27 82 $164,375
Robby Gordon (#7) Toyota 32 28 79 $167,135
Paul Menard (#98) Ford 28 29 76 $177,781
David Gilliland (#71) Chevrolet 37 30 78 $144,850
Scott Speed (#82) Toyota 26 31 70 $155,898
John Andretti (#34) Chevrolet 35 32 67 $152,325
Terry Labonte (#08) Ford 43 33 64 $144,025
Denny Hamlin (#11) Toyota 14 34 61 $160,775
Michael Waltrip (#55) Toyota 23 35 58 $150,525
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (#88) Chevrolet 3 36 55 $162,925
Sam Hornish Jr (#77) Dodge 15 37 52 $161,110
Kyle Busch (#18) Toyota 20 38 49 $190,048
Regan Smith (#78) Chevrolet 36 39 46 $142,125
Elliott Sadler (#19) Dodge 42 40 43 $150,050
Mike Skinner (#36) Toyota 39 41 40 $141,925
Dave Blaney (#66) Toyota 34 42 37 $141,825
Joe Nemechek (#87) Toyota 30 43 34 $142,216
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