Denny Hamlin has run in four NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Kansas with his best finish 11th last year. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

6. DENNY HAMLIN, Joe Gibbs Racing (-108) — JGR’s lone Chase driver has failed to finish in the top 10 in any of his four Kansas Cup appearances, with a best of 11th last year. His average finish is 22.500.

7. RYAN NEWMAN, Stewart-Haas Racing (-110) — Talk about hot and cold: In his first three Kansas appearances, Newman won one race and finished second in the other two. In his last five events here, his average finish has been 27.800.

8. JEFF GORDON, Hendrick Motorsports (-122) — Gordon should be one of the drivers to watch on Sunday. He has two victories and five top fives here, with the best average finish of any Chase driver at 9.750.

9. GREG BIFFLE, Roush Fenway Racing (-138) — The Biff’s average finish of 9.875 is virtually the equal of Gordon’s. In his last five Kansas starts, Biffle has a victory in 2007, a second in 2005 and third places in 2004 and ’08. He ought to be tough.

10. BRIAN VICKERS, Red Bull Racing (-151) — Vickers’ best finish here was eighth in 2006, and his average finish is 13.250.

11. CARL EDWARDS, Roush Fenway Racing (-153) — No one will ever forget Edwards’ wall-banging, last-lap pass attempt while racing Johnson for the victory last year. In addition to that runner-up finish he has third- and sixth-place runs to his credit. But by finishing 37th in 2007, his average finish is just 14.000.

12. KASEY KAHNE, Richard Petty Motorsports (-189) — This could be another long weekend for Kahne, who has never finished better than ninth at Kansas, with an average of 18.800.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of ?Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,? and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to