NASCAR 2012: Ten to Watch at Las Vegas

The NASCAR Sprint Cup series stays in the desert atmosphere as it heads to Sin City for the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas this weekend.

It's been an interesting start to the 2012 season. Matt Kenseth parlayed a strong car and solid strategy to a Daytona 500 victory. Denny Hamlin did the same at Phoenix, taking his No. 11 Toyota to Victory Lane.

Through all of that, we saw a weird, fiery crash as Juan Pablo Montoya slammed into a jet drier, of all things. Then Tony Stewart watched a Top 10 finish at Phoenix disappear when he shut down his car to save fuel and tripped a breaker in his electronic fuel injection system that kept him from being able to restart the car.

Several drivers, including four-time champion Jeff Gordon, have dealt with engine issues or have struggled to accurately figure fuel mileage.

With only two weeks behind us and several adaptation issues wreaking havoc on various members of the field, what will happen next?

Predicting the outcome of a NASCAR race is one of the most futile efforts in sports prognostication. Still, there are some drivers who are either getting it all together, or are on the cusp. Plus, Vegas is just "home" to others.

Here are ten drivers that you should keep an eye on as they roll the dice in Vegas.

Matt Kenseth

The Daytona 500 winner didn't quite have the weekend he was hoping for at Phoenix, but his 13th place finish still wasn't bad. Driving a back-up car after hitting the wall in final practice, Kenseth fought his way to a solid finish and maintains a fourth-place spot in the points.

I can't help but wonder what Kenseth could have done at Phoenix if he hadn't had to roll out the back-up car. Maybe he wouldn't have fared as well as he did, but maybe he would have challenged for his second win in just two races.

The point is, the guy is having a very strong start to the 2012 season and you can't count him out of anything at this point.

Matt has a pair of wins at Las Vegas and his average finish at the track is 11.7. He knows how to win here and the changes NASCAR made to the cars this season haven't seemed to hamper him at all.

Don't be surprised to see the No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford challenging for the top spot again this week.

Carl Edwards

Like his teammate Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards didn't quite get the finish he was looking for at Phoenix. Coming in 17th, he wasn't a factor in the final laps of the first desert race of the season.

That doesn't mean Edwards is going to continue struggling at Sin City. Vegas has been a pretty solid track for Edwards.

Carl has two wins and an average finish of 11.0 at this track. On top of the stats, there's no denying that "Cousin Carl" is as hungry as he's ever been. Losing the tie-breaker to Tony Stewart for the series title last year only added fuel to his fire.

He'll look to rebound strongly at Vegas and I wouldn't bet against him.

Greg Biffle

It may look like I'm favoring Roush Fenway by starting out with an all-Roush lineup. In truth, I'm not a particular fan of the organization over any other.

However, you cannot deny what this group is doing already this year and the strength they're taking to Vegas.

The Biff hasn't shared his teammates' success at Vegas. He's yet to win at this track, has only one top-five finish and his average finish is 14.8. That average isn't bad, but not fantastic either.

Biffle earns his spot on this list based on what he's done already this year. At both Daytona and Phoenix, Biffle pulled down third-place finishes. That's a pretty impressive start to the season, especially considering he ran the better part of the race last week outside the Top 10.

I get the sense that the Biff is just one small break away from taking the checkers. He's arguably stronger than anyone else on the track right now.

Just because he doesn't have a win at Vegas doesn't mean he won't get one, and based on his powerful start to 2012, this could be the year he breaks that door open.

Jimmie Johnson

"Five Time" hasn't had the best start toward his fight for a sixth title. He was caught up in a wreck on just the second lap of the Daytona 500, handing him a 42nd-place finish in the Great American Race.

On top of that, crew chief Chad Knaus was busted by NASCAR for using illegal C-posts on the No. 48 before that race ever began. After NASCAR's penalty was handed down, docking Johnson 25 points, he headed to Phoenix with negative points in the championship standings.

He rebounded at Phoenix to pull down an eighth-place finish and was fairly dominant early in that race.

What puts him on this list, though, is his history at Vegas. Johnson has four wins at the intermediate track and boasts an average finish of 10.6. If he can keep the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet clean, you can pretty well bank on him being in the mix at the end of the race.

Jeff Burton

While the media has been tripping over itself to get at Denny Hamlin, the Roush Fenway drivers and the Hendrick crews, Burton has been quietly putting together a good start to 2012. He's sitting 13th in points, bolstered by his fifth-place finish at Daytona.

Burton didn't come out so good at Phoenix, admittedly. He limped his way to 33rd in the field and lost eight places in the standings as a result.

However, Burton is good at Vegas. He boasts two wins, five top-fives and an average finish of just 10.7.

Considering the length of Burton's career, the wins and top-fives may not be that impressive, but maintaining an average finish under 11 over that duration should tell you that he's a contender at that track.

Look for the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevy to rebound from last week's disappointment.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

After taking the runner-up spot at Daytona, Junior fought hard to come away with a 14th-place finish at Phoenix. It may not have been what he was looking for, but considering he battled an ill-handling car most of the day, coming away inside the top 15 isn't bad.

Things are still looking pretty good for the No. 88 team and the minions that follow their driver.

Junior's overall stats at Vegas aren't eye-popping. His average finish over the course of his career is a meager 16.8.

However, over the last four trips to Sin City, Earnhardt has an average finish of ninth. It seems he's started to figure this track out and it's paid dividends. He has two top-fives at the track and five top-tens.

It would be difficult to predict that he'll break his winless streak at a track he's never beaten before, but don't put anything beyond the most popular driver in NASCAR either. The pairing with crew chief Steve LeTarte has been a good move and Junior Nation has to be happy with the direction the team appears to be heading.

Kyle Busch

I make no bones about the fact that I am not a fan of Kyle Busch. I'm also man enough to admit that my feelings are based on personality and not driver ability.

The man can drive a race car—perhaps better than anyone else out there.

Vegas hasn't necessarily been Rowdy's best track. Having said that, he's certainly not bad at Vegas either.

Wild Thing has one win and three top-fives. His average finish is a respectable 15.0.

There are two big reasons to keep your eyes on Kyle this weekend though:

First, this is his home track. The Busch brothers are natives of Las Vegas and you can't deny that there's bound to be a little extra motivation for winning in front of the hometown crowd.

Second, Busch's aggressive driving style makes him a threat at any track, but especially on the intermediate ovals like Vegas. With drivers like Busch, it's "checkers or wreckers" virtually every week and you never really know which you'll get.

Busch finished 17th at Daytona—which isn't bad at all—and came home sixth at Phoenix. He's having a solid run early in the year and could use Vegas as a springboard toward chasing down his first series title.

Kevin Harvick

"Mr. Where Did He Come From?" is on something of a roll. Harvick has started the year with two finishes inside the Top 10, coming in seventh at Daytona and second at Phoenix.

Harvick came up just a little short on fuel of challenging Hamlin for the win at Phoenix. He sputtered as they entered the last lap and Harvick limped his car around the final circuit to hold his runner-up position.

While Kevin may have grumbled over what might have been, he's got nothing to be too upset over and a lot to look forward to this week.

Harvick has three top-five finishes at Sin City and averages a respectable 13.2 finish at the track. His numbers may not be as impressive as Jimmie Johnson's or Jeff Burton's, but Harvick has been solid in the desert.

He'll want to keep the momentum going as they head to Bristol in another week. No doubt, he'll come out charging hard at Vegas, looking for his first win of the season and looking to push his way toward the top of the points standings.

Tony Stewart

Smoke had an unfortunate setback last week at Phoenix. Charging into the Top Five, Stewart did what he's done many times in the past: He cut the engine to save a little fuel and ensure his ability to challenge at the end of the race.

Unfortunately, something didn't quite work out right. Cutting the engine tripped a breaker switch within the electronic fuel injection system and Stewart was unable to restart his car. He went two laps down while his crew fought to reset the system and get his No. 14 Chevy back on the track.

That was a mechanical failure, but a fluke that cost him a great finish and did nothing to help him bounce back from his 16th-place finish at Daytona. Smoke will be determined to figure out what went wrong in his car last week and make up some ground this week.

Vegas is a good track for Stewart to do that.

He has five top-five and eight top-10 finishes at Vegas and his average of 13.8 isn't bad at all. He's yet to win at the 1.5 mile tri-oval, but there's no time like the present to change that.

Denny Hamlin

Tony Stewart might be thinking twice about his decision to let crew chief Darian Grubb go at the end of their championship season last year. Grubb has helped lead Hamlin to a fourth-place finish at Daytona and a win at Phoenix.

That's good enough for Hamlin to take the points lead heading into Vegas.

Hamlin has been as hot in the early going as anyone. His FedEx Toyota has been fast and he played his hand well last week to grab the win. Hamlin stayed around the front—but not necessarily in the lead—until he knew his fuel situation was in good shape, then turned up the heat and took down the field.

Well played, Mr. Hamlin, well played.

Denny is likely not yet done. While he hasn't taken the checkered flag at Vegas yet, Hamlin has a very strong 11.7 average finish at the track and is riding a big wave of momentum right now.

It's difficult to win any race in NASCAR these days, but especially so to win back-to-back contests. That obviously doesn't mean it's impossible or even improbable. We've seen it many times.

I wouldn't necessarily pick Hamlin as the hands-down favorite to win this weekend, but I wouldn't pick against him either.