Random Pre-Daytona Thoughts

There's still time to vote in our polls on who gets into the People's Pitstop lineup for the Daytona 500. The polls will close Saturday night. In the meantime, here are some thoughts to tide over fans of fantasy racing.

Green, white ... oh, wait, start over. NASCAR may be the only body in professional sports that changes its rules in the week before its regular season starts. The latest change involves the "green-white-checkered" format for overtime racing. Instead of giving the drivers only one chance at a "green-white-checkered" finish, NASCAR now will give them up to three chances to get it right.

Drivers and crew chiefs are less than pleased; Jeff Gordon said, "All you're going to do is set yourself up for another wreck. You give us two laps out there under green and we're going to find a way to wreck." Right, like drivers need an excuse to wreck at Daytona.

If it's Wednesday, this must be Showtime. NASCAR has listened to the complaints of folks who said Michael Waltrip wasn't getting nearly enough camera time. This season Showtime will air the weekly show "Inside NASCAR," featuring one talking head (Chris Myers), one reporter (Randy Pemberton), one team owner/former NBA All-Star (Brad Daugherty) and one driver (Waltrip).

Two things struck me as I watched the initial episode Wednesday. First, having no crew chief, active or otherwise, on the set is a bit like having an NFL pregame show without a former coach. Second, given Waltrip's 33rd-place finish in last year's Sprint Cup standings, shouldn't he be spending a little more time working on his cars and a little less time in the television studio (especially if they are going to tape your show in Charlotte while you're qualilfying in Daytona)?

The weekly reminder that we follow fantasy football, too. It's been less than a week since the New Orleans Saints shocked a good portion of the football world by winning the Super Bowl. But that doesn't mean it's too early for fantasy football players to start thinking about their drafts this summer. In fact, the Sporting News has already published rankings to help you decide important things like, say, which receiver you should draft in the fifth round.

We'll be back tomorrow night with results from our polls. Vote now, please.