Monday Morning Crew Chief (and Football Update)

First, the fantasy football update: The People's Pigskin will go into the Monday night game with a 113-80 lead over the NFL2K10 RedZone. The RedZone does have David Akers starting tonight, and strange things are still possible in this game.

Speaking of which, it's time to review the People's Pitstop's performance on Sunday. The Internet's favorite fantasy NASCAR team scored only 222 points during the Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway. That leaves us with a season total of 9,111, putting us in 84,668th place overall on Yahoo Sports and dropping us another nine spots, to 116th, in the Fans of From the Marbles league.

How did our starting drivers fare?

Denny Hamlin: Started 17th, finished 12th, 190 laps led and 88 fantasy points. How can you lead more than half the laps in a race (and garner the 20-point bonus for doing so) without finishing in the top 10? By losing a fuel-related gamble late in the race. Hamlin is still the leader in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but only by 15 points.

Jamie McMurray: Started 5th, finished 10th and 72 fantasy points. McMurray's biggest splash, so to speak, came early in the race when he hit the outside wall and, while trying to save his car, tossed a water bottle that hit Jimmie Johnson's car. The move earned McMurray a one-lap penalty from NASCAR and a Wazzup from Dave Grayson of SpeedwayMedia.com.

David Reutimann: Started 6th, finished 26th (2 laps behind the leaders) and 40 fantasy points. Reutimann's chart for this race looks strangely like the one for Pets.com stock.

Scott Speed: Started 27th, finished 35th (5 laps behind the leaders) and 22 fantasy points. Speed was lumped into the fifth of Tom Bowles' "Five things we learned" article for SI.com:

"For people in need of potential sponsorship, the invisibility" of Speed and a handful of other drivers/teams was troubling Sunday. All of these drivers and teams in need of sponsorship and a ride for 2011 didn't do themselves any favors with Fortune 500 companies and potential new owners already hesitant to invest."

If the Pitstop is going to achieve its goal of finishing in the top 100 in that league, it will have to pass 16 other teams this week in NASCAR's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Therefore, we will need your help one more time. The NASCAR lineup polls are now open and will close as usual on Thursday night. Please vote now.

We'll be back with the full fantasy football results.