Fearless Predictions - Martinsville

It's not Sunday yet. At least, it's not Sunday yet in most of the United States. It's already Sunday evening in China, even though they don't have Faith Hill to inform them of that. But even if it's not Sunday where you are, you can still look forward to Sunday with the help of these predictions for the top 10 finishers in NASCAR's Chase race at Martinsville Speedway. Last week's predictions finished a paltry 1-3, leaving us with a season record of 43-77.

One from the front: Thanks to Saturday afternoon's washout, this week's starting order is being set by driver points. That means Kevin Harvick gets to start in fifth place. He always seems to drive better when he's absolutely ticked off at somebody. And it was awfully nice of Greg Biffle to step into that role for him this week.

One from the back: You won't find someone in this week's bottom 10 with a top 10 finish this season. But Travis Kvapil is probably the next best thing for our purposes. First, he's currently in 35th place (the last spot guaranteed a spot in every race), so he's motivated not to start and park and surrender that spot. Second, he has a name that's fun to try to say out loud. For those of you keeping score at home, it's pronounced KWAH-pul, according to this site.

Two from the middle: Denny Hamlin sits in 11th place and won the truck race that NASCAR was able to run in Martinsville on Saturday after it couldn't run its qualifying session. Oh, and the Virginia native has won four Sprint Cup races at Martinsville. Yeah, there's always that.

If you're nervous about Clint Bowyer having the 13th spot, don't be. It means he's got the highest point total among non-Chase drivers. He has momentum from last week's win at Talladega. And he has a new team owner to impress. (Maybe he can wear the dog suit in those commercials.)

Remember to get your votes in on the People's Pigskin lineup. The polls will close later tonight. Thanks. We'll be back with the results.

The Last Time We Visited Daytona

This week, NASCAR resumes one of its long traditions. No, not restrictor plate racing or sponsor hopscotch or drivers blaming everyone around them. This week, NASCAR makes the first of many return trips to tracks it visited earlier in the season -- in this case, the incomparable Daytona International Speedway. In football, a team doesn't return to an opponent's arena unless there's a playoff game (or tons of snow on your own artificial field). In this sport, if at first you didn't succeed, there's a good chance you'll get an opportunity to try, try again.
Thank the deity of your choice for that.
This week, the People's Pitstop starts an occassional series of flashbacks to tracks we've already visited. When George Santayana said those who can't remember the past are doomed to repeat it, he might have been thinking about the Internet's favorite fantasy racing team.
In the first week of the season back in February, the People's Pitstop trotted out this lineup for the Daytona 500: Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip. Two of those drivers (Earnhardt and Waltrip) had won races before at Daytona. All four of them qualified in the top 10 for this race. Earnhardt grabbed the freakin pole, while Gordon and Burton started in the front four.
This normally would have gotten us bonus points, but the Daytona 500's unique qualifying structure precluded that. Still, with a lineup like that, you would have expected the People's Pitstop to start the season on the highest of notes. Instead, we racked up a grand total of 142 points, our lowest total of the season by far (so far). No starting driver finished better than 24th, and Waltrip limped home in 40th place. In the ultra-competitive 9beersfantasysportstavern league, which we currently lead, we started out in 13th place.
Meanwhile, some kid who was making his second career Sprint Cup start (and who, according to his official biography, still can't legally drink in America) won the Great American Race.
The lesson: You can't relax after the qualifying session, whether you're a driver or a fantasy NASCAR player.
Speaking of the fantasy game, you have until Thursday night to make your picks for the People's Pitstop lineup. Two from the A List, four from the B List and two from the C List, please. Your votes will determine who starts for us.
And whether we've learned from the recent past.

The Man in Blue on the Man in Black

Most people know Michael Waltrip for some combination of the following things.

• Being the baby brother of a former NASCAR Winston Cup champion.
• Hamming it up on Showtime and during TV commercials.
• Having rocket fuel (or something) show up in one of the first Sprint Cup cars he fielded as an owner.
• Winning the Daytona 500--his first points victory as a Sprint Cup driver--on the day Dale Earnhardt died blocking for him.

Now we can add another line to Michael's resume: author.
Claiming that "Nobody could tell the story" of the day Earnhardt died "like I could," the younger Waltrip has put out a book called "In the Blink of an Eye," written with the help of Ellis Henican.
Truth be told, though, this book focuses more on Michael Waltrip's career than anything else. To be fair, that is a story no one can tell quite like he can, since he was the one who lived it. We learn, for example, that Darrell Waltrip tried to discourage his brother from getting into racing. ("All you're gonna do is waste a lot of your time and other people's money.")
There are some parts of the book that discuss Earnhardt, who owned the car Waltrip took to Victory Lane that fateful day. For example, we learn that, in the days leading up to that race, Earnhardt laid out the strategy that would get Dale Earnhardt Inc. the checkered flag. Waltrip, Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. would work their way to the front, slowly but surely. "Whichever of us gets to the front," Waltrip quotes Earnhardt Sr. as saying, "at the end we're gonna push and we're gonna make sure that person stays in the front."It was quite prescient; Waltrip and the two Earnhardts were the top three drivers going into that final lap.

But even though nearly 100 pages of this book deal with that day and its immediate aftermath, this still feels more like a Waltrip autobiography than anything else. He may have had a burning desire to tell his story, but it's hard imagining the throngs of Dale Earnhardt fans needing to hear it.

Remember that we will be closing our polls for this week's lineup on Wednesday night. You have until then to help the People's Pitstop pick the drivers who will represent us at Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.

Time to Bounce Back

The Daytona 500 was a great time to be a rookie but a rough time to be a piece of sheet metal, or the People's Pitstop.
The Internet's favorite fantasy NASCAR team compiled only 142 points during the Sprint Cup season opener. That leaves us in 13th place (out of 14) in the 9beersfantasysportstavern group on Yahoo Fantasy Auto Racing.
Here are some of the details.
Jeff Gordon: Started 2nd, finished 28th (35 laps behind the leaders), 1 lap led and 46 fantasy points, including 10 for leading a lap.
Jeff Burton: Started 4th, finished 36th (116 laps behind the leaders), 5 laps led and 30 fantasy points.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Started 1st (technically), finished 24th (6 laps behind the leaders), 9 laps led and 54 fantasy points. So much for that conspiracy theory.
Michael Waltrip: Started 8th, finished 40th and 12 fantasy points. Waltrip was our only started who did not lead a lap. Maybe he should stick to talking.
Anyway, we have a chance to rebound this weekend in Phoenix. The race is Sunday, and qualifying is Saturday. The polls are now open and will remain open through Friday night. Please vote now.
We'll be back.

The People's Choice - Daytona 500

We are just minutes away from the season-opening race on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule (the Daytona 500, in case you're living under a rock), and the People's Pitstop has the lineup to take the early lead in the 9beersfantasysportstavern group on Yahoo Fantasy Auto Racing. Here are the drivers that you, the Internet, selected.
A List. Jeff Gordon, who will start on the front row of today's Great American Race, edged out Matt Kenseth for the starting spot. This week, we used starting position as a tiebreaker, but next week, we'll start using points, since the lineups will have to be set before qualifying.
B List. On the 10th anniversary of his father's death, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is officially the polesitter (even though a practice crash will send him to the back). He's also one of our starters this week, along with the leading vote getter, Jeff Burton. Martin Truex Jr. and Kasey Kahne (winner of a five-way tie by virtue of starting position) will be on the bench.
C List. This is also the 10th anniversary of Michael Waltrip's first Daytona 500 victory, so it's fitting that he's the starter for this week. His better qualifying position gives him the edge over Paul Menard.
The poll results appear below, and a very simple poll is now available for voting. We'll be back with the results. Until then, enjoy the race.

[polldaddy poll=4582796] [polldaddy poll=4582852] [polldaddy poll=4582815]

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.