Friday, April 30, 2010

The People's Choice - Richmond

Another week has come and (for the most part) gone, and you, the Internet, have chosen our lineup for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race Saturday night in Richmond. Here are the results.

A List. We have a two-way tie for this starting spot. Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch (who, strangely enough, has not started yet for the People's Pitstop) are the contenders. Since they got an equal number of votes, the driver who qualifies better for the race will get the starting nod. The other one will sit on the bench.

B List. No need for qualifiers here. The two starters from this group are Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick. Riding the bench (by virture of the driver-points tiebreaker) are Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth. It may be a good thing that Kenseth is on the bench; the NASCAR season is only a quarter of the way through, and Kenseth has started six times for the People's Pitstop. He has only three starts left.

C List. Again, we have a clear winner: Sam Hornish Jr., who may not have a ride for next season but has a starting spot for us this week. Scott Speed gets the bench spot.

The poll results are below. The NFL poll will stay up until Sunday, so feel free to vote on that one. We'll be back with another set of fearless predictions.

[polldaddy poll=3112733] [polldaddy poll=3112747] [polldaddy poll=3112759]

Thursday, April 29, 2010

The People's Facts - Richmond

You still have a few hours to vote on the People's Pitstop lineup for Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup race. While you ponder your vote, here are some facts about this week's site.

Track basics: Richmond International Raceway is the quintessential short track. It's a three-quarter-mile oval that hosted its first NASCAR-sanctioned race in 1953. It's not older than dirt, but that was the original surface.

Recent winners: Kyle Busch (2009), Clint Bowyer (2008), Jimmie Johnson (2007).

Who wins here a lot: You name the driver, and he's probably got at least one win here. Among active NASCAR drivers, Johnson, Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are tied for the lead with (drum roll, please) three apiece.

Short track, long name, cool story: Why is this post titled "The People's Facts - Richmond"? Because I'm not sure how many of you would have read a post titled "The People's Facts - Crown Royal Presents the Heath Calhoun 400." Who's Heath? This guy.

(As always, you can get a more detailed preview from Yahoo Sports by clicking here.)

Please vote for the lineup for the Internet's favorite fantasy auto racing team now. We'll be back with the results.

Monday, April 26, 2010

The Talladega Damage Report (and New Polls)

On Sunday, Talladega Superspeedway saved its "Big One" for the end of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. But the Sprint Cup race sure felt like a wreck for the Internet's favorite fantasy auto racing team.

The People's Pitstop managed to score only 232 points during the Aaron's 499 race. The team now has 2,299 season points, tied for 111,712nd overall on Yahoo Sports and tied for 143rd in the Fans of From the Marbles league. If we were a NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, we'd be Sam Hornish Jr. right now.

The good news is that each of the four drivers who started for the People's Pitstop managed to lead a lap in this record-setting race, and each driver got 10 bonus points for doing so. Here's how we got the points.

Jeff Gordon. Started 5th, finished 22nd, 4 laps led and 58 fantasy points. It's too bad Yahoo doesn't award bonus points for grudges with teammates.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Started 7th, finished 13th, 8 laps led and 76 fantasy points. Even the guy who used to own restrictor plate races couldn't find the key to victory Sunday.

Matt Kenseth. Started 2nd, finished 28th (4 laps behind the leaders), 1 lap led and 46 fantasy points. Kenseth got caught in a "Little One" wreck on Lap 84 and fell out of contention for good.

Paul Menard. Started 18th, finished 25th (2 laps behind the leaders), 1 lap led and 52 fantasy points. If you had gone to Vegas (or somewhere else where this is legal) and bet that Menard would  lead the same number of laps as Kenseth, you would be quite wealthy right now.

And now we turn our sights to Saturday night's Sprint Cup race in Richmond. The polls are up and will stay up until Thursday evening. Feel free to vote now.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Fearless Predictions - Talladega

Now that the NFL Draft has come and gone, the People's Pigskin can turn its sights back on the NASCAR Sprint Cup race that may (or may not) take place today at Talladega Superspeedway. And you can't sit down to watch the race until you learn the predictions for which drivers will finish in the top 10. Last week's forecasts went 4-6, dropping our season record to 33-37.

1. Denny Hamlin. OK, maybe he can drive on that knee after all.

2. Jeff Gordon. He nearly won last week, he's comfortable with this track and, perhaps most importantly, he's ticked off.

3. Greg Biffle. He's now seven for eight in top 10 finishes this season. His one miss: the race where the People's Pitstop started him. But we don't hold grudges here.

4. Jimmie Johnson. He's leading NASCAR in three different categories: points, wins (three) and top five finishes (five).

5.Matt Kenseth. The rain in central Alabama means Kenseth is starting next to Johnson on the front row. They both have six finishes in the top 10.

6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. He finished eighth last week in Texas, and he would probably petition NASCAR to use restrictor plates at every track if he could get away with it.

7. Clint Bowyer. Five top 10 finishes make him perhaps the quietest contender in NASCAR.

8. Jamie McMurray. He won last year's fall race at Talladega and the Daytona 500. For those of you keeping score, that means he's won the last two Sprint Cup races featuring restrictor plates.

9. Brad Keselowski. He won last year's spring race at Talladega, and he's shown he's willing, right or wrong, to put his car anywhere on the track to get a win.

10. Michael Waltrip. One way to avoid the Big One (yes, that's the third different Talladega crash to earn a link to this site) is to stay in front of the pack. Another way is to stay behind it. So this may be the one place where starting 43rd can be construed as a good thing.

We'll be back with a race wrap-up. Until then, enjoy.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

The People's Choice - Talladega

First of all, I apologize for not updating this blog earlier. My agent told me to stay by the phone in case the Raiders called.

Anyway, you, the Internet, have selected a lineup for the People's Pitstop for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Talladega. And every starting spot had a clear winner this week, as you can see from the results below. Here are the details. (These aren't gory or brutal details, though; we'll save the brutality for the track.)

A List. Jeff Gordon's tussle with Jimmie Johnson must have fired up the fantasy racing fans, because Gordon earned this week's starting spot over Tony Stewart. With rain washing out the qualifying session and Sunday's lineup being set by driver points, Gordon will start fifth.

B List. Two clear-cut winners here, too. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (starting seventh on Sunday) and Matt Kenseth (starting second) get the starting spots, while Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer will sit on the bench.

C List. Paul Menard is quickly earning a spot on something other than the C List. He will start for the People's Pitstop and will start 18th. Scott Speed will sit on the bench.

For you fantasy football fans, a new NFL Draft poll is now open. Feel free to vote now. We'll be back with the fearless predictions.

[polldaddy poll=3080505] [polldaddy poll=3080520] [polldaddy poll=3080538]

Thursday, April 22, 2010

The People's Facts - Aaron's 499

The results of the St. Louis Rams draft poll can be found at the bottom of this post. (And as you can see, the results are pretty definitive.)

While the fantasy football fans bask in the glory of the NFL Draft Round 1, it's time to offer the fantasy racing fans some information about the biggest track NASCAR will use all season.

Track basics: Talladega Superspeedway in central Alabama has more than earned the moniker "super." First of all, it's big. Really big: 2.66 miles, or 0.16 miles longer than Daytona. The drivers use restrictor plates and pray they are not involved in the other big thing here: the Big One.

Recent winners: Brad Keselowski (2009), Kyle Busch (2008), Jeff Gordon (2007).

Who wins here a lot: Hendrick Motorsports has to feel confident coming here. Gordon leads active NASCAR drivers with six Sprint Cup victories. Dale Earnhardt Jr. trails him with five.

499? Huh? I'd love to tell you that the number 499 is the result of some extensive mathematical formula involving 2.66 miles, or perhaps a tribute to NASCAR's storied past. Nope. According to the expert analysis of Michaelwaltrip.com, it's a tribute to the ripoff shop, er, rental retailer that sponsors the race. "Dreams come true at Aaron's for $99 a month." Get it? For...99? Ha ha.

As always, you can get a more extensive preview from our friends at Yahoo Sports by clicking here. The lineup polls will close in a few hours, so please vote now. We'll be back with results and draft thoughts.

[polldaddy poll=3073659]

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Suspensions and Fantasy Football

Don't know if you've heard yet, but Ben Roethlisberger is in trouble with the NFL. Commissioner Roger Goodell announced Wednesday that Roethlisberger would start the 2010 football season on suspension. Most of the headlines will say the suspension is for six games, but it's actually designed to be reduced to four games if Roethlisberger complies with some easily reached terms. Put simply, if he's still suspended on week 5, something has gone horribly wrong.

For the purposes of this post, we will set aside questions about things like the morality of Roethlisberger's actions and the legality of suspending someone who wasn't even indicted. Instead, we'll consider this case from the perspective of fantasy football fans, who have to decide what to do with Roethlisberger and the rest of the Pittsburgh Steelers. After all, he did rank 9th among quaterbacks in ESPN fantasy points last season.

Unless something radical happens Thursday at the NFL draft, the Steelers probably will turn over the offense to recent re-acquisition Byron Leftwich (who ranked 42nd last year) or Charlie Batch (who got no fantasy points whatsoever). This can't be good news for Hines Ward (who ranked 16th last year among receivers) or Mike Wallace (who ranked 28th).

I'd mention the effect on Santonio Holmes, but there really isn't one. There are two reasons for that. First, Holmes is now a New York Jet. Second, as a result of a drug policy violation, Holmes has earned a suspension of his own: four games. Maybe he can run patterns for Roethlisberger while they serve their suspensions together.

And yes, most of the above can be wiped out with the right move during the NFL Draft, which starts Thursday. The People's Pigskin's draft-related poll will close late Wednesday. We'll be back with some facts about the NASCAR race in Talladega.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

In Most Places, It's Called Lying

Sometimes you plan an event but have to move it back or even cancel it because of unpredictable circumstances. Last weekend both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races were moved to Monday because Mother Nature had other plans. If you're running a sport, like the folks at NASCAR, there's nothing you can do about that. You just take your meteorological lumps and move on.

And then we have situations like the one NASCAR has with Fox.

If you go to NASCAR.com's official schedule, you will find that Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Talladega is scheduled to start at about 1 p.m. EDT. If you go to ESPN's NASCAR coverage, those folks will tell you the same thing. And the good folks at Yahoo Sports will essentially agree. (Yahoo even goes through the trouble of predicting that, after we get through the national anthem and the other usual stuff, the green flag will wave at 1:19 p.m. EDT.)

The only people who seem to have a different idea about the start of the race are the people broadcasting it.

If you watched the telecast of Monday's Samsung 500 for any length of time, you saw and heard Fox telling you to tune in Sunday for the race at Talladega -- at noon EDT. If you have satellite TV and try to look up the race, it will show you "NASCAR Racing" starting at noon EDT.

What it won't tell you is that Fox plans to spend the hour from noon to 1 p.m. EDT giving you previews, analysis, interviews and other stuff. When done well, these can all be informative and entertaining and even worth the fantasy racing fan's time. What they are not is coverage of the race itself.

Now, Fox Sports also covers the National Football League, and before each NFL game, it has folks like Jimmie Johnson and Terry Bradshaw give their insights, opinions and analysis. And if you look in your TV listings, you'll see this analysis is called "FOX NFL Sunday." You'll also see that the game itself is at its actual start time.

In other words, they call their pregame show a pregame show. They just don't call their prerace show a prerace show. Is it because Roger Goodell has more sway over Fox than NASCAR does? Or is it because he has less?

And a disclaimer for those reaching for their e-mail applications: This post has nothing to do with the politics and opinions of Fox Sports, Fox News or any other News Corp. holding or any of the people working there. You don't have to think anything at all -- good, bad or indifferent -- about Bill O'Reilly or Simon Cowell or Darrell Waltrip or anyone else to have an opinion about Fox Sports telling its viewers that the race starts an hour before it actually does.

We'll be back Wednesday with some facts about the race itself.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Texas-Size Results (and Polls)

NASCAR fans (most of them, anyway) would tell you that in this case, the wait for the Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway was worth it. And the Internet's favorite fantasy auto racing team would agree. The People's Pitstop managed to score 307 points in the Samsung 500. That lifted us to a tie for 99,704th overall on Yahoo Sports and a tie for 118th in the Fans of From the Marbles league. Here's how the points break down.

Greg Biffle: Started 3rd, finished 10th, 13 laps led and 85 fantasy points. Biffle's total included 3 bonus points for qualifying 3rd and 10 more bonus points for leading at least one lap. And yes, that's his seventh top 10 finish of the season. Remember that when the next set of predictions come out.

Kevin Harvick: Started 19th, finished 7th, 78 fantasy points. Surprisingly, Harvick was one of the few top 10 drivers who didn't lead a lap this week. (And by the way, he has only four starts left for the People's Pitstop for the rest of the season.)

Jeff Burton: Started 6th, finished 12th, 10 laps led and 78 fantasy points. Burton was actually in the lead when the Big Wreck took out nearly a quarter of the field. Unfortunately, Burton couldn't hold on to that lead.

A.J. Allmendinger: Started 17th, finished 13th, 66 fantasy points. Allmendinger took some damage from the aforementioned wreck, but he stayed on the track to finish right behind Burton.

Now, we move on to Talladega and a whole new set of polls. They can be found underneath our St. Louis Rams draft poll. As always, the lineup polls will close Thursday night, so we can submit a lineup in time for Friday's qualifying session. The Rams poll will close Wednesday night. We'll be back with more thoughts on racing and football. In the meantime, please vote.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Counting down to racing (and the draft)

As these words are being typed, we're a little over an hour away from this week's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway, though you might not know it. (We'll have some thoughts on that later this week.)

Thanks to the fantasy football fans who shared their plans for this year's NFL Draft. The results appear below. We have a new poll up about what the St. Louis Rams should do with the very first pick in this year's draft. That poll will close Thursday, which is also when the National Football League will hold the first round of its draft. By the way, the "G. McCoy" in our latest poll refers to Gerald of Oklahoma, not Colt of Texas.

If you have access to a computer during today's race, feel free to join us in Yahoo's race chat, featuring Jay Busbee and Jay Hart of From the Marbles fame.

[polldaddy poll=3030960]