Earlier this evening, Chad Knaus, Johnson’s crew chief, make a gutsy call and kept the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet Impala SS out on the racetrack as the laps wound down in Phoenix.  This was a gutsy move because Knaus watched every other leader come down pit road and get fuel, while his team’s car slowly ran out of gas.

But in the end, the Lowe’s Chevy had enough gas to cross the finish line, do a burnout on the front-stretch, and complete half of a Polish victory lap before running out of gas.

I watched the entire race and finished the race on my feet, pacing back and forth in front of the TV, yelling at my guys for not bringing the Lowe’s Chevy and getting a splash of gas.  I couldn’t watch the last two laps, and I think I screamed, “Oh, no, he’s run out of gas!” about four times during that period.

That’s right, I am a huge Nascar fan.

While you might think Nascar is about rednecks and loud cars going in circles, it is also about people.  In one of the nicest news stories I have heard, the pre-race show included an interview of Jeff Gordon.  Today Gordon make a 15-year old’s wish come true.  This was his 200th wish made true through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  Gordon has only started 516 Sprint Cup races, so he has had children quite frequently in his pit box and with him on race day.  Absolutely amazing, and it shows the level of compassion and charity drivers have.

How often do you hear nice stories like that with other sports?

But Daytona is not easy. Restrictor plates are mankind’s, and racers’, worst nightmares. So they make driving at Daytona and Talladega one dimensional. That one dimension is momentum.

All it takes is one wrong move and you are sent to the back of the pack. And recently we have learned it is all about the guys behind you, and whether or not they stick with you or dive to the top or bottom to pass you.

Also, all it takes is one big wreck to take out 10 or so drivers, and your whole team might be needing tow trucks to leave the track.

It comes down to momentum, and a little luck, at Daytona.

So what sorta strategies should you look at for fantasy racing this week? Well, pick winners. They have experience at Daytona, and they know how to drive to Victory Lane.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson. I would put a lot of money down saying one of those four will win the race this weekend. It is almost guaranteed. But we need to look at each list of drivers.

For A-List, you need to pick your own poison. They are all good, but Gordon, Stewart, and Johnson are the best.

With the B-List, you get a gift. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., has been undervalued and placed in the B-List. I would definitely pick Junior this week, given that he won the Budweiser Shootout on Saturday night and a Gatorade Duel on Thursday. Who else? Jamie McMurray won at Daytona in July, so I think he would be a good choice. Kahne, Blaney, and Sorenson have been racing well this week, especially in the Duels (and in the Shootout for Blaney and Sorenson). Biffle, Newman, and Labonte are always good choices as well.

For C-List, plan on getting few points. While most years, one C-List driver surprises everyone and finishes in the top-5 or top-10 at Daytona, most of them crash out, so prepare for disappointment here. Reutimann, Riggs, and Vickers all raced well in the Duels, but I think you have to pick Michael Waltrip from the C-List. He has winning potential at restrictor plate tracks, and you might just see his Toyota in Victory Lane. Another Toyota driver, Dale Jarrett, would like to win in his last Daytona 500 start.

But, be careful when picking from the Hendrick Motorsports stable of drivers. On Wednesday Hendrick engine builders discovered a faulty part and replaced the engines in the cars of Gordon, Johnson, Earnhardt Jr., and Mears along with the satellite CNC operation driven by Scott Riggs. Several Toyota teams suffered from engine problems as well, including the cars of Stewart, Jarrett, Allmendinger, and Yeley.

The lesson here is to spread out your choices. Don’t pick drivers from all one team or one manufacturer. Diversify your portfolio, so your team doesn’t tank when one team or manufacturer has a major problem.

You have to make your picks for active drivers this week by Sunday @ 3:35pm.

Good luck, and let the best survive. See you next week, where I’ll be looking at who to pick for the race in California.

I’ve done fantasy racing for a while, and last year a UGA fantasy league on Yahoo! Sports started from scratch. My old roommate (Paul) and I started a league of 4 people, and at the end of the year he and I were the only participants. This year we expanded and invited quite a few people and we hope to have a good time (if you want to participate in our league, UGA Fantasy Racing, get in touch with me).

Most of the folks in our league haven’t done fantasy racing before, so I’ve decided to crank back up my old fantasy writing skills and provide an overview for the Daytona 500.

For those of you new to Yahoo! fantasy racing, here’s how it works. There are 3 lists of drivers (A, B, and C). I don’t know how Yahoo! decides which drivers go on which lists, but each driver is on only one list. The best drivers are on list A, worst on list C (generally). Each week, typically the night before qualifying but not always (set it up so you get an email from Yahoo! to remind you to pick your drivers), you need to pick 8 drivers that you might want to earn points with for the race that week. 2 from the A list, 4 from the B list, and 2 from the C list. You want to pick drivers that you think will do good that week. Then, before the race actually starts (up to 5 minutes before the scheduled start time of the race, and there are reminders in the fantasy racing panel), you need to pick the drivers that you ACTUALLY want to have earn points for you this week (called “Active” in the fantasy racing panel) - 1 from the A list, 2 from the B list, and 1 from the C list. You will receive points for where these 4 drivers finish and bonus points for leading laps, and you will receive qualifying points for all 8 of your drivers. The important note is that you can only start a driver (make him one of the 4 active drivers that you receive points) 9 times. This may sound confusing, but it really isn’t. Jump in and you will learn as you go along. There is strategy involved - ie, since you can only start a driver 9 times, don’t use all 9 of those at the beginning of the season for a driver that crests at the end of the season, like Jimmie Johnson or Tony Stewart. If you would like more info or have questions, put them in the comments or look here.

That might not be perfectly clear, so here is Yahoo!’s explanation:

Before each race, you must select four starting drivers from the eight listed on your team Roster page. These four drivers are “active,” while the remaining four are “inactive.” The active drivers must include one from the A List, two from the B List, and one from the C List. To activate drivers, click the check boxes next to their names and then click “Save Selections.”

Click the “Select Others” link for any List to change the drivers on your Roster page. Your Roster must have exactly two drivers from the A List, four from the B List, and two from the C List. You can only change your Roster up until the deadline listed near the top of the page.

All eight drivers on your Roster are eligible to receive qualifying bonus points, regardless of whether or not they are active. However, only activated drivers will be able to collect points for the week’s race.

If you change a driver’s status, you must click “Save Selections” or your changes will be lost.

OK, that is a start. After the field for the Daytona 500 is set, I am going to post my fantasy outlook and drivers to watch for, so check back. For this week, because the Daytona 500 has a really wierd scheme to set the field, you don’t need to have your lineup set until Sunday.

Also, here is the list of driver’s in each list:

A Team

Jimmie Johnson
Carl Edwards
Clint Bowyer
Denny Hamlin
Kevin Harvick
Kurt Busch
Jeff Burton
Matt Kenseth
Tony Stewart
Jeff Gordon

B List

Jamie McMurray
Casey Mears
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Kyle Busch
David Ragan
Kasey Kahne
David Gilliland
Dave Blaney
Reed Sorenson
J.J. Yeley
Martin Truex Jr.
Juan Pablo Montoya
Elliott Sadler
Robby Gordon
Mark Martin
Ryan Newman
Greg Biffle
Bobby Labonte

C List

Paul Menard
David Reutimann
Travis Kvapil
Brian Vickers
Johnny Sauter
Scott Riggs
Chad Chaffin
Jacques Villeneuve
Tony Raines
Kirk Shelmerdine
Jason Leffler
Scott Wimmer
Jon Wood
Aric Almirola
Marcos Ambrose
Chad McCumbee
Michael McDowell
AJ Allmendinger
Regan Smith
Patrick Carpentier
Dario Franchitti
Sam Hornish Jr.
P.J. Jones
Scott Pruett
Kyle Petty
Michael Waltrip
Ward Burton
John Andretti
Ken Schrader
Johnny Benson
Dale Jarrett
Terry Labonte
Bill Elliott
Jeremy Mayfield
Kenny Wallace
Sterling Marlin
Kevin Lepage
Ron Fellows
Mike Bliss
Boris Said
Todd Bodine
Mike Wallace
Mike Skinner
Joe Nemechek
Jeff Green
David Stremme

After the city of Concord changed the zoning regulations to specifically stop Smith and SMI from building a drag racing strip next to Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Smith announced he was looking to move the speedway itself unless Concord would remove the offending regulations.

While this may seem trivial to most people, Lowe’s Motor Speedway moving would be a major loss for the city of Concord and it’s coffers. Nascar Nextel Cup race weekends at the track bring in over 200,000 fans twice a year, making the raceway a huge boon for the local economy, somewhere to the tune of $5 billion a year to the state of North Carolina ($3.9 billion to the Charlotte/Concord area alone) according to the UNC-Charlotte Urban Institute. Also, I’d imagine that Lowe’s Motor Speedway has one of the biggest property tax bills in the city of Concord. That’s a hefty chunk of change that Bruton Smith can wave around.

Those involved in economic development have long seen the impact of sports on local economies (of which Nascar arguably has the biggest impact). This showdown in Concord might ultimately show the city just how big an impact this racetrack really has.

And like every Nascar fan, I have been engaged by the ongoing decision of what car Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be driving during the 2008 Nascar Nextel Cup season. When I say ‘car’, that is more than just the sheet metal on a rollcage. This includes the number Junior will run (the numbers on the sides of the car are owned, and stay with, team owners in Nascar) and the sponsor whose logos adorn the car.

Today, all the rumors have been put to rest, as Rick Hendrick and Dale Jr. announced that Junior will be driving the #88 car next season, with sponsorship by Pepsi (specifically Amp Energy Drink and Mountain Dew) and the National Guard (the current sponsor for the fourth car in Hendrick Motorsports).

And what about Budweiser, whose red and white logo currently adorns Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s #8 racecar?

Budweiser will sponsor the red #9 Dodge of Kasey Kahne.

Alright, now the rant begins.

Why is Budweiser sponsoring Kasey Kahne next year??? Kahne has done horrible this year and is 22nd in the Nascar Nextel Cup standings. If I was Budweiser and I was the third largest sponsor in Nascar, I would want someone who would assuredly do well and get my logo on TV as often as possible.

I don’t think Kasey Kahne and Gillett Evernham Motorsports can do that.

If I wanted the best finish for the lowest possible price, I would go with Juan Pablo Montoya. I think he is Nascar’s biggest up and coming driver, and I think he will do extremely well this next season.