By:  CJFinch

Wow, what a great day at Fontana!! I just caught the race rewind on ESPN and enjoyed the experience all over again. You really have to love how much content and media is available to us over the internet.

It was great race to the finish last Sunday between Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson who got his 48^th win for the number 48 team taking the checkered flag again at Fontana. Its incredible, this is his 5^th 1^st Place Finish is his last 15 Attempts here at this track.

I’d say Jack Cracker’s got a point on @RowdyBurns on the message board. He probably could have passed Rowdy in the standings if he went with his Ace Driver on the Roster Jimmie Johnson. Its  going to be hard for all of us to save allocations for him so that you can run him in the chase at the end of the season.

But the Fantasy Highlight of our week was what happened in our finish.

Geek Girl Racing (the only fantasy prediction that did me justice thus far) finished up (+14st) in the standings with (+333pts) points for the week rocketing herself from 17^th to 3^rd place!! I told you this pony’d be back.

The were also remarkable performances from Love Me Some Hawkeyes (+17@328) @Amanda_Fowler (+15@334) and AutoSport (+13@313) and Drop The Jack who moved into first place with the checkered flag this week at (+1@339) for the week.

There is really nothing better for your rankings than mid 300 point week and you guys killed it this week which proved not to be so easy for others.

@AwesomeWreckage (-21@163) experienced some Awesome Wreckage dropping 21 places in the standings with 163 points on the week along with The Drifters (-14st@198pts) who lost the second most in our week to week standings.  These two veterans from last year who will most certainly bounce back. Soon enough they’ll also be some fantasy drafting amongst us all, you rookie fantasy drivers will see what I mean as the weeks move along.

Our dog for the week was Summit Racing (-4 @152) which I don’t think will stop my drag racing buddy who is sitting next to me to stop purchasing things from their catalog like a drunken sailor on shopping spree.

@whoatemyblog (+5@330) showed a determined week moving up to 2^nd in the rankings after the first two races of the season. Its shows a bit of consistency, we’ll see what he can do in week 3.  He may be a contender for @StephAgresta when things come down to the finish.

I’m sure lots of you folks are feeling really kind of down after a performance from some of Nascar’s stars like Juan Pablo Montoya, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne who all finished poorly in the race. Those people can understand what it must feel like for Dale Earnhardt Jr who may still be plagued after a 32^nd place finish after having to deal with a broken half axle in the pits. There’s bad luck and there is just really bad luck, does anyone know for sure if he can bounce back this season? I just don’t get it Jr. Nation I think we’d all like to see him running in the top 10.  I’m still trying to be believer.

I was wrong with my prediction about Non Stop Racing (-7 @207) last week who shockingly didn’t get any help from Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne and Scott Speed who btw had a phenomenal day at the track and is a guy to keep your eye on in the C category.

If your not certain yet about your picks this week check out the Fantasy Rundown Video over at ESPN in addition to the Preview PDF Yahoo Sports offers under the Track Name on your Roster Tab for download.

I am looking forward to this weekend.

There is more to come on Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Stay Tuned,

CJFinch

P.S. My fantasy suggestion for this weekend is: Don’t waste an allocation on Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.. I think you have to wait for that pony to show he can run first, 3 green-white-checkers at Daytona International Speedway put him in the position for a strong finish at that unpredictable track, he wasn’t really strong all day. Besides, as  Mike Bell from The Nascar.com Preview Show says, “This track is like a Personal House of Horrors for him”..

By: Chris McCaffrey

Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images

Jamie McMurray continues to soar as he hooks the Pole in the #1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy for what is considered the “real” start to the 2010 NASCAR season.   The second race of the season at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California is the first true litmus test for how teams can perform and a leading indicator on what the season may yield for each.  Earnhardt Ganassi Racing is proving fast this week with teammates Jamie Mac and Juan Pablo taking the front row in qualifying for the start of the Auto Club 500.  After Mark Martin and Dale Jr took the front row at Daytona, can it be teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer of Richard Childress Racing or will it be Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle of Roush Fenway Racing to be the next team duo to take the front row next week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to keep this unusual streak alive?

While trying to maintain the feel-good 2nd place finish at Daytona, the #88 team must also feel the looming pressure as well as the overwhelming enthusiasm from JRNation, for a break out season after a deflated 2009.  We’ll find out shortly how the #88 team has gelled in the off season.  Hopefully DaleJr’s poor qualifying effort that was plagued by brake issues is no indicator of how the orange #88 Amp Energy Juice car will perform on the track this Sunday.

Both Kasey Kahne and Clint Bowyer looked solid in qualifying, though don’t ever under estimate the #48 team after a poor finish at Daytona.  Be assured Chad and Jimmie will be hard to stop with the best overall performance average at Fontana with two wins, a second, third and ninth place finish in last five races at Auto Club Speedway.

Week #2 Fantasy Picks:

Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, AJ Allmendinger

So we are 34 Fantasy Teams strong in our Yahoo Sports Ultimate Race Day Fantasy League, that’s Awesome!!

The conversations that ensue during the week and race on Twitter are beyond fun so Set Up A Twitter Account free today so you can join us in al the antics. There has been some great banter between our Fantasy Race Teams this year leading up to week one, especially so between @whoatemyblog and @rowdyburns who are both in the Ultimate Race Day Fantasy League.

You’ll agree once you join the rest of us on Twitter that the experience of conversations there are nothing short of highly engaging, educational and sometimes even comical and they for sure make watching the races and enjoying the Ultimate Race Day Fantasy League even better.

You’ll find most of the Nascar Sprint Cup Drivers on Twitter mixing it up and adding humor and interesting conversational thread as well. My favorites for the quick replies and jokes thus far have been @KyleBush and @ScottSpeed.

Last week Scott Speed was talking trash to this years Daytona 500 winner @JamieMcMurray for passing him going down pit lane in practice and Jamie’s response was a riot. Both drivers caught their limelight on the track this week and for doing totally different things that enabled them to lead the race.

In addition @DennyHamlin gave away tickets to the Daytona 500 on Twitter last week and he will continue to give away race tickets weekly so go, sign up now, and log in to Twitter if you want to attend a race compliments of Denny Hamlin! My guess is other driver’s and race teams will follow Denny Hamlins lead and start giving away promotional stuff very soon.

Another interesting aspect of Twitter is that you will find some compelling media folks like @Jeff_Gluck who you can follow with us as they provide interesting commentary and insight into what’s going on all week long and especially during the races.

At Ultimate Race Day we have already begun to make the Twitter experience easier for you by creating twitter lists to help you find the action quickly. You’ll find we have created some great lists for you to subscribe to @ultimateraceday and @cjfinch2. We update these lists regularly so you’ll be sure to find all the great Nascar Racing conversations when you subscribe to them for free from your twitter account.

Make the leap to Twitter with the rest of us you’ll agree how much fun it is rev up the Nascar experience while tweeting with the drivers, race teams, media folks, tracks, Nascar officials and especially all your new friends from the Ultimate Race Day Fantasy League.

Speaking of Fantasy that brings me to the highlight of the week, and that specifically was starting the new Ultimate Race Day Fantasy League. The truth is getting to know all of you and sharing the experience throughout the season in this Fantasy Leagues is truly the most fun for me.

And nothing could have engaged my interest in the racing experience more than the Awesome Wreckage Fantasy League I did with the founders of Ultimate Race Day @stephagresta and @chrismccaffrey last year.

This is what Ultimate Race Day is all about!! Sharing the race and the enthusiasm for racing with fellow fans, drivers, mechanics, and journalists – essentially everyone that touches the sport of racing..

Its time for a quick word to the wise about fantasy racing and a couple of Ultimate Race Day Fantasy Teams to keep an eye on this week.

Last year in the Awesome Wreckage Fantasy League something truly amazing happened: Geek Girl Racing, which is managed by @stephagresta, took the checkered flag for the entire season!! (By the way the URD crew is competing in that league again this year.)  Stephanie did this knowing virtually nothing about racing before the season began and she didn’t start out in first place either, but she never faltered and eventually smoked everyone in the league to the finish line taking 1^st place in dominant fashion.  Efforts that are easily comparable to that of Jimmie Johnson, Lowes Racing and Hendricks Motor Sports to win the Sprint Cup last year.

This makes Geek Girl Racing an easy favorite to win the league again this year, so set your sights on her, and even though she finished 12^th which for me is as shocking as the DNF Jimmie Johnson laid down at Daytona we all know those are thing things that happen while running stock car races. Its certain Jimmie Johnson will bounce back in Fontana just like Geek Girl Racing will in our Fantasy League.

A few other drivers to watch and mention are Whiskey River 88 who recorded some blazing track speed scoring a 339 this week at Dayonta to take the checkered flag. His winning  lineup, the one he bested 33 other teams with, was Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick and Michael Waltrip.

Other notable scoring finishes this week were: Drop The Jack (312), Illini Guy (308), Your Truly The Gold Finch (294) and Rainbow Warrior WNY24 (292) as they all earned themselves a top 5 finish and solid start to the season.

A mid pack race team after week one that is sure to break the top ten is Non Stop Racing who recorded a (246) at Daytona. Loxly knew how to hang up front all last year so be sure she’ll be a team to watch out for as this spring season continues.

There is a bunch of other teams I would like to mention from last year but just like FOX Sports with Nascar Racing is the Fantasy Teams that do something noteworthy that catch the media time in my blog.

And speaking of noteworthy we’ll keep our eyes on 4xChampions (152) and Team Jr/McMurray (0) as I learned nothing was more fascinating last year then the race to the front from the back of the pack. Having missed the first race last year I had the opportunity to enjoy the challenge of passing all the race teams in front of me to finish a respectable 7^th place overall.

Keep your fantasy line ups dialed in and stay tuned, there is more to come on Fontana..

CJFinch

P.S. For any of you that had a bad week, don’t sweat it, last year I was not the only one that missed the first race entirely scoring zero points. @MkMitch(226), Orion Racing (240), and Red Head Racing (244) all put in memorable and similar stellar efforts last year. I remember running close with them all!

P.S.S. Fantasy Racing Tip of the Week: Don’t forget to select drivers!! There is nothing more difficult to do than climb back into the fantasy points race after a missed week. Although it can be done!! The best way not to forget is to pick drivers for the following week during the race, or pick them late Sunday night or Monday when you are finished checking in on your results.

By: CJFinch

I thought waiting for the NASCAR 2010 Sprint Cup Season to start took a long time, but waiting for the pothole at the Daytona International Speedway to get successfully resurfaced so that the red flagged racing could resume took what seemed to be an eternity!

It was completely embarrassing for NASCAR and the Daytona International Speedway to endure such a calamity on arguably the biggest race day of the season.

The crews of the Daytona International Speedway unsuccessfully attempted to try and fix a pothole in the track by applying 4 different types of gravel. And it was not until stopping the race a second time later that day that they finally got it to the point where the race could be finished.  What was the solution? It was applying a special epoxy that glistened like shiny silver plastic smeared across the black track as the race finished under the darkness of nights. Fortunately for the fans and the drivers alike the race concluded in grand fashion, but ore on that in just a second because something else happened that is noteworthy.

I don’t know how I could have kept the race on during that melee if it was not for Twitter.

The microblogging service came to the rescue with the fans, the race teams, the drivers, the media folks, NASCAR and even the tracks setting up and maintaining Twitter accounts all weekend long. It actually made the race and the weekend a much more interesting and engaging experience to follow.

If you are new to Twitter let us know here at Ultimate Race Day and we can help direct you in getting started, and you will agree once you get set up that it really makes the Nascar experience, especially our Fantasy League experience, infinitely more enjoyable.

Now for those of you that are already on Twitter just remember to add #URD to any of your tweets as well as to post your Twitter name in the message board of our Fantasy League so we can find you and help you engage in a fun conversation with the rest of us online there.

And then the race continued..

The special epoxy had dried and the race was back on for good. It was well worth the wait to see Kevin Harvick make a bold and daring move on Martin Truex Jr. and Greg Biffle to secure the inside lane and perhaps the checkered flag at the 2010 Dayonta 500 Sprint Cup Race. I was rooting for him to do so as he was one of my B drivers in our Fantasy League along with Dale Earnhardt Jr who looking like he would start the season with a mediocre finish from what I could tell thus far.

But things would not turn out that way..

It was Jamie McMurray who took the checkered flag and somehow to the roaring cheer of all of Jr Nation at the finish line it was the Amp Energy #88 car of Dale Earnhardt Jr. who blew up the middle of the pack and took 2nd Place.

It was a phenomenal finish for Jamie McMurray and great finish for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his race team who believe this start can provide validation for the driver who had been slumping year’s prior.

It was quite a race and finish and some of the drivers eaten up by the Daytona International Speedway were Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman all of whom would not cross the finish line that day. This was a detriment to many of you in our Ultimate Race Day Fantasy League, but worry not, there is a lot more racing and opportunity to move to the front of the pack in our league this year..

I’ll be back with more on that later..

CJFinch

Guest Blogger: Katey Dietz

I’ve been planning for weeks, and as we creep closer to the 14th I’m getting all jittery and excited. I can’t wait to cozy up with Daytona and kick-off a new season this Sunday!

Photo Credit: NASCAR.com

Just like any big date, a girl’s gotta prep.

Phase 1: Research

I’ve joined a new fantasy league this season, Ultimate Race Day’s. This means I’ve got to step up my game. In previous seasons I’ve competed for bragging rights with a small group of friends, so this a big change. I’m still not taking it too seriously; it is just for fun. My picks are more about my gut and less about deep analysis of stats.

My Daytona Picks: Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, & AJ Allmendinger.

Phase 2: Pre-Date Freakout

Wednesday night I got word that my parents’ Christmas gift to me of a NASCAR Hall of Fame membership was also a winner in the NASCAR Hall of Fame VIP Sweepstakes. This prompted a happy dance to rival that of Brandi Chastain! Not a single green flag has dropped and this season is already getting me fired up and excited about what will happen next.

Phase 3: Picking the Right Outfit

What to wear, what to wear!? Easy, my best #11 cap and whatever is clean & comfy! That was easy, so I turned my attention to my 3-year-old niece/NASCAR fan in training. First we discussed that while Sunday is Valentine’s Day, more importantly, it is also Daytona.

Being a good aunt, I of course went shopping for her first NASCAR gear. Picking a driver for someone so young can be tricky, so many sponsors are just not kid friendly or accessible. My team of choice, FedEx was out, nothing there for a little girl. Luckily JGR is also home to the most kid accessible team, M&M’s, so at least I can keep things all “in the family”. I went with M&M’s because my niece already knows the characters, so the green M&M hat I picked up will be immediately recognizable, and because the paint schemes are always easy to pick out in a race. Can’t wait to see her decked out for her first NASCAR season as a proper little fan!

Phase 4: The Quiet Before the Storm

I’ve done all I can do to prepare for my hot date. I know everything I hope happens, and all the things I dread, so there is nothing left to do but take a deep breath and countdown to green!

Update:

My niece loved her Daytona present, but I think she would have liked some actual M&M’s too.