Who are you picking in the Daytona 500?

[vansmack]

Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
  My SO is down there for the race  

Is his favorite driver Jamie McMurray?

[Bombay Chutney]

Originally posted by vansmack:
   

Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
  My SO is down there for the race  

Is his favorite driver Jamie McMurray? [/b]

Nope.  Gordon.

[biga0u812]

Juan Montoya

[sweetcell]

NASCAR is the new indie?

[vansmack]

Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
  Junior's gonna go balls-out and try to win this one, just to prove himself all over again.  He just may do it.

After watching the Duels yesterday, it's hard to disagree with that.
 
 Of course, no one has ever won the Bud Shoot out, the Duels, and the Daytona in the same year...

[taperkat]

I do the ESPN fantasy, my team is Stewart, both Busch's, Blaney, and Jacques, omnomnom.

[Frank Gallagher]

YEW GOW JEWNYER!!!!
 
 'Now go git mi anuther bu'u'ud and sum jerkey, bitch'
 
  <img src="http://www.funnyhub.com/pictures/img/hairy-nascar-fan.jpg" alt=" - " />

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

I figure you'll be screaming your lungs out for Dario Franchitti.
 
 
 

Originally posted by Brain Walrus:
 [QB] ]

[beetsnotbeats]

NASCAR Purists Cite Need 'To Get Back to Banjos'
 
 No, that is not an Onion headline
 
 By Liz Clarke
 Washington Post Staff Writer
 Sunday, February 17, 2008; D01
 
 
 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Feb. 16 -- "Change" may be the buzzword among Democrats this election cycle, but as NASCAR kicks off its 2008 season with Sunday's Daytona 500, the term is virtually taboo.
 
 No sport grew faster than stock-car racing in the 1990s. And under third-generation CEO Brian France, NASCAR revved up efforts to woo new fans even more aggressively in recent years. It revamped its championship formula, changed title sponsors, redesigned its racecar and tried updating its image. But after two consecutive years of declining TV ratings, France conceded last month that it's time NASCAR put the brakes on change and tried to reclaim its bond with core fans.
 
 "We're getting back to the basics," said France, 45. "Change is good to a certain point, but we've got all the change we think the sport can stand and needs."
 
 France stopped short of conceding that NASCAR had erred in its rush to win over casual sports fans -- whether by delaying the traditional 1 p.m. starting time of races to late afternoon to capture West Coast viewers or by building bistros and martini bars in once-raucous infields. But many insiders believe the effort simply alienated longtime fans in the process.
 
 "We need to get back to banjos and get rid of the violins," said veteran promoter H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, president of Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. "We got a little too fancy there for a while, and it's not a fancy sport. It's guys with big hands getting sweaty and getting out there and banging on each other and knocking each other around, and all-American fans sitting out there having a good time. A lot of things that we tried to introduce into this just fell flat, didn't work and are not gonna work. I think that it's something [France] certainly recognizes now. This is meat and potatoes; this is not caviar and smoked salmon."
 
 NASCAR's mea culpa comes with the 50th running of the Daytona 500, which will be slathered in tributes to a heritage that France seemed to want to distance his sport from -- if not deny outright -- not long ago.
 
 Junior Johnson, 76, the legendary moonshine runner turned stock-car racer, will serve as the honorary pace-car driver.
 
 Country music's Brooks & Dunn will headline the prerace entertainment, while Trisha Yearwood will sing the national anthem. Seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty will serve as the honorary starter. And 24 past Daytona 500 champions will give the famous command, "Gentlemen, start your engines!"
 
 Nearly all those past champions have been feted in the infield of Daytona International Speedway in recent days, taking part in autograph sessions with fans and sitting down with reporters to reminisce and tell tales.
 
 Marvin Panch, 81, recounted the first Daytona 500 in 1959, in which roughly half the drivers raced in convertibles and the others raced in hardtops -- a promotional gimmick that NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. didn't try again. Barrel-chested A.J. Foyt, 73, laughed about winning a race at Daytona in the mid-1960s despite sliding through the last turn on the last lap with his car slung completely sideways. And Johnson explained why he got more satisfaction out of winning a NASCAR race than outrunning the revenue agents who were trying to arrest him.
 
 "A lot of them racers were bootleggers," he said, "so if you beat them, you beat more capable people!"
 
 It was impossible to deny the grit and character of NASCAR's old racers -- strapping men, still, whether in their 60s, 70s or 80s -- who told stories with as much flair as they raced decades ago.
 
 As NASCAR mulls over how to shore up its fan base this season, many believe that drivers' personalities are the places to start.
 
 "In my opinion, way too much emphasis is put on championships and points," says veteran racer Mark Martin, 49, who'll compete in his 24th Daytona 500 on Sunday. "What about the heroes? Back in the day, it was about the man! It was about Cale Yarborough, the man! It was about David Pearson, the man! No one exploits the individual anymore. It's just about: 'Did he score points? Is he going to win the championship?' But for the fans, it's about the personalities. And there is not enough focus on the real personalities in the sport."
 
 NASCAR officials were confronted with more personality than they knew how to handle in the run-up to the race, when Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch wrecked each other during practice at Daytona. According to some accounts, Stewart finished the fracas by punching his least favorite competitor during a closed-door meeting with NASCAR officials.
 
 Four days later, NASCAR officials issued sanctions so nebulous that it left drivers, car owners, journalists and fans scratching their heads, still unclear how much emotion and personality the sport now deems acceptable.
 
 "I really don't know what probation is," fellow racer Elliott Sadler confessed. "I think that it's a little bit more lenient than what it would have been in the past."
 
 Regardless, Sadler approved of NASCAR's non-call.
 
 "I think it's great for our sport," he added. "I think NASCAR could not have written a better intro into the Daytona 500 -- people wrecking in practice, people fighting and hitting each other on pit road and stuff like that, and Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. winning the first race of the season. I don't think you can penalize those guys for that. You have two great racecar drivers going for the same piece of real estate. Let them be their two personalities. I think it's going to make better racing for everybody."

[Marty666]

why dont all of you just grab your coolers and lawnchairs and sit by the beltway if you just want to watch cars driving around in a big circle?
 
 oh, i guess watching it on TV makes it a sport!

[Guiny]

I'm gonna take a chance and say Neumann wins....With Kurt Busch a close second.
 
 My fantasy team sucked.  Kurt Busch, J. Johnson, Kenseth, Guilliard and Bowyer.......Ouch.

[vansmack]

I found the first half of the race fairly boring - credit to the engineers of the rear spoilers.  Even the few spinouts would have been disastorous early would have been disatorous in the past, but the car's didn't shoot up the track or lose control in the grass.
 
 As for Smoke, I think he's not too happy with his new teammate, but the truth is, he made a bad decision on the last lap.  I think he thought Kyle was closer than he really was, and when he went down and Kyle didn't have the horses to push him, he was a sitting duck.
 
 One cool thing, was that DirecTV had a free preview of the NASCAR HotPass.  I watched the Smoke channel for a lot of the race and really enjoyed the team audio (unedited too!).  But I realized after a while that I couldn't watch just Tony's car for 500 miles and the split screen, even in HD, wasn't as nice as the race itself.  Then I discovered that I could watch the Fox HD broadcast in the 700's with Tony's Team Audio (actually, I could cycle through all 10 featured drivers) and the Fox announcers.  Awesome!  I can even record that channel and it records all of the audio channels.  I may have to ask the little lady if I can drop $40 on the hot pass.

[taperkat]

My fantasy team sucked.  Kurt Busch, J. Johnson, Kenseth, Guilliard and Bowyer.......Ouch.

mine is both Busch's, Tony Stewart, Elliot Sadler, and Dave Blaney. omnomnom.
 
 (Blaney is my sentimental favourite.)
 
 Where do you fantasy at?

[Guiny]

ESPN.Com
 
 Division is still open if you want to sneak in.  Division name is selectors and password is Picking with a capital P
 
 You'll be behind a couple of weeks but these guys play all year round, every year, so you'll catch up in the next go round.

[taperkat]

Nah, i won't be behind.. had my fantasy team since the day I could. Going to join now^^ thanks a ton =D