If I can manage the regularity, I am going to put the Fantasy NASCAR Cheat Sheet to the test to pick the majority of the top 10 (or so) each week. Based on an algorithm that is my own devising and surely to be tweaked over the weeks, I’ve come up with my picks for the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway.

These are based solely on the numbers. No previous incidents of luck or misfortune. No consideration for Silly Season.

The NASCAR Database is getting a major layout tweak and new paint job. I’ll be rolling it out soon. On the short list of things to finish are:

• Reducing the number of drivers in the drop down list
• Layout of the main menu
• Multiple driver selection

Here’s the actual statistics for the NASCAR Nextel (Winston) Cup races the last 3 years at California Speedway.

As always, I’m open to suggestions.

What do you think about the picks?

What are yours?

“Whether you are a 48-hater or lover you got to give Jimmie Johnson and the whole #48 crew the recognition they are due. Well, maybe you don’t, but I do.

Jimmie Johnson must have gnawed on the zingers that Greg Biffle shot his way during the 2005 NASCAR season. Johnson drove a clean (patient he says) race. He didn’t cause a single wreck and pulled off the victory.

Jimmie Johnson has never been ‘my driver’, but I had always respected him and Chad Knaus. That is, until Johnson caused the Talladega wreck and blamed Dale Earnhardt Jr. And, Knaus got busted for the shocks at Dover. Not the first such infraction for either, and the final straw in my ‘warm fuzzy’ feelings toward the pair.

With that said, I think it is a testament to their determination and desire to be NASCAR Nextel Cup Champions that they won the Daytona 500 today.

So, even though I may not like ya. Congratulations #48 team.”

“What should be done with the #3?

Driven by Dale Earnhardt during 19 NASCAR seasons.

The history of the #3 in NASCAR racing shows that Richard Childress has owned the number since 1976.

I’m really surprised by the poll over at NA$CAR.com.

It asks ‘What should Richard Childress do with the #3?

It currently shows a divided opinion among 178,329 votes.

Let Dale Earnhardt Jr. drive it? 49%
Let someone else drive it? 6%
Should he retire it? 45%

I wonder:

Is the ‘let Jr. drive it’ crowd mostly Jr. fans?
Is the ‘retire it’ crowd the longer term Dale Sr. fans?
Is the ‘let Jr. drive it’ crowd partially made up of Dale Sr. fans that think it would be honoring to Dale Sr. to let Dale Jr. drive the #3?
Are all Dale Jr. fans really Dale Sr. fans that now love Dale Jr simply because of Dale Sr.?
Is being a Dale Jr. fan the way that ‘unhealthy’ people still hold onto being a Dale Sr. fan?
Would Dale Jr. be as popular today if his name were actually Morgan Shepard Jr.?
How would all the marketing and memorabilia revenue be effected by someone else in the #3?
If Dale Sr. had simply retired, would the #3’s future even be in question?

I’ve already spoken my piece on Dale Earnhardt Jr. and it hasn’t changed.

Here is a (probably too lengthy to be legal) excerpt from Dale Earnhardt Jr in a Marty Smith article over on Nascar.com

(start of excerpt)
The tributes were welcome in 2001. Junior said the old man would’ve gotten a kick out of being honored like that. But one year was plenty. And context, he said, is crucial to the family.

“Sometimes when his name is brought up, like when NASCAR pulls the Dale Earnhardt card for the drivers not showing up [at the banquet in New York], that pisses me off,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I just don’t think that’s cool.

“The man’s passed away, and he’s not there for you to use to your advantage. If people want to name grandstands after him, or roads, shit like that’s kind of cool. But anything you relate him to what’s happening in this sport today it bothers me a little bit.”

Which begs one of the biggest questions currently hovering over the sport: If Dale was here …

“It’d look about the same,” Junior said. “He was close to retirement. TV was taking us. We were going whether he was here or not. I think some things would be different. He was definitely an influence on spoiler heights and plates, s— like that.

“But the sport was getting pretty big, even for Dale Earnhardt. You had all these guys coming in like Tony [Stewart], Kurt [Busch] and all these guys. They would have given him a run for his money.

“He’d have found it quite a challenge racing with these guys.”
(end of excerpt)

I wonder what Dale Earnhardt Sr. would say to do with the #3?”

“C’mon guys. Why all the long faces? It’s the beginning of a new NASCAR season. Look alive. Look happy. Here, let me play you a song. It’s by Sara Evans.

‘You say your every day,
Is a bad dream that keeps repeatin’,
Maybe you should have thought about that…when you were cheating.’

Oh. sorry. Don’t like that one, hunh? My bad.

By the way, Carl, what are you doing hanging around with this riff-raff? Yeah, I know your day didn’t go that well, but you just got the short end of the NASCAR stick. You’ll show ‘em on Sunday.”

“Wow. Nothing has really changed. It’s like we just napped through the midpoint of the race and woke up.

NASCAR is still making dumb calls. Carl Edwards only deserved a portion of what he got. Hey. Wait a minute.

Were the referee’s from Super Bowl XL up there? Edwards got ‘SeaHawked’ in this race.

Then there is Kyle Busch. Still a wild child in the car. He reminds me of a 16-year old kid, drinking Milwaukee’s Best on a friday night, stumbling around and just out-of-control hyper and stupid. I predict I will ask this question no less than 10 times this year. Is that boy drunk?

Tony Stewart is still a paradox. The dude is badmouthing one minute and practically bestowing the win the next. It was cool to see him help out Denny Hamlin to get the win.

Then, in grand NASCAR fashion we get essentially a green, white, checkered finish. I think this is a foreshadowing of things to come this season.

Actually something did change. The NAPA car and the Budweiser car weren’t drafting together. Did Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Micheal Waltrip have some kind of falling out? Hmmm. That must have happened while I was sleeping.”

“Have you seen the 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 that will be leading the boys around Daytona International Speedway in a few weeks?

I admire some cars, but I’m not a down and dirty car buff. This car makes my jaw drop. It’s gorgeous. The beast has 505 hp @ 6300 rpm with a top speed of 198 mph. Square jaw Jay Leno is getting to drive it around the track.

With the restrictor plates the NASCAR cars will have on them, this car will actually be more powerful then them. A first for a pace car. That’s kinda cool.

Hey Antonette! I hope you get a good view of it while your at Daytona…lucky dog.

A site called Serious Wheels has 26 shots of the car all available for free download as desktop images.

I replaced my dog with the above shot. Poor Daisy.”

Ok. Yes. It’s time to lay out one last rant against nascar.com before the start of the new season.

All you up-and-comers, take note. You want to build a racing web site? Please, don’t build it like nascar.com!

I think I said something like NA$CAR, Visa and Marketing before.

I’m a big fan of web standards and usability. I’ve got a great book by Jakob Nielsen called ‘Homepage Usability – 50 Websites Deconstructed’. I gave his analysis technique a whirl on nascar.com.

This screenshot is of the aforementioned site a few months ago. I’ve colored various sections of the site according to the purpose they serve.

I guess since the site is owned by Turner that it’s not a big surprise they are such a sell-out. I think 2006 should be the year I break away from nascar.com and give my loyalty somewhere else.

Anyone have any suggestions? I’d love to hear them. Give me a rundown of your stockcar racing new sites.