When I’m bored I eat. If I’m in a lull with nothing to do, I find myself back in the kitchen opening up the same refrigerator looking at the same food. Nothing there to really satisfy me, but grabbing something to munch on anyways.

That’s how I feel during the 90 days that encompass the ‘off-season’ for NASCAR. I find myself repeatedly searching the cable guide for anything race related to record. Something to munch on while I wait for Speedweeks.

Right now my recorded shows are:

• 2-week old ‘Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain’
• World of Outlaws Late Models race
• CMT Greatest NASCAR Comebacks
• ‘NASCAR Racing’ (set to record one night at 3:00 am. It’s only an hour long, but the title was right)
• NASCAR: Chasing Glory
• Knoxville Nationals Highlights

All very worthwhile programming I’m sure, but not on my normal consumption list. Kind of like that refrigerator browsing I started this post with.

I’m still trying to catch more than the last 17 minutes of ‘Dale’. I doubt I’ll buy it, so I need to catch it at the right time. Plus, there is the Awards Banquet coming up this Friday at 9:00 pm EST on ESPN Classic. Sounds like it’s dead already.

So, what do you do to endure the 90 days of team communications radio silence? Same as me? Or, do you enjoy having a weekend free from the television?

Searching for some outbound links for this post I just found that Steve & Charlie aren’t sweating the off-season at all. They have plenty of things for the NASCAR fan to do in the dead of winter.”

The 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season is the quintessential “What If?” season for Mark Martin. This chart tracks 3 distinct points columns for Mark Martin during the race season.

• Mark’s Actual NASCAR Points
• Substituting the minimum points possible (34 points) for each missed race
• Substituting Mark’s Average Points at that track for each missed race

Look out Terry Blount! The Diecast Dude is imploding…or would that be exploding?

I’ve got to agree with Jerry that your current level of idiocy has eclipsed even prior bumblings.

The Dude’s current post ‘Terry Blount Dares To Be Stupid (And Rips Me Off In The Process)’ will go down as a classic!

Now Jerry…is there something you can do about how hard it is to comment on your blog?”

Ford 400

Jimmie Johnson Weekend

Jimmie Johnson only needs to finish 18th or better this weekend to shut out Jeff Gordon, who is the only remaining contender for this years NEXTEL Cup Championship. This will have a big impact as to how Jimmie will approach this weekend and affect your fantasy team also.

My Pick To Win Homestead

Greg Biffle has won the last 3 races at Homestead and this weekend should be another Roush brigade toward the front. I can’t pick against Greg until someone beats him here and I think that anyone else is going to do it, it is going to be one of his teammates. Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards have the best shot of anyone on the circuit to wrestle Greg’s hold on Miami away from him.

Drivers to Watch at Homestead

Jeff Gordon is going to do everything he can to win this race and put as much pressure on Johnson as possible. I really think that for Jeff to have any chance at all, Jimmie is going to have to have some really terrible luck this weekend. Jimmie has been better than Jeff at most mile and a half tracks all year long.

Kevin Harvick has always run well at Homestead and can use this race to create a little momentum heading into next season where he will try to defend this years Daytona 500 victory. Kevin has 5 top 10 finishes in 6 starts here and will come away with another good finish if he can avoid the mechanical issues that have been plaguing him for most of the season.

Tony Stewart won the first 2 races ever run at Homestead back in 1999 and 2000. Since then he has fallen off a little bit with only 2 top 10 finishes in his last 6 starts there. Tony doesn’t have a lot to shoot for this weekend but he is one of the drivers who won’t just be looking to just get the race over so he can go home.

Martin Truex Jr. will be one of the top dogs this weekend also. Martin seems to have a great handle on tracks of this type and almost beat Greg Biffle here last year. This will be the last race that he will be under the shadow of Dale Earnhardt Jr. at DEI and next year he will get a lot more recognition.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has never finished in the top 10 at Homestead and if he doesn’t have a decent car at the start of the race he might just be looking toward next year when he moves over to Hendrick Motorsports. I don’t put a lot of stock in him for this weekend’s race.

Denny Hamlin might be another car to watch for this weekend. Denny had a good run going at Texas until he crashed while battling Matt Kenseth for the lead late in the race. Denny is young and will not give up just because it is the last race of the season.

Yahoo! Fantasy Picks

Group A

• Greg Biffle (starter)
• Jimmie Johnson

Group B

• Martin Truex Jr (starter)
• Denny Hamlin (starter)
• Kurt Busch
• Ryan Newman

Group C

• JJ Yeley (starter)
• David Ragan

Stay Away From

• Dale Earnhardt Jr

Dark Horse

• Kevin Harvick

“

Checker Auto Parts 500

An Uphill Climb

Jimmie Johnson took the points lead from Jeff Gordon this weekend at Texas by winning his 3rd straight race in the Chase and virtually eliminated all of the other drivers from contention including Clint Bowyer unless something catastrophic happens to Jeff Gordon and himself over the last 2 races of the season.

Even Jeff Gordon is going to have an uphill climb to retake the points lead from Jimmie in the next 2 weeks. Going into this season, neither Jeff nor Jimmie had won at the 3 tracks that the season finishes at. That all changed with Jeff winning at Phoenix earlier this year and Jimmie winning at Texas last weekend.

My Pick To Win Phoenix

Well my pick to win this weekend is Jeff Gordon. Now that he broke into the win column at Phoenix he might go on a roll there. Phoenix is similar to Martinsville, only twice the size at 1-mile in length. Jeff has 9 top 10 finishes in his last 10 Phoenix races with his worst finish being 12th over that stretch.

The problem for Jeff is that Jimmie is almost equal to the task at Phoenix with 6 top 10 finishes in 8 races with his worst finish being 15th, twice here. Jimmie should once again come away with a good finish keeping the Chase close between the 2 teammates heading into the final race of the season.

Who to Watch at Phoenix

Kevin Harvick is one of the best at Phoenix lately, sweeping the races there last year and coming away with a top 10 finish this spring. Kevin has run well in the COT this year and could be a spoiler for the top 2 Hendrick drivers this weekend.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won back to back at Phoenix in 2003-2004 but has struggled a bit there since that time. If he is going to keep his consecutive seasons with a victory streak alive he had better do it this weekend.

Tony Stewart is one of the best flat track drivers on the circuit and would like to win another race this season even if he has no shot at the championship. It might be a while before the JGR teams win after this season with them going to Toyota next season.

Kyle Busch runs very well at Phoenix and already has a win here during his short career. Kyle had a great run at Texas last weekend until a poor pit stop set him back in the field late in the race and he never fully recovered from it.

Kurt Busch ran well at Phoenix when he was with Roush Racing and has finally gotten a handle on things at Penske. Both Kurt and Ryan Newman have improved every week and it wouldn’t surprise me to see either of these guys in victory lane this weekend.

Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth both run well at Phoenix also. Matt has a win here and Carl has 4 top 10 finishes in 6 races. The Roush teams were a little bit behind the rest of the field with the COT at the beginning of the year but they have been closing the gap since that time.

Denny Hamlin has finished 3rd at Phoenix in his last 2 starts and is another driver that loves to run on the flat tracks. After battling Matt Kenseth very hard last weekend and wrecking himself at Texas I look for Denny to come back strong this weekend at Phoenix.

Yahoo! Fantasy Picks

Group A

• Jeff Gordon (starter)
• Jimmie Johnson

Group B

• Kyle Busch (starter)
• Kurt Busch (starter)
• Denny Hamlin
• Ryan Newman

Group C

• Johnny Sauter (starter)
• JJ Yeley

Stay Away From

• Casey Mears

Dark Horse

• Bobby Labonte