This past weekend’s race at Phoenix International Raceway marked the eighth race of the 2008 season. Half of the races so far have been west of the Mississippi and the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams will have a weekend off to rest from competing this coming weekend. With no race this weekend you’ll have extra time to study driver’s average finishes and decipher all of those Loop Data Statistics for the upcoming Talladega race.

Use Tools

• Statistical Analysis: Check out OneBadWheel’s Fantasy NASCAR Tool Box for statistical analysis and reports such as Head-to-Head Comparisons, Hot Streak Drivers, Best Drivers by track, Experts Picks, and many more helpful resources.
• Newsletter: Sign up for the OneBadWheel Fantasy NASCAR Newsletter for links to fantasy advice and stats. You can also use the receipt of the newsletter itself as a reminder to make your fantasy picks.
• Keep Records: Are you playing in a game where you’re limited to how many times you can use a driver, and you alone are responsible for keeping track of the drivers you’ve used? If so, then start a spreadsheet or simple word document to keep track of the drivers you’ve used and how many times you’ve used them. Don’t get penalty points or be disqualified because you duplicated a driver pick!
• Race Schedule: Know when qualifying and practice times are scheduled for. If it’s a Saturday night race, then there’s a good chance that qualifying will be a day earlier than what you’re accustomed to. Depending upon the game you may need to fill your roster a day earlier than normal!
• Race Entry List: Review and monitor the entry list. Make sure the drivers on your roster are actually on the entry list for the upcoming race. Preliminary entry lists are posted early in the week on many NASCAR related websites. However, teams may make a driver change, enter the race late, or withdraw from the race at anytime during the week.
• Qualifying Results: If the deadline to make your selections is after qualifying, then make sure the drivers on your roster actually qualified for the race.
• Monitor Pre-Race Activities: Watch qualifying, practice and other such shows on television when possible. Many times the reporters will mention inside information about the teams current performance levels, issues they’re having with the car, or even the driver’s physical condition. Any one of these situations may give an indication of how the team will perform during the race.
• Weather Forecast: Check the weather forecast before race weekend starts. If you have to make a pole position pick, sometimes weather conditions will obviously prevent qualifying from taking place. The teams will then line up by points. Knowing this will get you the points for a correct pole selection, and depending upon your fantasy game, perhaps points for leading laps, etcetera. On tracks where it’s difficult to pass, or where pit selection is very important, or the starting position is key to finishing well, knowing that the teams are lining up by points may play a role in your driver selections.
• Web Browser Bookmarks: Create a Bookmarks folder just for the ‘log in to make your picks’ web pages for the fantasy games you’re playing. This will help you remember to make your picks in all the different games you’re playing. My “NASCAR Games” bookmarks folder has about a dozen links in it to games that I play each week. It’s easy to sit down and make my driver selections in each one of them, all in one sitting.

Don’t Beat Yourself

• Save Money at Signup: Look for and use promotion links to join games. Often times the fantasy games will have promotional banners on other NASCAR websites. They may offer discounted membership packages or other advantages to signing up through a banner link.
• Finding Promotional Links: Obviously visiting some of the more popular NASCAR websites and blogs to search for banners is one way. You can also look at the website for the fantasy game itself that you’re considering. They may have a banner or link exchange setup with the sites that are advertising on their site. Visit those sites advertising on the games website, and then look for links back to the game. Finally, you can also do Google searches and come across promotional links to the game that you are planning to join.
• Referral Links: Some games offer their players a referral program, so take advantage of them. For example, if you join this game through this link and use Referral code 1567 when you sign up, you’ll be helping me out by giving me credits towards another team. You can then refer your friends and earn yourself another team too. Go ahead, join’ you know you want to!
• Read the Rules & Terms: It’s amazing this has to be said, but before you join a game do take the time to read the Terms & Conditions, and the rules for game play. You’ll want to be sure you know how to play, don’t break any rules during the process, and you’ll want to know if you’re eligible to win that big cash prize as a resident of your state.
• Save Confirmations: Save your confirmation e-mails after registering and paying your money. Also, if the game sends you roster adjustment confirmations then save them too. Most games will have a policy spelled out in the event of technical difficulties. Having proof of your roster submissions and the date they were entered may come in handy.
• Become a Multi-Team Owner: If the game allows it, register multiple teams. This will ease the frustration if ‘your team’ does bad one week. It will also allow you to employ various methods for making your driver selections. For example, you can play one team for consistency overall, and another team with a “Go For It!” mentality. OK, maybe this does count as “beating yourself.
• Get Your Picks In Early: Make picks, any picks, just as soon as you can. I find it convenient to go ahead and fill out my rosters early in the week when I’m reviewing the freshly posted official results & standings from the previous race. If later in the week you forget, have an emergency, or technical difficulties prevent you from getting your picks in then having something vs. nothing in the roster is your safest bet.
• Trust, But Verify: After clicking the “Submit” or “Save Roster” button, go back and review your roster to make sure you’ve made ALL the selections. Fellow OneBadWheel writer Mike Maruska has some personal experience with this here recently. Ouch!
• Spending Limit: Watch how much you spend. There are several free games out there to play (ahem, Champs, Chumps & Sleepers). If you’re not careful, you can spend a lot of money joining several different fantasy games. $49.95 here for that game, $19.95 for this game, $5 per week for this other game, and before you know it you’ve spent several hundred dollars that perhaps you would not have spent all at once if you saw the total amount.
• Limit the Number of Games: If you’re like me, you enjoy playing the game just as much as the possibility of winning a prize. Consider playing with a quality vs. quantity mindset. It’s easier to focus and do well with the strategies and game play of a handful of games vs. a couple dozen games.

Have Fun!!!

• Hey, “That’s Racing: Remember doing well and winning comes down to some plain old racing luck too. Don’t take it too seriously! It’s a game and the point is to have fun and add another dimension to the entertainment value while watching a race. If you get lucky, you’ll win a prize or two.
• Trust the Gut: No, I’m not talking about OneBadWheel contributor Jeff Gutowski this time (though you can trust his stats analysis!). Sometimes you just have to go with your gut feeling. Past results and current performance can only help so much. Perhaps you’ve narrowed the list down to two or three evenly matched drivers for one spot, and yet you can’t find a stat that pushes you one way or the other. Just go with your gut feeling. If you’re wrong, it’ll be much easier to swallow. If you’re right, you’ll feel like some sort of Fantasy Racing God. OK, well not really… at least I hope you don’t develop a God complex.
• Change Strategies: If you get so far behind in the overall points and obviously won’t be able to make it up, don’t just quit trying. Instead consider changing your strategy. Perhaps start playing with the ‘weekly win’ as the goal. In other words, go for the win each week! Don’t be afraid to use up your top drivers and don’t focus on where you are in the overall. Many games have weekly prizes for the best finish of the week (for example, the game I linked above in the Referral section splits $5,000 each race between the top three weekly finishers). While other players are saving their ‘good drivers’ for consistency and the overall game, you’ll be playing to win NOW. It’s unlikely that you will win the overall, but you may end up with bragging rights one week while you sit atop the weekly results chart.
• Interact with Community: Many games offer a discussion forum or “Trash Talk” section. Go ahead and jump in there and interact with the community! Find a group or league to join where you have common interests with the other players. For example, there may be a group for “Krispy Kreme Donut Fans.” If you don’t see one you like, start one yourself! You can even make private groups that require invitations and a password to join. This is great for close friends or co-workers who want to put a little side bet on the action. It also reduces your competition to just those in the group. You may be in 482nd place overall in the game, but you’re running 2nd in your private group!
• “Uncle Darren Wants You: Recruit others (family, friends, co-workers) to join the game with you and then compete against one another. Darren, the administrator of this site, would love to have you join Champs, Chumps & Sleepers where you can kick his butt.
• Buy a new MacBook laptop as it will make loosing easier to swallow. That’s what I did, and so far it’s working out nicely. :)