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March 28, 2007

Track of Yesterday Meet Car of Tomorrow
Fantasy Insight-Martinsville Spring Race
By Dennis Michelsen
The Track of Yesterday meets the Car of Tomorrow almost sounds like a bad title for an Abbott and Costello monster movie! This week NASCAR's oldest living relic of a track is sent screaming into the future. We have had one look at this new car and the reviews were rather harsh, even from the race winner! Drivers said this thing was tough to drive, which narrows down drivers to pick from this week on the bullring that is Martinsville. A look at the stats from last week makes it tough to pick against a Gibbs Racing or RCR driver. While neither team won the race they had the most consistently strong cars in the field. The track of yesterday gets to meet the car of tomorrow this week. Hopefully the hot dogs and grandfather clocks will stay the same!

Fast Facts of the Week

Gibbs Racing dominated first COT race 1 leading 443 of the 504 laps

Jeff Gordon leads active drivers in most wins, top 5s, and top 10s

15% of races at Martinsville are won from the pole

72% of races at Martinsville are won from top ten

Ginn Racing's No. 13 and No. 14 teams are locked into the race

Dave Blaney, Ken Schrader, and Scott Riggs have to qualify on time

Rowdy Fantasy
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Fan1st Fantasy Racing
Fan1st is giving race fans a chance to win the greatest prize in Fantasy Racing history. Can you imagine being picked up for the race at your hometown airport in a private jet and flown to Daytona International Speedway? You can invite three people along for the experience of a lifetime learning what it is like to be an owner in the Busch series! Fan1st.com is the sponsor on the No. 32 car driven by driver Dave Blaney in the Busch series for owner Todd Braun. This year their Fantasy Racing game is included in their Diamond Membership package or you can purchase entry to the race game separately. Fan1st puts the fan in charge voting on important team matters! Their Fantasy Racing game has the best prize every offered and is a bargain to enter for $75 for the whole season! You build your team selecting a driver, crew chief, manufacturer, and owner in a salary cap format.

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Prize Note: Tom from Connecticut wins a Diamond Membership playing Fantasy Insight's FLIP FLOPS. Listen this week on www.racetalkradio.com Wednesday night at 10pm ET to see how you can play and win this week's prize!

Fantasy Racing by the Numbers
My unique Power Ratings are back and better than ever for 2007! Combining the three most important factors the numbers never lie. Separate the pretenders from the contenders each week with track type, horses for courses, and consistency factored into one easy to use Power Rating. The key numbers to remember are 80 and 250. A rating of 80 is an acceptable risk for any of the individual ratings and 250 is the cut off for the complete Power Rating. Drivers topping these minimums have a much higher percentage of top ten finishes over the past three seasons! (Only drivers meeting the minimum will be shown in the individual ratings with the top 25 for Power Ratings shown)

Picking a Winner
Each week I will attempt to handicap the winners showing the three drivers I think are most likely to come home a winner! Also the TOP ROOKIE and BEST OUTSIDE TOP 20 will be forecast so you get a complete handicapping picture for the upcoming race.

Winner-Jeff Burton
On top of the Consistency standings and team adjusted to Car of Tomorrow

Place-Tony Stewart
Would be able to win races in rutabaga wagons

Show-Denny Hamlin
Gibbs Racing was dominant with new cars and Denny fast in any car here

Top Rookie-David Ragan
Not afraid to put a bumper to them to get ahead

Outside Top 20 in Points- Ryan Newman
Will qualify up front and is due for better luck too