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May 9, 2007

Why Fight the Hendrick Dominance
Fantasy Insight-Darlington
By Dennis Michelsen
Mirror mirror on the wall who is the fastest team of them all? You don't even have to have a magic mirror or a Fantasy Racing expert with hi-tech Power Ratings to tell you that this season! NASCAR told us all how the new Car of Tomorrow design would improve the competition on the track by making all the teams even. Well in any form of racing no matter how even the rules packages the cars and teams are never even. Congratulations to Hendrick Motorsports for turning the 2007 season into a farce! In the first ten races a Hendrick driver has visited Victory Lane an amazing seven times. In four Car of Tomorrow races (or as Lori would say the CO2) Hendrick has swept every event so far. That equates to 70% of the wins, 36% of the top fives, and 46% of all top ten finishes this season! Not since the days of Carl Kiekhaefer have we seen a more dominant team in NASCAR. Every other manufacturer and team will be screaming about NASCAR doing something. The cold harsh reality is that this is the season of Hendrick Motorsports! Since NASCAR is not inspecting the Car of Tomorrow as much as they do the other cars it is no wonder Hendrick has been this dominant. Over the history of the organization no one has been as productive in exploiting those gray areas in the rules with new innovations. (Remember T-Rex?) The crazy reality is that when we do get to the Chase for the Championship luck will be more important than consistency. Wouldn't it be hilarious if this domination continues but the 12th place driver entering the Chase more than 1500 points behind wins the Championship? In the meantime for your Fantasy picks this week do NOT get fancy…pick Hendrick Motorsports on top!

Fast Facts of the Week
Hendrick has won 7 of 10 races and all four COT events

Hendrick dominance extends to top 5s (36% of all) and top 10s (46% of all)

Jimmie Johnson has 7 top 10s in 8 career starts and best average finish

Do or die for Biffle…this is one of his best tracks with an average finish of 10th and 2 wins in his career in six starts

19% of races won from poll, 37% from front row, and 87% from top ten starting position

Only 5% of the winners have started 20th or worse

Rowdy Fantasy
Need more help with your Fantasy games? Check out Rowdy Fantasy at www.rowdy.com for our exclusive weekly feature. Looking for the ultimate source for stock car racing news, even during the off-season? Rowdy has it all--the best news, garage gossip, and insight from drivers, crew chiefs, reporters, and even you fans--all right on your cell phone each and every day! We do more in 5 minutes than most racing sources do in a day!

If you've only got time for one racing show, Rowdy is the real deal. So yes, Rowdy is the only racing show you'll ever need - and it's on your cell every day!

If you want to enjoy the Rowdy show on the phone for free, you can do it any time. Just dial 434-92-ROWDY! Answer 2 easy questions about your phone and you are in.

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.

http://www.fan1st.com/index.html

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 320 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 Gordon
Last Week 3rd
Baby needs a new pair of shoes

Place-Jimmie Johnson
Last Week 2nd
Four wins already hard to pick against him

Show-Kyle Busch
Last Week 43rd
Races this COT great

Top Rookie-Paul Menard
Last Week 20th (2nd best rookie)
Has the most laps here but has to make the show on time

Outside Top 20 in Points-Joe Nemechek
Last Week 24th
Strong Horses for Courses rating

Wednesday on Race Talk Radio
8pm Eastern-Fantasy Insight-Need help with your Fantasy Racing lineup? Each week we go beyond the stats to pick winners! Join Dennis Michelsen and Mike Harper every week as they play head to head in Flip Flops. You can win great prizes by picking the winning fantasy handicapper each week.

8:30pm Eastern-Racing Rock Star with Gannon Hollywood-Gannon is the jackman on the No. 47 NASCAR Busch team, and yes that is his real name! His videos will be featured on SPEED CHANNEL and his exclusive radio show will be heard on www.racetalkradio.com every week!

9pm Eastern-Quick Change- Dennis Michelsen, Mike Harper and Lori Munro bring you cutting edge commentary and their own personal unique spins on the world of all things racing. Our weekly guests will try to keep up! Tune in and just try to hang on every Wednesday night.