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February 21, 2007

Go West Young Season
Fantasy Insight-California Speedway
By Dennis Michelsen

After all the craziness of Speedweeks it is now time to get back into the rhythm of the regular season. California Speedway is an interesting choice for the second race of the season. Say goodbye to restrictor plates and hello to down force! The new Dodge nose gave teams better balance at Las Vegas in pre-season testing and that should indicate how well they would do in California. While Dodge has only one win at this track, Dodge has won four of the last seven at Michigan International Speedway which is this places sister track. If you thought Daytona brought surprises you ain't seen nothing yet! The first five races of the season feature that race within the race with fifty-three teams trying for the forty-three starting positions this week. Will Red Bull rebound? Can RCR show dominance on down force tracks? Will Roush-Fenway come out slugging or play like the BoSox and pop one up? Can Ginn Racing continue to surprise people with their improvement or was last week just a restrictor plate fluke? As exciting as Speedweeks can be this will be the week we find out how some teams have prepared for 2007!

Interesting Stats of the Week
Pole winner has never won in thirteen Cup races

Only two pole winners have won the race in twenty-six NASCAR races, both in the Craftsman Truck series

Ford has won seven of thirteen Cup events

Roush has four of those wins and added six more (in a row) in the Busch series

Kasey Kahne swept the Cup and Busch races last Fall

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!

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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.

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 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.

Season Totals
1 Win-1 Top 5-1 Top 10

Winner-Clint Bowyer
Long shot pick gets his first career win

Place-Carl Edwards
Long time between Cup flips for Carl

Show-Kurt Busch
Swept pole awards in 2006

Top Rookie-David Ragan
Pick is of the team more than driver here

Outside Top 20 in Points- Jamie McMurray
Type of track where he should be strong