Countdown

     2 days and 8 hours until we pick our drivers for the first half of the 2014 season.   Our usual spot at Ocean Lanes bowling alley at about 5:15 PM.  Are you ready? Are you excited?   I know I am excited to take all of your money.  I have heard from all except for John and Gary. I am assuming you guys are coming.  Please send email or text to let me know for sure.
   Thanks and see you all there then,
Paul

2014 Nascar Pool

     Ok, here we go. This year, I predict some awesome racing and a great Chase to the Championship with Nascar's re-formatted playoffs.  This years field of drivers looks to be just as exciting.  Some of the lower tier teams have improved sponsorship and funding from investors plus improved drivers as well.  Check out my post regarding this years lineups from the "popular post" section on the right side of the page.  If you haven't heard yet, after the first 26 races, 16 cars will make the field for the Chase (based on wins and then points).  After the first 3 races of the Chase, the bottom 4 drivers are eliminated, and points reset.  After next 3 races, same thing, and then again, leaving only four drivers to fight it out at the last race.  Sounds exciting to me, knock-out rounds!!! Cool.  Now if only they can find a way to have only those drivers race instead of all 43 cars.
     Attached is this years first half pool sheets.  If you cannot download it and somehow send it back to me with your picks, just shoot me an email with your 18 picks in order of the races (remember, you can only use each driver once).  You can give me your entry fee when I see you next. (also remember, you can enter multiple times for multiple fees).  Trying to get many more involved this year to make it really interesting.
     Any questions, feel free to email me.
Paul

P.S. - For those of you in the Big Pool (you know who you are) don't forget, 2/15 at about 5:15 we will be gathering at Ocean Lanes for our driver picking.  If you cannot make it, I need to know asap.  I sent you guys an email a few weeks ago, and true to form, no one responded.  Need to know if you will be participating also.  Any ideas on changes you want to bring up, make sure we do so prior to picking.

New Aero Package for 2014

     Just announced for next year, new look for the Ford camp. We'll see how this works out.

RCR bringing back the number 3

   As my friends and fellow Nascar poolers know, I have been a lifelong Dale Earnhardt fan.  From the first race I watched in the mid 1980's where he "moved" someone out of the way to take the lead until that fateful day in Daytona in 2001, I was there rooting him on.  I had actually hoped that Dale Jr. would sign with RCR and take over the #3 ride back then, but I understand his reasons in not doing that and wanting to make his own history.  That being said, all this uproar and Nascar bashing over Richard Childress bringing Dillon up with the number 3 is ridiculous.  First of all, if you didn't see it coming when he first drove the #3 Truck years ago, shame on you.
   Dale Sr. will always be remembered for the black number 3, but that doesn't mean that no one can ever run that number again.  Is it too soon??? No, if not now.... when? Should I stop watching Nascar because I don't agree with what Childress is doing? No, grow up! Watch to see Austin Dillon make his own history in the Cheerios #3 and know that no one can ever be Dale Earnhardt Sr. .... ever.
   That's what I think!

Final Sprint Cup Series Points Standings

Finish	Driver	Races	Wins	Top 5's	Top 10's	Pole's	Winnings	Points
1	Jimmie Johnson	36	6	16	24	3	7,907,550	2419
2	Matt Kenseth	36	7	12	20	3	6,873,896	2400
3	Kevin Harvick	36	4	9	21	1	6,299,293	2385
4	Kyle Busch	36	4	16	22	3	6,734,110	2364
5	Dale Earnhardt, Jr.	36	0	10	22	2	5,759,933	2363
6	Jeff Gordon	36	1	8	17	2	5,758,139	2337
7	Clint Bowyer	36	0	10	19	0	5,452,701	2336
8	Joey Logano	36	1	11	19	2	5,366,317	2323
9	Greg Biffle	36	1	4	13	0	4,673,864	2321
10	Kurt Busch	36	0	11	16	1	5,041,538	2309
11	Ryan Newman	36	1	6	18	2	5,512,766	2286
12	Kasey Kahne	36	2	11	14	0	5,205,129	2283
13	Carl Edwards	36	2	9	16	2	5,719,345	2282
14	Brad Keselowski	36	1	9	16	1	6,351,970	1041
15	Jamie McMurray	36	1	4	9	1	4,821,448	1007
16	Martin Truex, Jr.	36	1	7	15	0	5,412,489	998
17	Paul Menard	36	0	3	9	0	4,760,069	949
18	Aric Almirola	36	0	1	6	0	4,962,246	913
19	Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.	36	0	1	3	1	5,291,879	909
20	Jeff Burton	36	0	2	6	0	3,900,943	906
21	Juan Pablo Montoya	36	0	4	8	0	4,773,218	894
22	Marcos Ambrose	36	0	0	6	1	4,558,152	872
23	Denny Hamlin	32	1	4	8	5	4,224,259	753
24	Casey Mears	36	0	0	1	0	4,110,375	719
25	Mark Martin	28	0	1	5	1	3,973,952	649
26	David Gilliland	36	0	1	2	0	3,811,157	648
27	Danica Patrick	36	0	0	1	1	3,411,110	646
28	David Ragan	36	1	1	2	0	4,182,180	633
29	Tony Stewart	21	1	5	8	0	3,567,849	594
30	Dave Blaney	35	0	0	0	0	3,412,422	526
31	Travis Kvapil	36	0	0	0	0	3,758,019	496
32	J.J. Yeley	35	0	0	1	0	3,192,608	472
33	David Reutimann	36	0	0	0	0	3,406,020	465
34	Bobby Labonte	28	0	0	0	0	3,009,805	412
35	A.J. Allmendinger	18	0	0	1	0	2,025,522	410
36	David Stremme	25	0	0	0	0	2,278,774	362
37	Michael McDowell	33	0	0	1	0	2,589,218	210
38	Timmy Hill	19	0	0	0	0	1,603,452	190
39	Ken Schrader	10	0	0	0	0	820,607	118
40	Michael Waltrip	4	0	2	2	0	694,209	114
41	Scott Speed	12	0	0	1	0	1,113,344	99
42	Terry Labonte	5	0	0	0	0	687,476	87
43	Boris Said	2	0	0	0	0	193,881	48
44	Ron Fellows	2	0	0	0	0	171,348	31
45	Alex Kennedy	3	0	0	0	0	190,405	21
46	Justin Marks	1	0	0	0	0	86,705	14
47	Scott Riggs	7	0	0	0	0	393,915	11
48	Victor Gonzalez, Jr.	2	0	0	0	0	134,602	10
49	Brian Keselowski	2	0	0	0	0	122,050	9
50	Tomy Drissi	2	0	0	0	0	125,095	8
51	Jacques Villeneuve	1	0	0	0	0	72,245	3
52	Jason Leffler	1	0	0	0	0	47,550	1
53	Regan Smith	6	0	0	2	0	1,019,772
54	Austin Dillon	11	0	0	0	0	1,533,233
55	Elliott Sadler	5	0	0	0	0	442,415
56	Trevor Bayne	12	0	0	0	0	1,373,814
57	Kyle Larson	4	0	0	0	0	377,436
58	Max Papis	1	0	0	0	0	122,210
59	Parker Kligerman	2	0	0	0	0	218,411
60	Josh Wise	35	0	0	0	0	2,980,321
61	Landon Cassill	33	0	0	0	0	2,768,526
62	Justin Allgaier	4	0	0	0	0	396,537
63	Owen Kelly	1	0	0	0	0	92,682
64	Joe Nemechek	33	0	0	0	0	2,764,078
65	Cole Whitt	7	0	0	0	0	552,233
66	Brian Scott	1	0	0	0	0	92,718
67	Tony Raines	11	0	0	0	0	738,235
68	Ryan Truex	3	0	0	0	0	248,905
69	Mike Bliss	12	0	0	0	0	759,380
70	Brendan Gaughan	1	0	0	0	0	87,985
71	Reed Sorenson	6	0	0	0	0	382,244
72	Sam Hornish, Jr.	1	0	0	0	0	77,725
73	Kevin Swindell	1	0	0	0	0	72,675
74	Blake Koch	1	0	0	0	0	66,550
75	Paulie Harraka	1	0	0	0	0	72,245
76	Morgan Shepherd	1	0	0	0	0	60,675
77	Johnny Sauter	2	0	0	0	0	115,500
78	Brian Vickers	17	1	2	6	0	1,866,055	-50