Less than five weeks until Daytona, and the Nascar pool is up and ready to go. It will again be a salary cap style pool where you pick exactly 8 drivers whose cumulative salary is $10 million or less. These 8 drivers are your team for the entire season, and earn points in each race they participate in. The points are awarded based on the Nascar Sprint Cup format, according to finish as well as leading a lap and most laps lead bonus'.

The payout for this pool will be the same as all the others with at least 10% of teams getting a prize, with 1st place being between 40 and 50 percent of the prize pool. There will also be a few bonus races during the season, including the 50th running of the Daytona 500. The others will be announced closer to the time the season begins, and will include a road race and a short track.

Driver salaries start at $2.4 million and go down to $300 000. I tried a few combinations to check things out and you can put a reasonably solid team together for 10 mill. Keep in mind not every driver starts every race. There are some cars that have owners exemptions from the previous season and get to start every race, and some who have to qualify. Plus there are some drivers on the list who will only be running a partial season or a select few races, so you'll have to do a bit of homework. Both nascar.com and

The longest season in professional sports has finally come to an end. After 36 official points races, spanning nine months of racing action, Jimmie Johnson was crowned champion of the 2007 Nextel Cup series. Winning 4 of the final 5 races to pass team mate Jeff Gordon in the Chase, Johnson takes his second straight title.

In the pool, Morgan's GreenWhiteCheckered team outlasted Mike Honco Racing and Lowes Luvs Jimmie to take the crown. Each of the 3 teams held the top spot after at least one of the final five races, and it came right down to the final laps at Miami this past Sunday.

Winning races over the last 5 weeks of the season were Rick taking the bonus prize at Martinsville, Matt at Atlanta, Admin at Texas, Mike at Phoenix and Mo with the final bonus prize at Miami. Mike's Chadshack Chuggers team won the most races this season, most coming in the second half, but it was too little, too late as they finished just out of the prizes in 4th.

Thanks to everyone who participated this season! Hopefully you all enjoyed it and will be back again next year. I've already got some improvements/updates under way and will have them in place in the next few weeks. Look for next season's pool to go up sometime in early January.

Thanks Again!

Well, I guess this is what you would call 'crunch time'. Only 158 points separate the top 3 teams, with only 5 races to go. All 3 teams have held the top spot at one point over the past 5 races. Site Admin holds the current lead, with Shane close behind, and Mo still has the top spot within reach, especially now that he has Rudd back from his shoulder injury.

Mike Bradshaw's team has been on a tear the past 5 races with 3 straight race victories to pull his team into the top 4 and giving them an outside shot at 3rd place. Punk managed to pull out another win last week at Talladega (after being winless for the first 20 some races) and Site Admin rounded out the past 5 races with the most points in the Charlotte race.

Two of the final 5 races are bonus races, with the upcoming race at Martinsville and the final race at Miami being worth $5 to the respective winners. It should definitely be an interesting few weeks as the championship is decided.

Good luck to everyone in the final races! May the best team (mine) win!

The Nascar 'regular season' wrapped up this past weekend with very little suspense, as the top 12 was pretty much set from the green. Dale Jr. finds himself on the outside looking in, in his final year with DEI. I'm sure with the move to Hendrick you wont see that again anytime soon. Jimmie Johnson is getting hot right at the right time, winning back to back races, after struggling with an interim crew cheif for a short time. Thanks to the bonus points wins, Jimmie has a small head start on the chase.

It looks like Morgan's little run of dominance has come to a screeching halt, and the shoulder injury to Ricky Rudd could cost him huge with 10 races to go. The Rudd injury is just what the Bradshaw clan needed as 3 of the top 5 teams have him on their squad. Look for Punk, Mike or Matt to make a move at the 3rd spot as the chase progresses.

Grabbing a win this go round was Mike Bradshaw in the bonus race at Watkins Glen, earning his team the $5 prize. Shane Vale continued his solid season taking wins at Michigan and California to get himself in the top 3 with an eye on being number one. Site Admin won the Bristol race on the new surface, with very little of the bumping and banging we're accustomed to. Rounding out the past 5 races is Punk coming out of nowhere getting her first win of the season at Richmond. That leaves Dan and William as the only 2 without a race win under their belt.

As it stands right now, it looks like Site Admin and Shane Vale will be racing it out for the title, with 3 of the Bradshaws hoping Mo, Rick & Michelle fall far enough off the pace without Rudd, that they can catch up. It's shaping up to be an exciting chase on the track and in the pool.

Good luck to all in the next few races...only 10 more to go!

The dog days of summer are officially here and things all around the Nextel Cup garage are being shaken up. The Hendrick dominance seems to have come to an end, with zero wins in the past seven races, after a streak of ten wins in fourteen races to begin the season. Nascar's two biggest free agents have found new teams, with Junior heading to Hendrick from DEI, and Kyle Busch jumping over to Joe Gibbs Racing, after being given the boot by Hendrick.

In the pool, the past five races have seen some serious dominance by one team. Morgan's GreenWhiteCheckered! squad has won the past 3 races to jump into the overall lead. His worst finish in the past 4 is a second in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. Can his team keep it up??? I'm pretty sure everyone else hopes not.

Others picking up wins since the past update were Spanky and Shane each picking up a then record 3rd race win of the season. The record has since been eclipsed with Mo's insane run of success.

Another road course is on tap this week, which if it is anything like the last one, we could see some huge scores again. The Sonoma track saw the weekly point record smashed. This week at The Glen is also the 3rd bonus race of the season with $5 on the line for the top team.

Good luck to all in the next few races...15 to go!