Picking NASCAR drivers

As usual, NASCAR's season kicks into high gear in February with its biggest race of the year, the Daytona 500. This year's season is made even more interesting with the addition of Toyota's teams and the couple of big names who have jumped (Dale Jarrett and Michael Waltrip lead the list) to those teams.

And while there will probably be some surprises this season (maybe a Toyota driver will win a race or two, but it's doubtful one of them will compete for the points title), the names to watch for your NASCAR fantasy teams are all pretty familiar:

1. Jimmie Johnson. It's always harder to win a second title than the first, but Johnson and his team look pretty strong again.

2. Tony Stewart. Sure, Stewart missed the Chase for the championship last year, but he had the strongest team at the end of the year, and that momentum will carry over into this season. He always is at his best when he's driving angry, and he can't be happy about 2006.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. The troublesome stepmother aside, Junior is going to have a big year with a lot of wins. He very easily could be the top pick in most fantasy drafts.

4. Jeff Gordon. He may not be the dominant driver he once was, but you can never count out Gordon. All those wins and points titles add up to a driver who knows what it takes to win races.

5. Matt Kenseth. This is a tough one. Kenseth doesn't win many races, but he sure does earn a lot of points each week.

Others to watch: Kurt and Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman (especially if he and Kurt Busch can finally end the long-running driver troubles at Penske Racing), Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Getting started

I guess you could say I'm addicted to fantasy sports.

Starting back in the early 1990s, I've pretty much tried it all, and that was before the
explosion of the internet. Back then, we had a commissioner who had to pick up the USA Today each week to update baseball stats for our baseball league.

But it didn't stop there. Next came a NASCAR fantasy league that at one point grew to 16 owners. And with that many people, it was pretty much impossible to have two good drivers on each team. And then things really got crazy. There were NBA, NHL and golf leagues and my clear favorite: football leagues with a close second of NCAA tournament brackets (third is probably a contest we have each year to see who can pick the most bowl games correctly).

Through the years, I've been involved in several football fantasy leagues, and in most seasons
there have been more than one going on at a time. That always leads to having to try to figure out which team or player you want to do well as they possibly go up against a player or team you have on another team. Isn't that fun?

But the past few years, I've settled into a couple of football leagues. One is a traditional
fantasy league with several offensive players piling up points, although we have a little bit of a
different slant with just as many defensive players.

The other league focuses on teams. Each year, 20 or so of us gather in Lakeland for a yearly
draft. The 16 teams (some teams have more than one owner) draft eight college football teams and two pro teams, and it has added to the excitement and interest in football season each year. Now, we all have an excuse to stay up to see how Hawaii did each Saturday night.

Like I said, I'm addicted to fantasy sports. Now, being an expert is a totally different thing.
In the traditional fantasy league, I made the playoffs this year for the first time in a few
years. In the other league, I won the title once, but I have finished deep in the pack more often
than not.

But to be honest, taking part in the drafts in both leagues more than makes up for displaying a
knack for picking players/teams with my heart instead of my head. The drafts are interesting and exciting and bring together a group of friends (at least we're friends some of the time).

And that's the great thing about fantasy leagues. They're a great way for friends, even ones who
live in different parts of the country, to interact and keep in touch and enjoy sports all at the
same time. Hopefully, this blog will reflect that and help the readers enjoy their fantasy
leagues.