Category: Uncategorized

Things are happening REALLY FAST through four weeks of our Fantasy Chase game, as we’re already down to 71 players after starting with 197.

How fast?

You’re absolutely right, Ron Burgundy. In fact, let’s how look at how quickly the field has been whittled:

Pre-race	Players left
Chicago	197
New Hampshire	183
Dover	113
Kansas	107
Charlotte	71

How about Charlotte? Is there more craziness ahead?

For starters, at least one person picked 11 of the 12 remaining Chase drivers (everyone except for Ryan Newman) for Saturday night’s race, which ensures more people will be eliminated.

But how many? The popular pick to stay out of the bottom four this week is Kasey Kahne, which makes sense. The best pick, though, might be Kevin Harvick.

Why? Because Adam Huth picked Harvick. You might remember Huth as the dude who won seven regular season races. Well, make it eight victories on the year — he picked Joey Logano at Kansas last week.

It’s too bad for Huth, though, that his wins mean nothing in terms of winning the championship. That’s what a points reset will do for ya.

Anyway, here are all your picks for Charlotte (note: picks in Italics means driver already eliminated):

Twitter ID	Charlotte
KeviRHatfield	Busch, Kurt
Springwolf	Busch, Kurt
Dfblanchard	Busch, Kurt
HitYourMarks	Busch, Kurt
davidlerner75	Busch, Kyle
Nascar_Nut	Busch, Kyle
BPierce	Busch, Kyle
dave_phillips1	Busch, Kyle
poloshot	Busch, Kyle
Sam_Beishuizen	Busch, Kyle
Sports2hiphop	Busch, Kyle
chrisonethree	Busch, Kyle
brian_wiggins	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
AshBollinger	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
icemankeller	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
wdoyle66	Edwards, Carl
Bradley_016	Edwards, Carl
kennethriggs	Edwards, Carl
oldguyjk	Edwards, Carl
Toenailurface	Edwards, Carl
lorettamagers	Gordon, Jeff
fatbuzz66	Gordon, Jeff
Mattdobson_7	Gordon, Jeff
Huth88	Hamlin, Denny
Readymixchick	Hamlin, Denny
quickdraw222	Hamlin, Denny
jdubharris	Hamlin, Denny
gregatkins	Hamlin, Denny
Kfisher88	Harvick, Kevin
devyanks90	Harvick, Kevin
CopaCavanna	Harvick, Kevin
jsoupzzz	Harvick, Kevin
Scottwilfong	Harvick, Kevin
ZHorrall224	Harvick, Kevin
Adam_Huth	Harvick, Kevin
ncraiderfan17	Johnson, Jimmie
cgros127	Johnson, Jimmie
lancesells	Johnson, Jimmie
cpeuterb	Johnson, Jimmie
basspro24chevy	Johnson, Jimmie
dickiep1018	Johnson, Jimmie
Chubdubblub	Kahne, Kasey
turbojunker	Kahne, Kasey
bruce_compton15	Kahne, Kasey
gonzalezterence	Kahne, Kasey
ItsAlexKaplan	Kahne, Kasey
Amishkid17	Kahne, Kasey
thndrnghrd24	Kahne, Kasey
digertwo	Kahne, Kasey
bakemoney2000	Kahne, Kasey
CFDIG	Kahne, Kasey
TheTigerBones	Kahne, Kasey
Coates_Burghfan	Kahne, Kasey
AppBuckeye31	Kahne, Kasey
rebel388	Kahne, Kasey
mattgross	Kahne, Kasey
tcholbrook	Kahne, Kasey
coreyr12	Kahne, Kasey
dallasjunebug	Kahne, Kasey
chris_siebold22	Kenseth, Matt
Revvin4Seven48	Kenseth, Matt
csvelin	Kenseth, Matt
HD388	Kenseth, Matt
stephenflorentz	Keselowski, Brad
Ed_326	Keselowski, Brad
fnmetal	Keselowski, Brad
mauhernz	Keselowski, Brad
ClintLJones	Logano, Joey
trv240sx	Logano, Joey
katiecole125	Logano, Joey
Gael78II	Logano, Joey

 

Kansas was an ugly race for some of the major Chase contenders. And that meant elimination for 36 players in our Fantasy Chase — 34 percent of the overall field!

We’re now down to 71 people remaining with six races to go.

The bottom four drivers at Kansas — shockingly — were Brad Keselowski, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne. So that means a fond farewell to the following people:

Keselowski (11):

whenske

Jrig1980

Race5599

jmorris_np

Hokiefitz

RealJDogg_82

NSCRtruckFAN

18frannie

ashaver13

CraigHaasis

echo837

Earnhardt (5):

caseylandrum15

arlenekrue

MaximeB92

DeuceStaley_48

jojolv48

Johnson (3):

DRLDeBoer

MoWhi

BigLiciousT

Kahne (5):

DillonSims

jsugi48

Jddorman2

tvphotog17

_Chouinard

In addition, 12 people were eliminated when the race took the green flag due to their picks of drivers who were no longer in the Chase. They were:

Kurt Busch (6):

hollywoodtlb

pamnielsen

bradleykarnes

cswiecki84

kid67y

PhotoMatt_KCCO

Greg Biffle (6):

thejosh20

4toddboyer

ZTsmiley

scottaltimaman

prettymonkey

Daniels_Caudill

The less you know about Gone Girl before seeing it, the better. So you won’t find any spoilers here except for this one: Spend $10 to go see Gone Girl in the theater, and it’ll be worth every penny.

After all, movies are supposed to entertain us. That’s the reason we’re still willing to invest a couple hours in a single activity, put our short attention spans on hold and fork over $13 for a soda and popcorn.

Gone Girl is dark and a bit twisted, but it’s also sprinkled with humor to break some of the tension. It feels all too real at times, which certainly is a reflection of our society’s obsession with high-profile crimes. The cast is electrifying, and the film sucks you in to such a degree that you lose track of the nearly 2.5-hour run time.

Above all, it’s compelling — and wildly entertaining.

If you’re one of the people who have already read the book, you know the kind of roller coaster ride that awaits. I hadn’t read it, so I was surprised by all the developments — and I didn’t mind it one bit. Without giving too much away, Gone Girl is about a Midwestern housewife who suddenly disappears on her fifth anniversary. All signs point to her husband, who gets the Nancy Grace treatment and endures a harsh media spotlight while everyone picks apart his behavior.

Did he kill her? His behavior certainly seems suspicious. Or was she abducted? Was it something else? What happened to her?

Ben Affleck is terrific as the husband, and it probably ranks as one of his best performances. Rosamund Pike, who I wasn’t familiar with before this, is perfect in her role as the wife and the lawyer played by Tyler Perry will make you forget all about Madea. Neil Patrick Harris is also creepily good.

But the real stars are the crisp writing — former Entertainment Weekly TV critic Gillian Flynn adapted her own bestselling novel — and the direction of David Fincher, whose ominous, foreboding style works perfectly for this story.

While I loved Gone Girl and highly recommend it, I don’t think it will be in line for any of the major category Oscars. It’s not really a Best Picture type film, nor are the actors going to get all that much buzz. It reminds me of Fincher’s Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which didn’t get a Best Picture nom in 2012.

It should still do extremely well at the box office, though, and rightfully so. This film lives up to the hype, and you won’t regret investing your time and money to see it.

Rating: 10 out of 10

The next stop in the Fantasy Chase is Kansas Speedway — at least for the 107 remaining players.

As an update, here’s how the game is progressing so far:

Pre-race	Players left
Chicago	197
New Hampshire	183
Dover	113
Kansas	107

Now let’s take a look at your picks for this week. All 12 of the remaining Chase drivers were picked — guaranteeing more people will be eliminated after Kansas.

But we already know some of the people who will go home. Unfortunately, 12 people picked Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch. Since those drivers are already out of the real Chase, their picks won’t allow them to advance past this week no matter how well Biffle and Busch perform at Kansas.

The rest of the picks are pretty evenly spread, but Jeff Gordon is getting the most love.

Here are your selections (Italics represents a driver who is not eligible for this week):

Twitter ID	Kansas
thejosh20	Biffle, Greg
4toddboyer	Biffle, Greg
ZTsmiley	Biffle, Greg
scottaltimaman	Biffle, Greg
prettymonkey	Biffle, Greg
Daniels_Caudill	Biffle, Greg
hollywoodtlb	Busch, Kurt
pamnielsen	Busch, Kurt
bradleykarnes	Busch, Kurt
cswiecki84	Busch, Kurt
kid67y	Busch, Kurt
PhotoMatt_KCCO	Busch, Kurt
Kfisher88	Busch, Kyle
devyanks90	Busch, Kyle
Chubdubblub	Busch, Kyle
KeviRHatfield	Busch, Kyle
turbojunker	Busch, Kyle
caseylandrum15	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
arlenekrue	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
MaximeB92	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
DeuceStaley_48	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
jojolv48	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
CopaCavanna	Edwards, Carl
bruce_compton15	Edwards, Carl
davidlerner75	Edwards, Carl
stephenflorentz	Edwards, Carl
gonzalezterence	Edwards, Carl
Huth88	Edwards, Carl
ClintLJones	Edwards, Carl
ItsAlexKaplan	Edwards, Carl
Readymixchick	Edwards, Carl
ncraiderfan17	Edwards, Carl
trv240sx	Edwards, Carl
Amishkid17	Edwards, Carl
Nascar_Nut	Edwards, Carl
thndrnghrd24	Gordon, Jeff
Ed_326	Gordon, Jeff
wdoyle66	Gordon, Jeff
Springwolf	Gordon, Jeff
cgros127	Gordon, Jeff
lancesells	Gordon, Jeff
digertwo	Gordon, Jeff
katiecole125	Gordon, Jeff
chris_siebold22	Gordon, Jeff
quickdraw222	Gordon, Jeff
Bradley_016	Gordon, Jeff
jsoupzzz	Gordon, Jeff
Revvin4Seven48	Gordon, Jeff
csvelin	Gordon, Jeff
bakemoney2000	Gordon, Jeff
kennethriggs	Gordon, Jeff
jdubharris	Gordon, Jeff
brian_wiggins	Gordon, Jeff
HD388	Gordon, Jeff
BPierce	Hamlin, Denny
cpeuterb	Hamlin, Denny
Dfblanchard	Hamlin, Denny
AshBollinger	Hamlin, Denny
lorettamagers	Harvick, Kevin
HitYourMarks	Harvick, Kevin
fatbuzz66	Harvick, Kevin
DRLDeBoer	Johnson, Jimmie
MoWhi	Johnson, Jimmie
BigLiciousT	Johnson, Jimmie
DillonSims	Kahne, Kasey
jsugi48	Kahne, Kasey
Jddorman2	Kahne, Kasey
tvphotog17	Kahne, Kasey
_Chouinard	Kahne, Kasey
CFDIG	Kenseth, Matt
TheTigerBones	Kenseth, Matt
dave_phillips1	Kenseth, Matt
Coates_Burghfan	Kenseth, Matt
AppBuckeye31	Kenseth, Matt
oldguyjk	Kenseth, Matt
gregatkins	Kenseth, Matt
Gael78II	Kenseth, Matt
rebel388	Kenseth, Matt
fnmetal	Kenseth, Matt
mattgross	Kenseth, Matt
poloshot	Kenseth, Matt
Sam_Beishuizen	Kenseth, Matt
Toenailurface	Kenseth, Matt
basspro24chevy	Kenseth, Matt
whenske	Keselowski, Brad
Jrig1980	Keselowski, Brad
Race5599	Keselowski, Brad
jmorris_np	Keselowski, Brad
Hokiefitz	Keselowski, Brad
RealJDogg_82	Keselowski, Brad
NSCRtruckFAN	Keselowski, Brad
18frannie	Keselowski, Brad
ashaver13	Keselowski, Brad
CraigHaasis	Keselowski, Brad
echo837	Keselowski, Brad
Sports2hiphop	Logano, Joey
Mattdobson_7	Logano, Joey
Scottwilfong	Logano, Joey
ZHorrall224	Logano, Joey
mauhernz	Logano, Joey
tcholbrook	Logano, Joey
coreyr12	Logano, Joey
Adam_Huth	Logano, Joey
icemankeller	Logano, Joey
dallasjunebug	Logano, Joey
dickiep1018	Logano, Joey
chrisonethree	Newman, Ryan

If you recall, 70 players (including me) were eliminated from the Fantasy Chase last week. Seventy! In one week!

So how would Dover treat the remaining 113 people? Pretty darn well, actually.

Only six people were eliminated this week — one who picked Aric Almirola, two who picked Greg Biffle and three who picked Kasey Kahne (AJ Allmendinger was the other bottom four Chase driver, but no one picked him).

So it’s farewell to the following players:

Kasey Kahne (3):

spitz121

n08fear

Bob_14

Greg Biffle (2):

jrkenbok

nuggie99

Aric Almirola (1):

CodfishCodfish

So now you’re thinking, “Oh geez, we have 107 people left. Maybe there will be too many still playing at Homestead if this keeps up.”

Ah, but you’re forgetting the twist! Remember, if a driver has already been eliminated from the real Chase (such as Biffle or Kurt Busch), that pick is no good if used for an upcoming race.

If you look at it that way, there are 12 people who are guaranteed to be eliminated at Kansas because they picked either Biffle or Busch (I’ll post the Kansas picks later this week).

And the trend continues, too:

— Six people have picked drivers for Charlotte who are already eliminated

— 15 at Talladega

— Five at Martinsville

— One at Texas (someone picked AJ Allmendinger — why?)

— None at Phoenix

— Three at Homestead (three people picked Biffle; can you imagine getting all the way to Homestead and then having your pick already eliminated? Ouch!)

As you can see, it’s not going to be easy to survive all the way to Homestead — particularly if a big name falls out of the Chase this round.

Enjoy the week and I’ll post another update as Kansas approaches.

This is the last “normal” week of the Fantasy Chase.

Why? Because starting in the next round, some players will be eliminated before that week’s race even starts. Remember: If you picked a driver who is already eliminated from the Chase, your pick is no good.

That makes Dover really big for some people. If you have Denny Hamlin at Talladega, for example, you need him to make Round 2 (whatever it’s called) or you’ll be eliminated that week if you’re still playing.

Yikes.

And we’ve already had a lot of attrition — more than I expected, to be honest. Check out how quickly our field is dwindling:

Pre-race	Still playing
Chicago	197
New Hampshire	183
Dover	113

So we’re down to 113 people, and those 113 have picked 15 different drivers at Dover (everyone but AJ Allmendinger) — which means more are guaranteed to get cut this week.

The most popular choice? Jimmie Johnson, who carries the Fantasy Chase hopes of 34 people this week. It’s a pretty good bet, but you would have thought the same about Hamlin last week at New Hampshire.

Here are the picks for Dover:

Twitter ID	Dover
CodfishCodfish	Almirola, Aric
jrkenbok	Biffle, Greg
nuggie99	Biffle, Greg
davidlerner75	Busch, Kurt
dallasjunebug	Busch, Kurt
BPierce	Busch, Kurt
Daniels_Caudill	Busch, Kurt
trv240sx	Busch, Kurt
Toenailurface	Busch, Kurt
Mattdobson_7	Busch, Kyle
pamnielsen	Busch, Kyle
AshBollinger	Busch, Kyle
ItsAlexKaplan	Busch, Kyle
Jddorman2	Busch, Kyle
DRLDeBoer	Busch, Kyle
cpeuterb	Busch, Kyle
jojolv48	Busch, Kyle
bakemoney2000	Busch, Kyle
lancesells	Busch, Kyle
csvelin	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
katiecole125	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
Dfblanchard	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
digertwo	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
Huth88	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
BigLiciousT	Earnhardt Jr., Dale
chrisonethree	Edwards, Carl
quickdraw222	Edwards, Carl
scottaltimaman	Edwards, Carl
devyanks90	Edwards, Carl
jsugi48	Edwards, Carl
basspro24chevy	Edwards, Carl
HD388	Edwards, Carl
Sam_Beishuizen	Gordon, Jeff
CraigHaasis	Gordon, Jeff
Gael78II	Hamlin, Denny
tcholbrook	Hamlin, Denny
fnmetal	Hamlin, Denny
Scottwilfong	Hamlin, Denny
poloshot	Hamlin, Denny
kennethriggs	Hamlin, Denny
Ed_326	Harvick, Kevin
18frannie	Harvick, Kevin
dave_phillips1	Harvick, Kevin
fatbuzz66	Johnson, Jimmie
Amishkid17	Johnson, Jimmie
prettymonkey	Johnson, Jimmie
tvphotog17	Johnson, Jimmie
jdubharris	Johnson, Jimmie
bradleykarnes	Johnson, Jimmie
jmorris_np	Johnson, Jimmie
mauhernz	Johnson, Jimmie
Chubdubblub	Johnson, Jimmie
Coates_Burghfan	Johnson, Jimmie
rebel388	Johnson, Jimmie
wdoyle66	Johnson, Jimmie
jsoupzzz	Johnson, Jimmie
ZHorrall224	Johnson, Jimmie
Springwolf	Johnson, Jimmie
Revvin4Seven48	Johnson, Jimmie
CopaCavanna	Johnson, Jimmie
gonzalezterence	Johnson, Jimmie
hollywoodtlb	Johnson, Jimmie
CFDIG	Johnson, Jimmie
whenske	Johnson, Jimmie
Jrig1980	Johnson, Jimmie
cswiecki84	Johnson, Jimmie
Kfisher88	Johnson, Jimmie
KeviRHatfield	Johnson, Jimmie
chris_siebold22	Johnson, Jimmie
ZTsmiley	Johnson, Jimmie
kid67y	Johnson, Jimmie
4toddboyer	Johnson, Jimmie
Nascar_Nut	Johnson, Jimmie
lorettamagers	Johnson, Jimmie
brian_wiggins	Johnson, Jimmie
RealJDogg_82	Johnson, Jimmie
Sports2hiphop	Johnson, Jimmie
spitz121	Kahne, Kasey
n08fear	Kahne, Kasey
Bob_14	Kahne, Kasey
bruce_compton15	Kenseth, Matt
echo837	Kenseth, Matt
icemankeller	Kenseth, Matt
Hokiefitz	Kenseth, Matt
ashaver13	Kenseth, Matt
Adam_Huth	Kenseth, Matt
coreyr12	Kenseth, Matt
caseylandrum15	Kenseth, Matt
dickiep1018	Kenseth, Matt
DeuceStaley_48	Kenseth, Matt
Bradley_016	Kenseth, Matt
Race5599	Kenseth, Matt
cgros127	Keselowski, Brad
ClintLJones	Keselowski, Brad
thndrnghrd24	Keselowski, Brad
oldguyjk	Logano, Joey
DillonSims	Logano, Joey
Readymixchick	Logano, Joey
HitYourMarks	Logano, Joey
mattgross	Logano, Joey
stephenflorentz	Logano, Joey
MaximeB92	Logano, Joey
PhotoMatt_KCCO	Logano, Joey
NSCRtruckFAN	Logano, Joey
arlenekrue	Logano, Joey
TheTigerBones	Logano, Joey
AppBuckeye31	Logano, Joey
gregatkins	Logano, Joey
turbojunker	Logano, Joey
_Chouinard	Newman, Ryan
ncraiderfan17	Newman, Ryan
MoWhi	Newman, Ryan
thejosh20	Newman, Ryan

What

the

heck

was

that

??????????????

New Hampshire knocked me out of the Fantasy Chase, making me one of 70 players to end the season this week. And it stinks. I couldn’t even survive two races? Why did I pick Kurt Busch? Come on, man!

Seriously, though — if you could have predicted Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin would be the bottom four at New Hampshire, you should be in Las Vegas and not wasting your time with this game.

Hamlin’s bad day was costly for many people. We lost 47 players who picked Hamlin, including Gordon’s public relations rep Jon Edwards, who was added to the Chase as a commissioner’s selection at Chicagoland.

It’s frustrating, but that’s how the Fantasy Chase goes. In just two weeks, we’ve already said goodbye to 84 people. That leaves 113 players left to battle it out for the final eight races.

Here’s the breakdown of how the season ended for me and the others who were eliminated this week (38 percent of the field!):

Kasey Kahne (6):

stevemichalik

summerbrooke23

kjflye

pat_decola

Shady__Hill

HotStoverReport

Jeff Gordon (3)

LAW9960

mrdevore

Kharvfanfla15

Kurt Busch (14)

LoganReardon20

jay_wilkins17

jeff_gluck

DJstatman482454

VinnieV77

samhissett7

JoeGwilt

alovewithoutend

P_prissypants

thasmoke

_Carlton

LDGringo

1kfox

grammatea4u

Denny Hamlin (47 — was this week’s most-picked driver)

NancyatStudioN

joey_fonseca

jonedwards24

mattlovisa

DTrainMurphyTX

glenburdett

Carlajarvi

Lil’ Debbie

goofyfordfan

vasteve

clebren45

The_real_tc_

hzirbel

Cody_Masse

dwilwer

bshell00

jjwolfeman

chrisallen_nc

markvphotos

richman43

foolrain

kevinkletti

soller00

robwright11

ashinyobject

abadacejr182288

Jrioux_

J_Carleton

MrsJPancake

jbenik

rsc654

Freak4Harvick

dfairhurst2448

jayua

stevelo48

folimu

AndrewWaldrop

YenndeeZ

acheckeredflag

07vanquish

Bundy315

MarkRH

TannerFoutz

StatsDavid

3Dingo

dlschamp

DR_FNP

Wondering if you’re still in the game? Check out the New Hampshire picks to see if you survived the cut.