JeffGluck.com

Well, that was easy.

A whopping 45 people are already in our Fantasy Chase after just one week, thanks to their selection of Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the Daytona 500.

Those 45 geniuses can still get bonus points to use in the Chase if they win again, but they don’t have to truly fret over their picks until September.

Anyway, on to Phoenix. Here are all your picks for the upcoming race. The favorites are Kevin Harvick (86 picks) and Carl Edwards (84 picks).

Good luck to all!

Note: A star by someone’s name is the equivalent of a win sticker. That represents how many wins the person has this season.

I have an idea for a Fantasy NASCAR game and I want to create a new kind of league. It’s free (obviously) and we can all play together for the ultimate bragging rights (or a prize that I’ll come up with later).

Here’s how it works. Please read these rules carefully:

1. You pick ONE driver for each of the first 26 races — but you can only pick each driver ONE time. Your picks have to be submitted before the season starts (see the form and e-mail address below). So if you want to pick Jimmie Johnson for the Daytona 500, that’s fine…but you can’t use him again. If you use a driver twice, your entry is disqualified.

2. If your driver WINS the race on the week you have picked him (or her), you advance to the Fantasy Chase. That’s the only way to make the Fantasy Chase. There are no points during the regular season. If you go 26 weeks and your pick never wins on a given week, you are eliminated. Sorry. If your picks win multiple times during the season, you get three points toward the Fantasy Chase for each win.

3. Once the Chase starts, we’ll see how many people made it and the remaining people get to start over with their picks. Before Chicagoland, you submit ONE driver for each of the 10 weeks — and you can only use each driver once. The driver can be a Chase or non-Chase driver. You get your driver’s points for that race, and if you win any week, you automatically advance to the next round. The catch is there will be eliminations after every three races, just like in the real Chase. The number of people eliminated depends on how many people make the Fantasy Chase (if 100 people make it, 25 will go home after each round).

4. For the finale, there’s a chance multiple people could have the same driver. If that’s the case, the remaining contenders will be asked to submit a second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-place driver for Homestead as the tiebreaker.

UPDATE: The entry deadline has now passed. I received more than 300 entries and am now compiling them. Thanks to those who entered!