Hello Angels,

Welcome back from the Mother’s Day break in NEXTEL Cup racing. These past two weeks has allowed NASCAR to put out a tentative schedule for the 2005 NEXTEL Cup season and there are some changes that were rumored to happen that did.  For one, Rockingham raceway will no longer be on the Cup schedule and Darlington will only get one race next year as well. Texas and Phoenix raceways will both get a second race in the 2005 season.

Here’s what hasn’t changed in the two week break.  Tony Stewart got a tongue lashing from another one of his fellow drivers. This happened following Saturday night’s Chevy American Revolution 400 at Richmond, Va.  Stewart had made a late-race pit, but the leaders in the race did not. This included Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Stewart came up on Gordon, who was running in fourth at the time, and according to Gordon, bumped him out of the way.  Gordon said in a post-race interview that Stewart had the position and didn’t need to send Gordon and himself into the wall to get the position. Stewart said that his car got loose, even though he had just pitted and had fresh tires.

Speaking of aggressive drivers, Kasey Kahne showed he’s not just a rookie people can take advantage of.  Last night Jeff Green got the brunt of Kahne’s wrath after Green pushed him out of the way. While we don’t know if Kahne purposefully turned Green into the wall, it definitely looks that way.  Green finished 37th, while Kahne only finished nine spots ahead in 28th.

For you Earnhardt fans, I’m sure you already know that he won the race. He, along with second place finisher, Johnson, dominated the race, but Earnhardt had the better car. Congratulations to Earnhardt on his third win of the season.

All in all though, not too much carnage in the short-track race under the lights.

In case you didn’t know, the Chevy American Revolution 400 is the final race of the Charlie’s Angels’ Fantasy League first segment of three.  I’m going to do the order a little differently this week.

Jill (Jennie) I’m starting with you because you are the Golden Caboose Award recipient this week. This is because you still have Johnny Benson on your team.  He is not running NEXTEL Cup racing this year, and in fact, he just lost his Busch series ride as well.  Your remaining four drivers, Kahne, Gordon, Johnson and Earnhardt finished 28th, sixth, second and first respectively, and with those four drivers your average finish is a beautiful 7.4.  That said, I can’t compute your average finish because of Benson, which warranted your being awarded the Golden Caboose.  That is the bad news.  The good news is that with those four drivers you have earned enough points to stay in first place of our Angels and is the SEGMENT ONE TOP ANGEL with 7,083 points earned.  In fact, you are in the 99th percentile for the entire RPM.ESPN Stock Car Challenge Web site.  You were only about 600 points off the Web site winner.  I’d say this isn’t a bad start to your defense of the Charlie’s Angels’ Fantasy League Championship for 2003. Congratulations!!!

Mr. X (Dave), having Earnhardt and Ryan Newman on your team this week definitely helped you, especially with Earnhardt winning, while Newman finished a distant ninth.  Speaking of distance, your remaining three drivers had problems.  Kevin Harvick crashed on lap 169, but still managed to finish 25th.  Scott Riggs blew an engine with 57 laps remaining and finished 35th, while Green finished 37th after his crash with Kahne.  Your average finish is 21.4, but it was enough to secure your second place finish overall in the league with 6,880 points and a finishing percentile of 94.1.

Kris (Peggy) you had an outstanding night of racing.  Earnhardt led your team and the field with his win. Johnson finished second, while Brian Vickers had a top-10 finish by coming in eighth.  Elliott Sadler had a decent night with his 12th place finish and Kahne finished 28th. While Kahne’s finish didn’t give you a top-10 average finish, you came as close as you can to getting one with 10.2.  What your points did give you is boost over Kelly (Sarah) for the Bronze Medal overall in the league with 6,684 points and a finishing percentile of 80.9. Nice job.

Kelly, as I’ve just mentioned Kris did take you out of our top-three positions for the overall league, but you didn’t go down without a fight.  All five of your drivers finished 18th or better.  In that last position is Terry Labonte.  Michael Waltrip finished 10th after a long and hard fought battle with Stewart earlier in the race. Vickers finished eighth, while Bobby Labonte finished third.  Earnhardt’s win means he is your top driver as well. Your average finish is an even eight, and is enough to be our Top Angel for the final race of Segment One.  Unfortunately you were only five points behind Kris in the overall standings with 6,679 points and a finishing percentile of 80.5. Nice job.

For me, the Chevy American Revolution 400 proved to be my falling point. My first two drivers, Johnson and Gordon finished second and sixth respectively. My remaining three drivers, Kahne, Kurt Busch and Scott Wimmer, all had problems.  I’ve already mentioned Kahne, but Busch was leading the race when he ran something over and knocked his water pump belt, along with other belts off. He was lucky to not have blown the engine up. Instead he finished 31st, 14 laps down. Wimmer had problems early with an unscheduled pit stop and finished 30th, eight laps down. My average finish was a low 19. Overall, I earned 6,560 points and a percentile of 68 even.  But I slipped two positions from third to fifth because my drivers poor performance in the final race.

Natalie (Donna) you’re our top-finishing Charlie’s Angels’ rookie for Segment One.  You’ve had the lowest of lows, especially with the second race of the season when you scored only 280 points, and with only four drivers in the field, had a very-bad 24.8 average finish. You’ve also had a high 711 points in the fifth race, and a Top-Angel Award in the eighth race of the year. Last night, you had the third highest average finish of the night. This is because four of your drivers finished 13th or better.  Your only driver with a blemish is Kahne and his 28th.  Dale Jarrett finished 13th, while Sadler finished 12th. Bobby Labonte finished third and your top driver is Johnson in second.  Your average finish is a nice, 11.6.  Your overall standing is sixth place with 6,508 points and a percentile of 62.4.

Sabrina (Susan), in last night’s race you had a decent night. Kahne and Ken Schrader were your worst finishers with 28th and 23rd place finishes respectively.  Mark Martin had a great night with his seventh place finish, while your boy-toy Stewart finished fourth. Like all the other Earnhardt lovers out there, he was your top-driver with his first place finish.  Your average finish is a nice 12.6 and contributed to your seventh place finish overall with 6,593 points earned and a percentile of 60.8.

Bosley (Jude), your last race of the segment proved to showcase what has been an average first segment for you. Three of your drivers, Wimmer, Busch and Jamie McMurray, finished 30th or worse.  McMurray had an on-track incident with Joe Nemachek in which they both crashed into the wall.  McMurray finished in 28th out of the race. Busch and Wimmer finished 31st and 30th respectively. Your top two drivers are Newman and Stewart who finished ninth and fourth respectively. Your average finish is a disappointing 22.4. You finished just above the overall average at 52.4 percent with 6,410 points. 

Tiffany (Jen Y), like Bosley before you, you’ve had a less-than stellar first segment with last-nights race punctuating that point. I’ll start with your best finisher because he is your only highlight. That driver is Earnhardt who happened to win. Your remaining four drivers finished 21st or worse. Kahne was the worst in 28th. Harvick finished 25th, while McMurray and Greg Biffle finished 22nd and 21st respectively.  Your average finish is a disappointing 19.4. You Segment One points earned are 6,236 for a finishing percentile of 38.3. Better luck next segment.

UnNamed One (Ray), you’ve had some low average finishes this year because Ford teams are all having problems so far this year. Busch’s engine problem yesterday was just another example of this. He finished 31st. Ricky Craven could only muster a 26th place finish, while Jarrett and Sadler finished 13th and 12th respectively. Your top finisher is Matt Kenseth and his fifth place finish. Your average finish this week is 17.4.  You earned enough points to be our 10th place finisher overall with 6,187 points for a 35.3 percentile overall.

Julie (Sally), you are the second of our three rookies this year, and the last team mate overall this segment to have teams fielded for the entire segment.  Saturday’s race didn’t do anything to help you advance your position though.  Nemachek and Casey Mears were your worst drivers with their 36th and 32nd place finishes respectively. Terry Labonte finished 18th, while Jarrett finished 13th.  Your top driver is your go-to-guy, Kenseth and his fifth place finish. Your average finish is average for you with 20.8.  You earned 5,804 points and a 21.5 percentile overall. Better luck next segment.

Dylan (Jen W), you missed the first two races of the segment and that definitely hurt you overall standings.  Also hurting you is your drivers’ performance on the track, save one driver. That driver is your second husband (like many other women in the country), Dale Earnhardt Jr. He outclassed the field with his third win of the season. Your remaining drivers didn’t come close with Sadler being the closest in 12th. Kyle Petty and Kahne finished 27th and 28th, while McMurray was the worst of the bunch in 38th spot following his crash.  Your average finish is a disappointing 21 even.  Even more disappointing is your 4,946 points earned with a 10.7 overall finishing percentage.  Much better luck next segment.

Thin Man (Rob), even though you joined the segment with only four races remaining, you’ve shown that you are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the second segment.  Last night’s race proved that with you finishing fourth among our Angels. Kahne was your worst driver while Jarrett was your second worst with his 13th place finish.  Vickers, Gordon and Bobby Labonte were good choices because of their eighth, sixth and third place finishes respectively. Even though you’ve been with the Angels for only four races, you managed to earn more than half the points that Dylan earned with nine races in the segment. Congratulations on your 2,404 points earned.  Your 2.8 percentile overall does not reflect your accomplishments.  Good luck in Segment two.

Overall this week, our average finish this week is 15.9.

We’re on another two-week break because of the non-points NASCAR NEXTEL All-Star Challenge race next week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C.  Our next race is the Coca Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on May 30.

With the new segment starting, I’ll update you on any changes ESPN makes to the RPM.ESPN Stock Car Challenge Web site before the start of the Coca Cola 600.

Good luck Angels,