Most of our “10 Questions for 2010” focus on NASCAR in general, but FNP is a fantasy NASCAR site, so let’s get some fantasy discussion going. For those of us that play in Yahoo formats, predicting sleepers and duds is not very important because we are able to swap out drivers each week. But for people who play in Draft Leagues, assigning the correct value to drivers before the season is crucial to fantasy NASCAR success.

 First, let me preface this by saying that the terms “sleepers” and “duds” are relative to perceived value. It is certainly possible for a big sleeper to not make the Chase or for a dud to actually make the Chase. For instance, anyone who drafted Marcos Ambrose was pleasantly surprised last year, even though he only finished 18^th in the points. Ambrose’s value is tied into where he was drafted, so those who grabbed him in the high 20’s or early 30’s overall were rewarded with fantastic value. Conversely, Carl Edwards made the Chase last season, but most leagues saw Cousin Carl taken with one of the first three picks in the draft. Edwards’ zero wins and seven Top 10’s were far from Top 3 value, therefore making him a dud in 2009.

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It may be smarter (and more accurate) to blindfold myself, spin in a circle five times and throw a dart at a board covered in drivers’ numbers to pick a winner for this race. Unfortunately, I don’t have a dartboard and have no desire to purchase spackle, so we’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.

This year’s Daytona 500 favorites include the usual suspects of Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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There are a handful of drivers capable of running up front and leading the series in wins in 2010. Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin all won at least four races last season, and Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards have proved they have the ability to lead laps and rack up a significant number of checkered flags in a single season.

The easy answer here is Johnson, who seems like a lock to win 7-10 races each season, but all signs point to Kyle Busch as the driver poised to go on a tear in 2010.

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There is not a single wheelman who wants to be named Fantasy NASCAR Preview’s breakout driver. We’ve handed this out for the past three years and, in the process, have created a curse just as strong as the Sports Illustrated or Madden cover curse, although a bit less publicized.

In 2007, Jamie McMurray was our pick to breakout. McMurray did win at Daytona in July, but three Top 5’s and a 17^th place finish in the points is hardly worthy of breaking out, especially for a driver in Roush Racing equipment.

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In a word, yes. Earnhardt finished 25^th in the standings in 2009, while his other three teammates (Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon) finished 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd. Even part-timer Brad Keselowski won a race in 2009 and consistently outran Earnhardt when he was in the racecar.

I like to bash Junior as much as anybody, but if he is capable of being a Chase contender, this is the year to do it. Everyone, except Earnhardt and Tony Eury Jr., knew that Eury was not the right choice as Crew Chief for the 88 team and last year’s embarrassment gave Rick Hendrick the chance to replace Eury with Lance McGrew.

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