Hello Angels,

Welcome to the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and a wild Daytona 2.0 race track. There are a bunch of new rules for 2011, including a new point system. With the repaving of Daytona International Speedway, Sunday’s 53rd running of the Daytona 500 was a race unlike any run at the 2.5-mile track before it. The newly repaved track led to a lot of three-wide and sometimes four-wide racing.

Of course running 190-miles an hour plus throughout the race, two-by-two, is a very difficult thing and to quote Carl Edwards after the race -- it was “500 miles of terror” and very exhausting for the drivers.

That said, as expected from a restrictor-plate race, the Daytona 500 was a crash-fest and set records for the number of leaders (22), the number of lead changes (74), the number of cautions (16) and tied for the record for caution laps (60).

If ever there was a Cinderella Story though it’s Trevor Bayne and his part-time ride for the Wood Brothers in the No. 21 Motorcraft Ford. Twenty-year-old Bayne showed much poise throughout Speedweeks and learned a ton about drafting with four-time Cup Champion Jeff Gordon during the Gatorade 125s on Thursday. Bayne proved himself early in the Daytona 500 pushing Gordon to the front early. After Gordon crashed out later in the race Bayne hooked up with the likes of Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Bobby Labonte and others. In the end it was Edwards who pushed Bayne to his first Sprint Cup win in just his second Cup series race and first Daytona 500. Bayne’s win is the Wood Brothers’ first win since Elliott Sadler won at Martinsville in 2001 and in doing so, Bayne also becomes the youngest driver to win the Daytona 500. He is the second youngest driver to ever win a Sprint Cup race – Joey Logano won his only Cup race at 19 years old.

Going back to the crash-fest, the “Big One” happened early in the race and collected basically half of the field including Jimmie Johnson, Gordon, Mark Martin, David Reutimann and Michael Waltrip. It happened after Waltrip got into the back of Reutimann sending the latter spinning in front of the field.

Late in the race, Robby Gordon got shuffled and collected Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Martin Truex Jr., in the process. Regan Smith had himself a heck of a race, but he too was collected in the final crash of the race – causing a green-white-checkered race.

Just so all of you Angels, know, every one of us had at least three cars crashed out of the race, but some of us had Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick – who didn’t crash, but had motors that crashed on them, and us in the process, causing their early departure from the Great American Race.

So, Angels, how did we do with our first race of 2011 – well, not so good overall as our  combined teams’ average finish cannot be computed because one of our Angels – Candy Man – picked a driver (Elliott Sadler) for his team that is not running in the Sprint Cup series this year. For this alone Candy Man, you get the years’ first CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ BONE-HEAD AWARD. Not a great way to start the season. Of course, having Greg Biffle crash out of the race and finish 35th and Burton blow an engine early and finish 36th didn’t help either. That said, Martin battled back from his early-race crash to finish back on the lead lap in 10th and Edwards finished a very close second to round out your team. Much better luck next week both picking your drivers and having them have decent finishes!

This week’s CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ GOLDEN CABOOSE recipient is Vivian, whose GCA average finish is 28.4. Harvick and Burton both lost their engines and finished 42nd and 36th respectively. Earnhardt crashed with one-lap to go and finished 24th. Ryan Newman was also involved in the crash and finished 22nd. Jamie McMurray, the 2010 Daytona 500 winner, finished 18th. Better luck next week as well.

For me, my best driver was Truex and his 19th place finish. Earnhardt finished 24th, while his Hendricks Racing teammates, Johnson and Gordon finished 27th and 28th respectively. Burton rounds out my team with his 36th place finish. All totaled, my average finish is 26.8.

Madison, first and foremost, welcome back to Charlie’s Angels. That said, I’m sorry your return wasn’t as good as you were hoping it would be. Your 26.4 average finish was only good enough to earn you this week’s No. 11 Angels’ spot. Your best drivers’ finish is Clint Bowyer and his 17th place finish. Last year’s Daytona winner, McMurray, had a tire go down late in the race and he finished 18th. Earnhardt finished 24th, while Brian Vickers finished 31st in his return to Sprint Cup Series racing. Harvick finished 42nd after his engine died early in the race.

Pete, while you did a wise thing and picked Bayne for your team, his win wasn’t enough to lift you past the No. 10 Angels’ spot with your 26 even average finish this week. This is because your remaining four drivers – Harvick, Burton, Kenseth, and Bowyer – finished 42nd, 36th, 34th and 17th respectively.

Mr. X, your 22.4 average finish for the first race of 2011 earned you the No. 9 Angels’ spot. The good news is Kurt Busch finished fifth. That’s about as good as it’s going to get for you as David Ragan, running second during the last restart of the race, was black-flagged for crossing over in front of the leader before the start/finish line. He went from second to 14th place, the last car on the lead lap where he finished. Earnhardt and Johnson finished 24th and 27th respectively, as Harvick finished in 42nd as his engine gave up early in the race.

Gibbons, you had one driver – Martin – finish inside the top-10 in the 10th position. A.J. Allmendinger finished just outside the top-10 with his 11th place finish, while Ryan Newman crashed out of the race on the last green-flag lap of the scheduled 200 laps. He finished 22nd. Johnson finished 27th with Burton rounding out your team with his 36th place finish. Your average finish is 21.2.

Mr. Munday, you had no driver finish worse than 28th, but no driver finish better than 10th. In that 10th spot is Martin, who was in contention to win his first Daytona 500 even after being caught in the lap 29 “Big One” crash and falling three laps down. Ragan finished 14th after being black flagged for passing the leader during a restart. Joey Logano finished 23rd, while Johnson and Gordon finished 27th and 28th respectively. Your average finish is 20.4.

Evelyn, for you the good news is that you have Bayne on your team thus earning you a first place finish for your team. The bad news is that none of your other drivers came anywhere close to Bayne’s win. Tony Stewart finished 13th, Earnhardt finished 24th, Gordon finished 27th and Burton finished 36th. Your average finish is 20.2.

CorWin, Martin finished 10th and your best driver of the race. Stewart ran up front all day, but in the end could only muster a 13th place finish. Bowyer finished 17th, while Earnhardt and Bowyer finished 24th and 36th respectively. Your average finish is 20 even.

Alex, Like CorWin, your top driver of the race is Martin and his 10th place finish. Ragan finished 14th, while Logano, Kasey Kahne and Johnson round out your team with their 23rd, 25th and 27th place finishes respectively. Your average finish is 19.8.

Kelly, you also have Martin and his 10th place finish as your top driver this week. McMurray couldn’t do a repeat win and finished 18th instead. Denny Hamlin had a horrible Speedweeks and his luck continued in the Daytona 500 crashing very late in the race. He finished 21st. Newman crashed with Hamlin and finished one-spot behind in 22nd place. Earnhardt rounds out your team with his 24th place finish. Your average finish is 19 even.

Julie, you earn this year’s first CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ RUNNER-UP ANGEL AWARD with your average finish of 18.6. Edwards is your No. 1 driver with his second-place finish. Stewart finished 13th, Truex finished 19th and Earnhardt finished 24th. Biffle finished 35th to round out your five-driver team.

Congratulations to Kris for earning this year’s first CHARLIE’S ANGELS’ TOP ANGEL AWARD with an average finish of 17.8. Kyle Busch had a banged-up car, but in the end, finished eighth. Allmendinger finished 11th, while Stewart rounds out your lead-lap drivers with his 13th place finish. Gordon and Brad Keselowski finished 28th and 29th respectively. Congratulations Kris on your first TAA of the season!

Next week’s race is the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway in Arizona.

Don’t forget to check and update your driver’s list on the ESPN Stock Car Challenge Web site before the start of the race.

Good luck Angels,