Alright ladies, it’s February 10th, and I know what you’re thinking about (no, not just the NCAAB hotties of the March Madness picks coming up in a month): Valentine’s Day. It’s only four days until your partner goes out of their way/budget to shower you with tokens of affection and a night of passion (uh, shouldn’t he/she be showing you said affection and passion every day of the year?). But let’s not forget the big event happening the day after the Hallmark holiday: that’s right, we’ve got your Daytona 500 pick! (A lot more people will be looking forward to seeing fast cars crash than Valentine’s Day, trust me.)

Rev my engine, indeed!

Now, for those of us enterprising souls who’ll be betting on the Daytona 500, we’ve got a bit of a task ahead of us. All the big names are present for this one (which kicks off the NASCAR season, dont’cha know): Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Plus you can’t help but keep an eye on Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch — it’s going to be a tough race to handicap, indeed. Gotta say, though, I’m liking the looks of Tony Stewart; the Stewart-Haas Racing stable has got a bright future ahead of it, and I can’t see Tony losing to Ryan Newman again this year. In fact, I’m gonna run over to my sportsbook right now and put a wager on Tony to take it. As if I needed another reason to be excited for this weekend

Regardless, Carl Edwards will always finish first place in my heart.