The merging of satellite radio providers XM and Sirius made big news around the country for quite a while. What you might not have heard, though, was that the resulting management decided to dump all daytime fantasy sports programming.

That move left RotoWire’s Fantasy Focus baseball show, hosted by two-time FSWA baseball writer of the year Jeff Erickson, homeless after a four-year run on XM. Loyal listeners needn’t worry, however, as the show will appear on The Fantasy Sports Channel on BlogTalkRadio.com beginning Monday.

“We’re excited the show will to continue to run at the same time and format since it built a loyal audience over it’s four-year run on XM and really became the place to hear all the industry’s top experts,” RotoWire.com president Peter Schoenke told FSB.com. “The show will continue to be able to interact live with listeners through call-ins or a chat room via the BlogTalkRadio platform.”

The change will also make the shows available in podcast form via RotoWire’s podcast page, BlogTalkRadio.com and iTunes. Fans who couldn’t catch the show at airtime didn’t have that luxury when it appeared on XM.

“The show was very popular [on XM] and had a strong audience, but the new management team decided to go another direction with the MLB Home Plate channel,” Schoenke said. “During it’s run it was perhaps the most high-profile fantasy show on radio, as it preceded ESPN’s buildup of fantasy content and even later still did the most shows per year of any fantasy sports radio or television program.”

RotoWire’s Fantasy Focus will broadcast live from noon to 1 p.m. every weekday.

When I set out to compile a list of the outlets at which one could play fantasy NASCAR (for the Sprint Cup season opening Sunday), I expected to come up with roughly the same number as I did for golf.

What I actually found was that about three times as many game providers like to go fast.

There are no fewer than 30 interfaces for the left-turning fan to choose his or her fantasy game from — varying, of course, in quality, style, price and prize level — and that’s not even counting a few who have already cut off entries for this season.

I’ll admit right here that I’ve never partaken in any fantasy NASCAR contest. (I’ve never even watched a whole race on TV for that matter. I’ve tried to, but it’s tough to concentrate after reading about how the drivers deal with the lack of bathroom breaks.)

Anyhow, because I haven’t played any of these games, I offer no review of their quality or recommendation for top choices. As a result of that and the various contest formats, the following is the entire list of hosts in alphabetical order with a brief description of the games where necessary.

If you don’t see your site or the one at which you play, let us know.

BenchSports.com (pricing varies) — allows users to set up pools in Pick ‘Em or Survivor style; pricing depends on size and type of pool, with a pricing simulator to figure it out for you before signup

CBSSports.com – Fantasy Racing Challenge (free) — pick five drivers

Chad’s Fantasy NASCAR 2009 ($11) — pick lineup of four drivers

ESPN.com –
Fantasy Stock Car 2009 (free) — league management
Stock Car Challenge (free) — salary cap
Driver Pick ‘Em (free) — Nationwide Series

Fanball.com –
Draft & Play ($25, $10, free with different prize levels)
7 challenge games for Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series (2 free, pay from $4.95 to $39.95)

FanStar.com — League Manager ($89)

FantasyCup.com – owned by same parent company as Fanball, operates same games

Fantasy Thunder — league management ($89.95)

Fantrax.com — NASCAR Commissioner (free)

Fox Valley Racing ($50) — pick top five finishers in each race

Frontstretch.com –
Game of Tomorrow (free) — pick drivers from five groups
Hat Dance Dynasty (free) — salary cap
NASCAR Knockout (free) — survivor style
Frontstretch Fourplay (free) — pick a driver from each of the four manufacturers
Ultimate Fantasy Challenge ($10) — combines results from the four free games

MGT NFRL (free) — divides season into four segments, you pick six drivers for each; can follow Sprint, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR.com – breaks it down by difficulty of play
Easy — Streak to the Finish (free) — survivor
Intermediate — Fantasy Cap Challenge ($12.95) — salary cap
Advanced — Draft & Play (free)

OnPitRow.com — One and Done (free) — survivor

P10 Select Fantasy Racing — Sprint Cup & Nationwide Series
Team Challenge — five-member teams
Beat the Streak — survivor

PaytheFan.com — 2009 Fantasy Racing Championship ($39.95)

PitPup.com — Six-Pack o’ Puppies Fantasy Racing ($20 per segment or $100 for season) — season in six segments; salary cap

Race to the Checkers (free) –
Battleship — 5 drivers, survivor
Horse Race — pick 3 a week
Start/Finish — random assignment based on starting position
Top 10 — pick top 10 and last place finishers

RadmaxFantasySports.com — NASCAR Challenge — rank 12 drivers, autodraft assigns one per race
Dash for the Cash ($99)
Winner Take All ($10)
Free

RealTime Sports –
Pole Position Challenge ($24.95) — league management, no draft
RealTime Fantasy Racing League ($49.95) — customizable scoring that can incorporate Sprint and Nationwide — 1 month free trial

RidetheFury.com — theFury (free) — salary cap

Rotoplay.com — NASCAR Challenge ($24.95) — pick driver from 12 different groups plus 13th flex spot

Speedpicks.com –
Classic ($10) — one “captain” on team all year, four others can be changed out
Speedpicks Countdown ($5) — survivor

Sports Fantasy Leagues — SFL500 NASCAR Challenge ($50)

SportShares (free) — stock market game based on driver results

Trading Paint ($30) - salary cap

Virtual Thunder (free) - says it “follows every form of racing from NASCAR to your local speedway”

Wallbanger Fantasy Racing –
Head 2 Head Driver Match-ups (free) — limited to 500 entries
Fantasy Racing for Rednecks (free) — “extreme” scoring
Fantasy Racing League Management ($99)

Yahoo — Auto Racing ‘09 (free) — league management

YourFantasyTeamSucks.com — Fantasy NASCAR League Manager ($89)