Rules and Basics of the Racing League

Scoring and Points system
Your Team Roster
How to join the league and other common questions

Is Fantasy Racing for Prizes Legal?

The whole legal / not-legal issue is basically a matter of "is it gambling"?  You can have your own opinion and you can read the opinions of others as well as stuff on the internet about lawsuits and Congressional bills.  In the end, it all boils down to your interpretation of chance.  Internet gambling is illegal.  Gambling is defined as pure chance.

In our NASCAR™ league, pure chance would mean each week you roll a dice with 43 sides, and the driver that comes up on the dice is in your lineup.  Do that three more times and you've got your race roster... based purely on chance.

In my opinion, fantasy sports are investing, not gambling.  Sometimes your stocks are up, sometimes down, sometimes breaking even.  Just like the market, keeping up with current information regarding drivers, pit crews, and race teams will greatly increase your odds of winning.  There is a level of chance involved; you are not guaranteed to win even if you do all your research perfectly.  But, last time I checked, you could lose on the stock market, too.

The only validity some fantasy sport lawsuits have are in the data and statistics used, and whether or not fantasy leagues should pay royalty fees for using this information.  This is mostly with your football, baseball, etc. sports that have a lot of statistics and ratings.  The only "statistic" that this website uses is driver finishing positions, which is free public knowledge.  A court ruling on Aug 8, 2006 stated that [player / driver] information used in fantasy leagues was only subject to licensure from the professional organization ( i.e. NFL, MLB, NASCAR™, etc.) if that data was not freely available to the public.  That essentially shut down any efforts to require fantasy league operators to purchase an annual / seasonal license to use player / driver information.

It should be noted that NASCAR™ has never fought the fantasy leagues, to my knowledge.  I think they are smart enough to realize how much it increases the popularity of their sport.  Fantasy leagues, in general, benefit the sport by increasing awareness and fan base.  If you're a member of a fantasy league, are you going to spend Sunday afternoon mowing the lawn or painting the garage?  Heck no!!!  You're going to glued to the TV or better yet, be at the game / race!  And here's a simple equation that even NASCAR™ understands: more viewers = more $$$$.

RACE ON, fellow fantasy fans!!!

1. Scoring & Points System

Race Points:

"How are the points for each race calculated?"
The points system for each race is extremely simple - add up the finishing positions of your roster.  So before you get too excited and start bragging about your 100+ point race, realize that it's better to have lower points!  Each roster is tallied as soon as possible after the race and made official once the official race results are released from NASCAR™.  

"How are the points for the season calculated?"
Season points are a total of all races throughout the year, excluding the All-Star race and any other races not included in the Cup Series championship point schedule.  "The Chase" races are the same as any other races - they are not treated any differently for this fantasy league.

End of the Season Scoring:

Championship Points
The total season points winner claims the overall league championship.  Winners are also recognized for having the most wins, most top 5's, & most top 10's.

The 2008 league payout schedule:

League Champion: 25%
2nd place: 15%
3rd place: 10%
4th place: 8%
5th place: 7%
6th place: 6%
7th place: 5%
8th place: 4%
9th place: 3%
10th place: 2%

Most Wins: 5%
Most Top 5's: 5%
Most Top 10's: 5%

$5 of the team fee is reserved for running the league and the website.  

Points Records
Ongoing records are kept for the fantastic finishes... and some not-so-fantastic finishes!  There are no prizes awarded for record-holders, just bragging rights.

2. Your Team Roster

Driver Selection:

"Do I pick a car or a driver?"
Ahhh yes, the problem caused by those drivers that like to play musical cars.  Well, there's just no easier way to handle it than the way NASCAR does: The driver that starts the race gets the points for the finish.  In fantasy racing, we are dealing with driver points, not team points, car points, finger points, brownie points, or any other points.  The drivers have their number beside their name in the roster-selection page, but that's just for recognition.  So for example, Tony Stewart gets Tony Stewart's points no matter if he's driving the 20, the 2, or the 99½ car!

"How do I pick the drivers for my team?"
Each team selects four drivers for each race of the Cup Series season.  You do not have to keep the same drivers throughout the entire season.  All drivers are available for selection to all teams, no driver is removed once selected for a team.  Although rare, it is possible for several teams to have identical rosters for a race.

"How does the driver pricing work?"
Every driver starts out the season at the same price and then go up or down depending on how well the driver is doing.  Each individual driver's salary is calculated by the driver's season performance and individual race results.  After a few races, there are usually a few drivers that rise above the "even split" and you'll have to pick some cheaper drivers if you're going to complete your team without going over the salary cap.  The "even split" is the exact split of the salary cap where all drivers would cost the same.  For instance, the starting salary cap is $150,000 so the "even split" would be $37,500.  Once the elite drivers get above the split, you'll have to pick some other drivers below the split to keep from exceeding the salary cap.  The salary cap may increase occasionally throughout the season to accommodate competitive selections for all teams.

"When can I select the drivers for my team?"
You can select your roster as soon as the website has been updated with the official results from the previous race, which is as soon as the official results are available from NASCAR™.  The deadline for submitting your team roster is the scheduled start of each race.  Rosters are locked in at this time and no further driver changes will not be accepted.  Postponed races and rain delays will be adjusted to the new race.  The deadline will be posted on the home page of the website as well as the roster page.  I would recommend picking four drivers early in the week and then submitting your final lineup soon after qualifying or happy hour.  This way, if an emergency comes up and prevents you from submitting your final roster, your team will still have a roster filled for the race and you won't have to receive 44 points per driver.

Penalties:

"What if I miss entering a complete roster or if I select less than four drivers?"
If you miss a roster entry, you automatically receive 44 points for each of driver missing from your roster.  If you miss three complete race rosters, you are disqualified from the league for the season!!  This isn't ebay, - do not wait until the last minute to submit your drivers.  I would recommend picking four drivers early in the week and then submitting your final lineup soon after qualifying or happy hour.  This way, if an emergency comes up and prevents you from submitting your final roster, your team will still have a roster filled for the race and you won't have to receive 44 points per driver.

"What if I select a driver that's not in the race?"
Ummmmm... here's your sign!  If you pick a driver that's not in the race, you receive an impressive 44 points for that selection and automatically qualify yourself for the golden dipstick award.

"What if I exceed the salary cap?"
On phone-in lineups where you may not have access to the driver price list, your LEAST expensive driver will be dropped and you will receive 44 points for that selection.

On a more unpleasant note... The salaries are automatically totaled and the website will not allow selections over the salary cap.  If you hack the system and somehow turn in a lineup that is over the limit, your BEST finishing driver will be dropped and you will receive 44 points for that selection!  In other words, cheating will NOT gain you a thing.  I check each and every lineup for compliance.

3. Other Common Questions

"My internet is down, can I still submit my team roster?"
My phone number is listed on the Contact Information page, but if you don't have internet, you won't be able to view the that page, Einstein!  (Or the driver salary page either!!)  I would politely suggest that you either print the Contact page or write my number down somewhere.  You can call and leave a message before the deadline.  Any messages left AFTER the deadline are treated the same as a late roster... not accepted!

"How do I join the league?"
To enter a team, contact me.  

Adam Smith
415 Broadway
Weskan, KS  67762
785-943-5201 hotrodwildcat@hotmail.com

The cost for one team is $35.  Please have your payment submitted prior to the first race of the season.  If you just signed up, please get your payment to me by Feb 24.  This should give everyone that wants to "race" plenty of time.  You must be at least 18 years of age to participate.  You must also have a sense of humor.  I will write a summary for each race and I tend to make comments about how the teams perform.  If you have any complaints about getting picked on, please send me an email with the subject "Complaint" so I can easily identify the email and delete it.  Thank you, have a nice day.  :)

"Can I have more than one team?"
As long as you pay the dues for each team, you can have as many teams as you want!  Each team is eligible for a finishing prize.  So, if you have two teams and you finish first and second place, you get both first and second place prizes!  If someone has a complaint about one person winning most of the prizes, my advice is to pick better drivers for your roster next time!

My participation in the league...
I enjoy racing - that's why I do this.  I'm not going to maintain a racing league just so everyone else can have all the fun.  I participate and I play by the same rules as everyone else.  That's the way it is, if you don't agree with it, please refer to the above section that explains how to send me your complaints.

The team roster lineups are automatically posted when lineup signup has closed.  You'll be able to see my picks, along with everyone else's, immediately.  If by some miracle I win the league, it will be as legitimate as anyone else.

Please understand that there may be instances where people have internet problems or are away from the computer and have to call me to submit their lineups.  Those lineups ARE valid but may not get put into the race-time lineup if I'm gone and can't get the phone message in time.  So even though I'm trying to make everything as accountable and fair as possible, please understand there may be a few situations.