Chase for the 2010 WxChat Cup

Note: These rules are unchanged from 2009 except the two sections in italics.

1. Structure: This contest is held each week there is a NASCAR Sprint Cup points race (36 weeks per year; the Bud Shootout and the All-Star Challenge are not included in this contest). I will post a thread on WxChat.com for each race about a week ahead of time (usually right after the previous race), and all participants are to post their race picks in that thread each week. The deadline for each race will be exactly one minute before the time that the command to start engines is given. I will post an approximate deadline time, based on when the command is expected to be given, but the exact/official deadline can not be known until after the deadline has passed. Try to be careful not to cut it too close. Since the deadline is so close to the actual start of the race, late entries will not be accepted under any circumstances. In the rare event that the command to start engines is given but it starts raining and the cars are stopped before the green flag flies, then picks can be submitted or changed until the next command to start engines is given.
The Chase: This contest will be structured in a similar way to the actual Nextel Cup championship system. After race #26 (the fall Richmond race), the points will be reset, and anyone within 500 points of the leader will have a shot at winning the championship. The points leader at the time will keep the same number of points. The person in second place will receive a score of 40 points less than the leader. The person in third place will receive a score of 60 points less than the leader, and so on, in 20-point increments. All remaining participants will have their scores reset to 0. This will make the last 10 races more exciting for those people, plus it will give anybody who was late entering the contest a chance to at least win something ("the best of the rest").
2. Prizes: This contest will be for bragging rights and a fancy virtual trophy.
3. Entries: Each entry should contain all of the following information. You will choose 10 drivers and rank them 1 through 10, and receive points based on the chart at the bottom of this page. You will also choose a saving grace pick (many people denote this with "SG") which will replace the driver among your 10 picks who has the lowest finish in the race. In the event that your saving grace pick finishes lower than your other 10 drivers, then your original 10 will count as your picks and your saving grace driver won't replace anyone. (Note: In order to use your SG pick, at least one of your picks must either fall out of the race or finish at least 10 laps behind the winner. Your SG cannot simply replace a driver who has a poor finish because of an ill-handling car.) You can submit picks up to a month prior to a race, and up until the deadline for each race. If you accidentally select the same driver twice within your picks, your SG will replace the lower of the two and you will not have an SG to use in the normal fashion.
4. Default Picks: Anyone who plans to participate in the 2008 contest needs to submit a list of 11 drivers (ranked 1-10 with an SG) that will serve as his or her "default picks" when he or she misses a race. Anyone is free to use these as their picks throughout the season, instead of making a different set of picks for each race, but this would probably put them at a disadvantage. These picks may be changed at any point during the season. If a driver that you pick switches to a different team in midseason, your pick will remain with the same team (same car number) and not follow the driver. If you want to keep the driver, simply submit a new set of default picks. Anyone who does not submit default picks and misses a race will receive 100 points for that race. Anyone who enters into the contest late (anytime after the first race) will start with a score of 100 points times the number of races that have taken place so far. For example, a person who starts participating in the 12th race would start out with 1100 points plus their score for the 12th race.
5. Scoring: I will calculate scores shortly after each race ends, based on the unofficial results posted on nascar.com. If there is a change between the unofficial results and the official results (which are released the following Monday), I will adjust the scores to reflect that change. The amount of points you receive will be based on the point chart that can be found below. You will also be awarded up to 25 additional points based on how many laps your top 3 picks led during the race. This will be calculated based on the percentage of laps they led divided by 4. For example, if your top 3 drivers led 300 laps in a 500 lap race, that is 60%, and you would get 15 bonus points. This is based on your original top 3 picks and is not impacted by your SG pick. The person who wins each week (receives the most points in that race) will receive a 5 point bonus. If there is a tie, each person involved in the tie will get the 5 points.
6. Miscellaneous: Anyone who is a member of WxChat.com is eligible to participate. If you are not a member, all you have to do is take a minute to register, and it's free!

You can download a copy of the points chart in Microsoft Excel by clicking here.