Tuesday, November 29, 2011

2011 - World Cup

Gonzo did well in the knockout phase, winning four matches by at least 62 points. In the final, Gonzo beat Top of Texas by 85 points.
Gonzo finished second in the Darrell Waltrip group to advance to the knockout phase, and finished tied for first (ended up being seeded third) in the Lowe’s group to advance to the second round.
Overall winner RYAN’S FAST was eliminated in the second round. It tied with SICK PUPS for the final advancing spot from that group but lost on the tiebreaker.

Monday, November 28, 2011

2011 - Double Elimination Heat

Overall winner RYAN’S FAST dropped to the losers’ bracket after Round 4 but enough to stay alive for the rest of the season.
RYAN’S, seeded 22nd, early advanced out of Round 1 but soon struggled. It advanced by 27 in Round 2 and 14 in Round 3 before the bounce in Round 4.
In the losers’ group, RYAN did enough to maintain and advance: 19 points in R5, 25 in R7, and 10 in R8.
Once to the final, RYAN needed two wins and got them convincingly over Cooter – by 62 and 74 points.
Overall runnerup Gonzo was ousted in R4 and finished 26th.

2011 - Single Elimination Heat

Like the SE bracket competition, Gonzo was never in jeopardy of being eliminated in the Heat competition – at least in terms of teams between it and elimination.
Gonzo won the final by almost 200 over Heavy Chevy. In the semifinals, it took the final advancing spot but it was hardly close – 99 points over the No. 3 team.
In the early rounds, Gonzo advanced by 34 points in Round Three, 17 in Round Two and 27 in Round One.
Overall winner RYAN’S FAST was eliminated in the third round.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

2011 - Double Elimination Bracket

Cooter’s run to the title was almost as impressive, as it took the drama out of the competition before the season ended.
Cooter entered as the No. 4 seed and had its closest matchup in the final: beating Damn Sunday by 8 points. As the championship team from the winners’ bracket, that outcome secure the title for Cooter.
Cooter also defeated RMO Lug Nutz (by 173), katie’s bootleggers (188), Loose Lugnuts (22), LT4SS – DE (152) and Hang on Harvick (86).
For what it’s worth, Overall champ RYAN’S FAST and runnerup Gonzo33 struggled here. RYAN’S FAST eliminated Gonzo in the third round before falling out of the competition in round four.

2011 - Single Elimination Bracket

Gonzo entered as the No. 35 seed for the competition and needed to compete in all six rounds to claim the title.
Ironically, the first-round victory over Swindell Motorsports proved to be the closest:
Gonzo dominated the final by 159 points over Damn Sunday Drivers.
Gonzo rolled Dirt Track OUTLAW by 178 in the semifinals.
Gonzo blew katie’s bootleggers out by 305 points in the quarterfinals.
Gonzo flew by #3 Intimidator by 150 points in the third round.
Gonzo cruised by Betty Boop Madness by 93 points in the second round.
Gonzo eked by Swindell by 58 points in the first round.
Overall winner RYAN’S FAST was eliminated in the third round.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

2011 - Chase

Gonzo dominated the final 10, posting 300+ scores in six of those races. The largest Chase field in RMFN history didn’t need to be – Gonzo’s margin over the final Chase qualifier was more than 1,400 points.
To cement Gonzo’s run, it also won the most races in the postseason.
Dirt Track Outlaw took the final invite to the awards ceremony, by finishing as the top non-Chaser.
Overall winner RYAN’S FAST was second.

2011 - Overall

napoleon and RMO Lug Nutz appeared headed for a two-team showdown through most of the season. The nap faded during the summer, and RMO hit a rough patch in the late summer and fall.
Their struggles coincided with big surges by RYAN’S FAST and Gonzo33. The difference ended up being second-round loses in the double elim heat and bracket competitions for Gonzo. RYAN’S managed to win the double elim heat crown, which proved to be enough to overcome Gonzo’s seven – SEVEN – event tropies.
The highest finish of a team with a first-round elimination was by HEAVY CHEVY. HC finished fourth in the Overall, despite finishing 35th in the World Cup.

Friday, November 25, 2011

2011 - Miscellany

RMFN owned the final 10 races of the season. The drivers combined for 130 scores more than 300 and just 17 less than 200. The streak was culminated by 27 300-pluses at Miami and the second-best average score for a race during the season.
Other season numbers:
Average score (per race): 257
Average score (per tame) 9254
Highest score: 387, Top of Texas Racing, Talladega, April 17
Lowest score 26, Arthur Racing, Loudon, July 17
Most 300+ scores: 13, Gonzo33 Racing
Biggest gain in Yahoo spots, spring to end in Overall: GOOD TO GO 40th to 8th
Most individual race victories: 3, Gonzo33, SICK PUPS and Top of Texas Racing

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Miami

Recaps on each of the competitions are coming, but here's a list of the competition winners and the gory details.

RYAN'S FAST: Overall, Double Elimination Heat
Gonzo33 Racing: Yahoo Overall, Yahoo Second Half, Yahoo Fall, World Cup, Single Elimination Bracket, Single Elimination Heat, Chase
RMO Lug Nutz: Yahoo First Half
napolean: Yahoo Spring
Cooter88: Yahoo Summer, Double Elimination Bracket


REMINDER: If you want an invite for 2012, drop me a line here or at fclex@yahoo.com

Congrats to all!


Nascar11.Miami

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Phoenix - white flag!

After Miami, I'll post the final sheet and then posts on each of the competitions over the next week or so.

Thanks for playing and good luck!!




nascar11.phoenix

Sunday, November 6, 2011

TEXAS

Two races to go, and we have a GREAT race for the Overall title shaping up.

Check it out...



Nascar11.Texas

Saturday, November 5, 2011

No. 200 - Martinsville

Post 200 for the blog - it's been a good run and I hope to see 2,000.

Cooter, seeded fourth, claimed the Double Elimination Bracket title by beating Damn Sunday Drivers by eight points. Damn Sunday needed to win the three-race round that finished at Martinsville to force another three-race final. The finale was Cooter's closest matchup; Loose Lugnuts fell to it by 22 in the third round.

In the Double Elimination Heat, RYAN'S FAST did force another three-face final by beating Cooter by 62 points.

All other competitions are waiting for Miami...


nascar11.mville2

Friday, October 28, 2011

Talladega

Entering the final lap...

nascar11.dega2

Monday, October 17, 2011

Charlotte II

I'll go ahead and jinx it: Yours truly is on a roll...

And that Overall race is a DOOZY!!!

Finalists will be determined for the World Cup competition at Talladega. Hang on...



Nascar11.Charlotte

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Kansas

The Chase has been kind to us. Since the start, RMFN teams have posted 57 scores above 300 and just four below 200. I'll go ahead and jinx myself/pat myself on the back: on my (F.C. Newman) best RMFN streak ever with four straight 300+ scores. HEAVEY CHEVY is on a similar tear.

HEAVY and Gonzo33 advanced to the Single Elim Heat final; HEAVY likely needs to win that to have a chance at the Overall. BUT there's still lots of shuffling taking place in the Fall standings, so never say never.

There were also eliminations in the other Single competition and the two Double competitions.

On to Charlotte...




Nascar11.Kansas

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Dover

Eliminations in the Single and Double competitions are set for Kansas - I'm eager to see if they impact the Overall standings.



Nascar11.Dover

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Chicago

Another day, another delay.

The start of the Fall Season and some eliminations in the Double Elim competitions churned the Overall standings. Take a peak - we got a race folks!

Also, the odd scores at Chicago jumbled the Chase standings after the first race - should be an interesting run toward Miami.


nascar11.chi

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Richmond

Congrats to Cooter88 for winning the summer season!

The field for the Chase is set - 25 participants is an RMFN high. Good luck to the qualifiers.


nascar11.rich2

Atlanta

Sorry for the delay (rain delays forced the late post).


nascar11.atl

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Bristol II

Bristol was one of RMFN's best tracks in the spring, so it was no surprise the same trend followed on the return trip. The 277 average was the highest since the spring and the zero - 0! - sub-200 scores was the third of the season and first since Kansas on June 5.

Two teams shared the top spot - #3 Intimidator and billy's boys 10 - at 359 (the fifth-highest winning score of the season).

Click here or the headline for the gory details.

On to the competitions...

OVERALL
RMO Lug Nutz bowed out of three competitions at Bristol, but still holds a commanding lead.
I added a 'Best Poss' column to indicate the best possible score for each team. I also incorporated live standings for the Chase (previous posts indicated 1s for all RMFN teams). Reminder: I fell behind on the template for the head-to-head format and it was dropped earlier this summer. Apologies.
It appears RMO's worst would be about 9.5. Even then, the contenders would need RMO to fall completely apart in the fall to give another team an opening. Not likely.

CHASE
RMFN has entertained up to 15 teams in the final Chase in prior years, but this year's parity and range of teams securing wins has changed that. Through Bristol - and with two races until the Chase starts - there are currently 27 teams eligible. Another seven are just 100 points short of the cutoff.

SINGLE ELIM BRACKET
The final four teams are set after the quarterfinal round finished at Bristol.
Damn Sunday Drivers is the highest remaining seed (7), while Gonzo33 is the lowest (33).
Tough luck award to LT4SS-DE, which lost to Dirt Track Outlaws by just 12 points.
Semifinal matchups:
SICK PUPS vs. Damn Sunday
Dirt Track vs. Gonzo33

DOUBLE ELIM BRACKET
Cooter88 moved into the championship with a convincing win over RMO. Cooter now has a bye until the other finalist is determined (late October).
RMO joins three teams in the losers' bracket.
Tough luck award to JoRo's Rockets and to Team Lester. JoRo lost to katie's bootleggers by just 18 points; Lester by 10 to Damn Sunday.
Consolation semifinal matchups:
Killer Carl #99 (now Sugar Ray Childress Fight Club on Yaho) vs. RMO
katie's vs. Damn Sunday

SINGLE ELIM HEAT
AMSKahne4, Damn Sunday, HEAVY CHEVY and Gonzo33 advanced to the semifinal heat.
HEAVY claimed the last spot by just 4 points over RMO.
Gonzo33 is the lowest remaining seed (35).

DOUBLE ELIM HEAT
Cooter88 advanced to the final with a big winners' heat win over MONSTER Racing. Like the double bracket, Cooter is off until late October.
GOOD TO GO, SICK PUPS and RYAN'S FAST stayed alive in the losers' heat. Sunday Money 10 was the last team eliminated, by 25 points to RYAN'S FAST.
SICK PUPS is the lowest remaining seed at No. 42.

WORLD CUP
Higher seeds won five of eight Round of 16 matchups, led by the two top seeds - Betty Boop Madness and Sunday Money.
The lowest seed remaining is Swindell Motorsports.
Tough luck award to Oval Friends, which lost by 8 points to swindell. Honorable mentions to GoSlowTurnRight and AMSKahne5.
Quarterfinal matchups:
Betty Boop (1-1) vs. Swindell (2-1)
Top of Texas Racing (1-6) vs. GOOD TO GO (1-4)
billy's boys 10 (2-6) vs. Damn Sunday (1-5)
Gonzo33 (2-2) vs. Sunday Money (1-2)

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Mich-again

Second go-round at Michigan this season, and entering tonight's scrap at Bristol, we'll eliminate teams in at least four competitions. Good luck!


Instead of the Flash player, we'll try a link this week. Click here & let me know how it works.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Watkins Glen

Update is below.

CLOWN CAR, an early-season Overall contender, will get booted if its lineup doesn't change for Michigan. That will mean that Sunday Money will advance to the quarterfinals in the World Cup.

Boris Said, anyone?




nascar11.glen

Friday, August 12, 2011

Pocono, round two

Clap for me: FC Newman broke a 25-race skid without a score above 300.

As far as items that matter, some changes in the Overall with eliminations in the double elimination competitions.



nascar11.pocono2

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Indy

We had mass eliminations in the World Cup competition, and therefore some shuffling in the Overall. Next up: cuts in the Double Elimination Bracket & Heat competitions.



nascar11.indy

Friday, July 29, 2011

Loudon

The feedback at the Yahoo site and via email is much appreciated. With Google planning to send its blogger.com blogs to Google+, I'm guessing that's where this will end up for next season. I may send it there after Homestead anyway. There seems to be more tools (and people) added to it everyday. It may also offer a solution to the Scribd problem.

DROPOUTS
Getting more questions about how to handle midseason dropouts. The seeds are set prior to the season, so matchups (for the most part) are luck of the draw. But the impact on teams that stay yet lost in the early round of a competition can be significant (see Cooter's early exit in the Single Elim Bracket to Buford's Boyz).
There are innumerable ways to look at/fix it, and I'd be welcome to suggestions. I've tried to make it as fair as possible by eliminating the exiting team at the earliest possible point without compromising the brackets or heats already in progress. Thoughts?

WORLD CUP
The Brickyard presents eliminations for 16 teams in the World Cup competition. Here's who's already qualified for the knockout phase:
Sunday Money 10 (1st in Earnhardt group), GOOD TO GO (1 or 2 in Gordon), Damn Sunday Drivers (1 or 2 in Pearson), RMO Lug Nutz (1 in Waltrip), Gonzo33 (2 in Waltrip), AMSKahne4 (2 in Yarborough), Betty Boop Madness (1 in Yarborough), Oval Friends (1 in Allison), Top of Texas (1 or 2 in Johnson) and Swindell Motorsports (1 or 2 in Johnson).
What's to be decided:
EARNHARDT: napolean holds a one-game lead over Cooter88; they face other teams at Indy.
PETTY: What. A. Mess. Little Deuce Coupe and JoRo's Rockets are tied for first, one game ahead of billy's boys 10 and BLOWINSMOKE. Indy matchups: BLOWIN v. billys and JoRo's v. LDC
GORDON: GoSlowTurnRight holds a one-game lead over Jr. Nation; they face other teams at Indy.
PEARSON: CLOWN CAR holds a one-game lead over BLOWINSMOKEJR; they face other teams at Indy.
ALLISON: FC Newman, RYAN'S FAST and SICK PUPS are tied for second. FCN v. RF and SP v. Oval Friends at Indy.




nascar11.loudon

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Kentucky

RMFN finally reversed a gross trend in average scores at the snoozer-of-a-race in Kentucky, finishing the first half of the season with a 266 average - the highest for RMFN since Darlington in May. Damn Sunday Driver's 378 was also the third-best score of the season.

I set the breakdown as a Flash presentation this time, instead of a scrolling document. If you don't like it, let me know. If I don't like it, I'll go back to the way it was.

After Race 18, we got ride of a lot of players in the two bracket and heat competitions...

SINGLE ELIM BRACKET
We're down to the quarterfinals, and six of the eight remaining teams entered with top 17 seeds.
smokeum wins the Tough Luck Award, falling to MONSTER by just 4 points. The next closest race was Dirt Track's 41-point victory over RYAN'S FAST.
The quarterfinal matchups:
Gonzo33 (No. 35 seed) vs. katie's bootleggers (41)
Dirt Track (16) vs. LT4SS (16)
RMO Lug Nutz (17) vs. Damn Sunday Drivers (7)
SICK PUPS (14) vs. MONSTER (6)

DOUBLE ELIM BRACKET
Surprisingly, the losers' bracket didn't see a ton of close matchups. Rev-a-lusions' 29-point win over Shamrock was the closest.
The biggest news was Overall contender napolean's exit in the fifth round. It lost to JoRo's Rockets by 94 points and settled for a 16th place finish.
The losers' bracket matchups for round six:
Team Lester (No. 35) vs. Rolling Thunder (23)
Damn Sunday Drivers (30) vs. Rev-a-lusions (16)
HEAVY CHEVY (20) vs. JoRo's Rockets (24)
AMSKahne4 (14) vs. Killer Carl (21)
The winners' side had a bye round and resumes in round six (races 19-21), with the winners advancing to the semifinals. The matchups:
RMO Lug Nutz (6) vs. Sunday Money (10)
Cooter88 (4) vs. katie's bootleggers (44)

SINGLE ELIM HEAT
Four top 10 seeds were eliminated in the third round, including napolean and defending RMFN champion BLOWINSMOKE. AMSKahne is the highest remaining seed at No. 3.
Overall contenders RMO, katie's and Sunday Money are still alive.

DOUBLE ELIM HEAT
Like the Double Elim Bracket, the winners' group had round five off, leaving the spotlight on the elimination group.
RYAN'S FAST and Rolling Thunder tied for the last advancing spot, well ahead of the teams that were ousted.
napolean finished 15th; RMO stayed alive in the losers' heat by finishing second in the fifth round.
Winners Heat: MONSTER (2), Cooter (4), Sunday Money (10), katie's bootleggers (44).
Losers Heat: RMO (6), Swindell Motorsports (8), HEAVY CHEVY (20), RYAN'S FAST (22), Rolling Thunder (23), JoRo's Rockets (24), GOOD TO GO (25), SICK PUPS (42).

WORLD CUP
There are two weeks left in the Champion Qualifying group phase, and we have some teams already qualified for the knockout, bracket round.
Sunday Money 10 (Earnhardt), RMO Lug Nutz (Waltrip), Gonzo33 (Waltrip), Betty Boop Madness (Yarborough), Oval Friends (Allison), Top of Texas (Johnson), and Swindell Motorsports (Johnson) will take seven of the 16 final spots.
While the final places aren't know yet, we do know some teams that won't advance past this round: Tony is The Man, #3 Intimidator, Team Lester, Dirt Track OUTLAW, Hang on Harvick, Dale Earnhardt's Neck, and .... drumroll ... Overall contender .... katie's bootleggers (we'll learn how much it affects that team at the end of this phase).

HEAD-TO-HEAD
I appear to have found the bug that had HEAVY CHEVY a game short, leaving that team in ninth place after race 19. RMO leads, followed by napolean, katie's bootleggers, JoRo's and Sunday Money.
REMINDER: I'll try to keep this updated through the rest of the season, but if work or family news breaks, we may ditch this competition in the Overall standings.

CHASE
SICK PUPS and Top Of Texas each have three wins on the season, and hold much higher places in the Chase than they do in the Yahoo standings.
The cutoff currently includes 24 teams with eight races to go before the Chase starts.
RMO leads and katie's is second, but a reminder - we'll reset the points at Chicago.

OVERALL
RMO and katie's hold a nice margin over Sunday Money, but recall that katie's is facing an elimination in the World Cup. It could be a two-team race after Indianapolis, and even with that, Sunday needs RMO to stumble along the way.




nascar11.ky

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Daytona, turn 2

Eliminations pending in several competitions after this week's run at Kentucky. Much like the opening to the RMFN season, we'll be happy to leave Daytona behind. Our scores were, for the most part, gross.

Also, on the Overall page, I'm brainstorming some more competition ideas - let me know what you think about adding these for 2012.



nascar11.daytona2

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Sonoma

No eliminations but some shuffling after the 16th race of the season.



nascar11.sonoma

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Michigan

More shuffles in the Overall after eliminations in the double elim competitions. The World Cup game is also getting interesting, with just two unbeaten teams remaining in group play.


nascar11.mich

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Pocono

Eliminations pending in the double elimination competitions at Michigan. Also ... as promised some shakeups in the Overall after the first race of the summer season.



nascar11.pocono

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Kansas

We have our first competition winner with the conclusion of the Yahoo spring season: napolean beat RMO by 68 points, or by 5.7 points at each spring race.

Weird weekend for RMFN - just one 300+ score (congrats GOOD TO GO) and no scores below 200. And that's not to say the scores were terrible - the 254 average was seventh best for the season thus far.

OVERALL
RMO reclaimed the lead but the group of teams challenging grew. Expect some shuffling this week with the start of the summer season.

CHASE
napolean leads the Chase qualifiers, which now number 30.

ELIMINATIONS/HEATS
Kansas marked the first race of rounds in this competition. Not much to report.

WORLD CUP
Each team has played four matches through three races in the Champion Qualifying. Only two undefeated teams remain: napolean (4-0-0 in the Earnhardt group) and Betty Boop Madness (3-0-1, Yarborough). I added an Average figure at the bottom of each of the group standings to give us an idea of each group's strength - higher average, tougher group.

HEAD TO HEAD
I updated the results through Kansas and fixed some bugs. The teams that left the competition will play fewer games because matchups between those teams aren't counted. Everyone else has played 28 games. RMO and napolean lead with 22-6-0 records.



nascar11.kan

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Charlotte

Enjoy.

UPDATED BELOW

OVERALL
Predicted shuffles took place with the eliminations, and we have a new leader - katie's bootleggers. RMO Lug Nutz and Team Lester are right there, as well. If the Head-to-Head sticks around, these standings are legit; if not, it could change again (see below).

CHASE
We're down to 28 eligible drivers through Charlotte (though that could increase but unlikely). Note the Pre Chase Wins column - only two winners are currently outside the bubble. Win and you're probably in.

SINGLE ELIM BRACKET
Tough luck award to Rolling Thunder, which lost by three points to smokeum, the lowest remaining seed at No. 43. CLOWN CAR also suffered a 14-point defeat. Lower seeds won eight of the 16 matchups; katie's and RMO are on opposite sides of the bracket. The third round is also six races and concludes at Kentucky.

DOUBLE ELIM BRACKET
RMO, napolean, katie's and Team Lester highlight the teams advacing in the winners' bracket. No. 46 Loose Lugnuts recorded another upset, topping No. 12 Dirt Track OUTLAW by eight points. No. 4 Cooter is next. Lester and katie meet in the fourth round and are on the opposite side of the bracket from napolean and RMO, which could meet in the sixth round (winners' bracket has a by round in the fifth round).
No. 1 BLOWINSMOKE and No. 4 CLOWN CAR were eliminated in the third round.

SINGLE ELIM HEAT
BLOWINSMOKE stayed alive here, claiming the final advacing spot by five points over Shamrock Racing. Seven of the 16 teams in the third round entered the competition with top-10 seeds. No. 2 CLOWN CAR was the highest seed eliminated in round two.

DOUBLE ELIM HEAT
And some intrigue... katie's advanced in the winners' heat, while RMO shifted to the losers' heat with Team Lester. Oval Cowboys took the final advancing spot in the losers' heat by 12 points over Texas SpeedReavers; #3 Intimidator stayed in the winners' heat by four points over Little Deuce Coupe and six points over Dirt Track OUTLAW. The fourth round runs through race 15 at Michigan.

WORLD CUP
Every team has played three matches in the Champion Qualifying group stage. Your undefeated (3-0-0 unless noted) teams with seven races to go: napolean (Earnhardt group), Little Deuce Coupe (Petty), Jr. Nation (Gordon), Damn Sunday Drivers (Pearson), Betty Boop Madness (2-0-1; Yarborough), RYAN'S FAST (Allison), and Swindell Motorsports (Johnson).
Note that there are some Overall leaders missing from that list. This competition will also dent, cement or secure someone's Overall title chances.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
The time to update this competition throughout the season hasn't come and the templates for it need some work (note that some teams have played fewer games than others; it's not supposed to work that way...). I'll try to keep it going, but do not be surprised if I fall behind a week or two on it to update scores and standings. At some point, there is also the possibility I'll take the competition out of this year's RMFN - hoping not to but ...
RMO leads with a salty 20-4-0 mark, followed by napolean (19-4-0) and katie's (18-5-1).


nascar11.charlotte

Friday, May 27, 2011

Dover

Not much new to report. Big week at Charlotte for some competitions - eliminations pending.


Nascar.dover

Friday, May 13, 2011

World Cup - Round 2

I've posted this before here, but the WC is my favorite RMFN competition. The unpredictability of the matchups and results makes for a fascinating game.

I've set the parameters for the group placement and advancement prior to the season, so the oddities that follow are a result of how we - as a group - have played the 2011 season so far.

Only one of the 10 groups didn't need a tie-breaker to determine final standings from the first round. The details of how those ties were broken can be found in the black bars beneath each group's final standings on the 'World Cup Rd 1' page of the spreadsheet.

We started the season short two teams and lost two more late in the first round. As a result the top two fourth-place finishers were determined only by average points scored in the WC. Dirty Drivers left in Week 10 of the season, but had already completed - and was eliminated from - the WC. No harm, no foul, no RMFN invite for 2012.

A quick note on the average points column - those are averages for points scored during races scored in the WC. Each team had two 'bye weeks' during the first round. So...while a team may be higher in the Yahoo standings (and therefore have a higher overall average points scored per race), that team's average could be significantly adjusted if its best scores were in WC bye weeks.

The seeds and groups for the next round are broken down on the 'World Cup Seeds' page.

A statistical preview of the next round, dubbed the Champions Qualifying, is on the 'WC Group Ratings' page. Here you'll find columns breaking down the teams' seeds entering the 2011 season, their Overall standing entering Darlington, their Yahoo standing entering Darlington and a composite total of those figures.

Why is this cool? Our overall leader, RMO Lug Nuts, and the team trailing it in the Yahoo standings, napolean, are in the two most difficult groups (on paper). napolean suffered an early RMFN Overall setback by losing a head-to-head matchup against RMO in the RMFN Single Elimination Bracket.

If RMO is eliminated here and napolean advances in this round of the WC, the Overall title is back up for grabs. If both bow out, we have the virtual version of the Big One in the RMFN standings.

napolean has another RMFN Overall top 10 team in its group; RMO has two.

Finally, the cherry on top - the two paperweight-heavy groups were slugged the Waltrip and Earnhardt groups.

How fitting.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Darlington

A breakdown of the World Cup advancers/eliminations will be posted later this week.



Nascar11.Darling

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Richmond

Jr. Nation's 347 was the top RMFN score at Richmond, one of 12 scores above 300. Average RMFN score was 286, down about 10 points from last week. RMFN's string of limited sub-200 scores continued with just three at Richmond. To illustrate the turnaround:
First three races - 5 300+ scores, 41 sub-200 scores
Six races since - 96 300 + scores, 11 sub-200 scores

DEPARTURES NOTE: I adjusted the prior scores for Yduck and Buford's Boyz to 0s, which changed results in the World Cup, Head to Head and Single Elim Heat competitions. Two teams that were formerly eliminated are now still alive in the SEH. The WC and HtH are still in the middle of their rounds and were affected.


OVERALL
I added some color bars to help differentiate some groups based on average finishes. The top group has the best shot at the overall title. The number of members in those groups will decrease as we eliminate more teams from competitions.


CHASE
The string of 300 scores by RMO Lug Nutz and napolean has put pressure on the rest of the RMFN field to keep pace. Just 9 races into the season and only 23 teams are currently eligible for the Chase.


WORLD CUP
As noted above, the score changes did shift some things in the group standings. The final race of the Track Qualifying round is at Darlington - if you're racing, bring your best.
Ties within groups will be decided by:
1. Points
2. Head to head
3. Record vs. other group teams, top to bottom
4. Points average
5. Points average in head to head matchups
6. Points average against other group teams, top to bottom.
The top two fourth-place teams will be determined solely by average score in the WC. The seeding for the first- through third-place teams will be by WC points and then WC average.
The 'World Cup Seeds' page outlines what the next round's pairings would look like if the Champion Qualifying started at Darlington.


SINGLE ELIM BRACKET
We're halfway through the second round; eight of the matchups carry margins of fewer than 100 points into Darlington.


SINGLE ELIM HEAT
We shuffled Yduck and Buford's out of the second round and added the top two teams eliminated in the first round. Round two is halfway complete; the 900+ scores appear to be on solid ground right now.


HEAD TO HEAD
The records shuffled a little bit with the no scores for Yduck and Buford's from earlier this season. RMO and napolean are still leading the standings.


DOUBLE ELIM BRACKET/HEAT
Richmond marked the first race of the third round; three races to go.


nascar11.richmond

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Dega and some done

Top of Texas Racing post a season-best 387, its second win of the season, to highlight an up-and-down week for RMFN at Talladega. The overall score dipped to 278 but still well ahead of how we ran during the first three races of the season.
Two former RMFN champs and competition contenders, Yduck and Buford's Boyz, dropped out. We hope to have them back for the 2012 season.


CHASE
38 teams are currently eligible for the Chase. Top of Texas' second win propelled it from the bubble zone to the top 10. Much like the real format, wins matter.


WORLD CUP
We have two rounds remaining in the Track Qualifying phase. With the recent departures, two groups will be significantly impacted.
Yduck was leading its group and Buford's was in second in its group. Since they dropped out, only the records of the remaining group members will be counted in the final standings; we will count prior games vs. Yduck and Buford.
Little Deuce Coupe leads all teams with a perfect 6-0 record.
I also moved up the World Cup Seeds page in the document below - scroll down to see preliminary group pairings if the Champion Qualifying phase started today.


DOUBLE ELIM BRACKET
Yduck and Buford's were assigned 48th-place finishes, despite competing in the winners' bracket.
Rolling Thunder recorded the closest victory in the winners' bracket, beating Tony is The Man by just 9 points.


DOUBLE ELIM HEAT
The departure of Yduck and Buford's allowed two more teams from the losers' heat to advance to the third round - the beneficiaries were Arthur Racing and GOOD TO GO.
In the winners' heat, Swindell Motorsports took the final spot by just 1 point over BLOWINSMOKE (which continues in the losers' heat).


HEAD TO HEAD
RMO Lug Nutz and napolean continue to lead; JoRo's Rockets moved up to third.


SINGLE ELIM BRACKET/HEAT
It's still early in the second round, with four of the six races to go.
SICK PUPS (via Buford's exit) will advance in the bracket; and Yduck and Buford's shared 32nd place in the heat.


nascar11.talladega

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Texas snooze

Man, that race was HORRIBLE.

The only good thing to come out of it - a great week for RMFN. We averaged 303 and had 29 teams score more than 300 points (me, unfortunately, not included).

No eliminations this week but a couple of notables:
* CHASE: Rev-a-lusion's big score and win vaulted it from 27th to 6th in the standings (50 bonus points for the 'win' at Texas).
* WORLD CUP: Only two teams remain unbeaten - Little Deuce Coupe (6-0) and Yduck (5-0).
* DOUBLE ELIM BRACKET/HEAT: Talladega will mark the final race of the second round. We'll have some eliminations after the Big One. Will you survive?
* HEAD TO HEAD: napolean (14-2) has taken over the top spot. RMO Lug Nutz is second at 13-3.


nascar11.texas

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Martinsville details

SINGLE ELIM BRACKET
The first round's great matchups were led by our two Yahoo leaders - RMO Lug Nutz edged napolean by just 4 points to advance to the second round.
Other close calls:
Dale Earnhardt's Neck beat Thumper Bugeaters by 3 points.
Shamrock beat Yduck by 13 points
The second round covers the next six races - Texas through Charlotte.
Notable second-round matchups (based on Yahoo standings):
No. 1 RMO Lug Nutz vs. No. 8 Texas Speed Reavers
No. 5 katie's bootleggers vs. No. 6 BLOWINSMOKEJR
No. 13 Rolling Thunder vs. No. 16 smokeum


SINGLE ELIM HEAT
Rev-a-lusions took the final advancing spot and did so by slim margins over the top eliminated teams. Rev clipped Dirt Track OUTLAW by just 5 points, Loose Lugnuts by just 8, and Arthur Racing and Jr. Nation by just 10.
The 18 advancing teams join the 14 teams that received first-round byes for the second round, which runs from Texas to Charlotte.
The top 16 teams from those six races will advance to the third round.


DOUBLE ELIM BRACKET
Through two of four races in the second round, six of the winners' bracket matchups are within 25 points. Two more in the losers' bracket are within that margin.


DOUBLE ELIM HEAT
We're halfway through the second round.
In the losers' heat, GOOD TO GO currently holds the final advancing spot by 7 points over JoRo's Rockets and Killer Carl and by 11 points over Thumber Bugeater.
In the winners' heat, RMO Lug Nutz holds the final winners' bracket advancing spot but it's tight below it. The next 16 teams are separated by just 46 points.


WORLD CUP
We're through six rounds of the Track Qualifying phase, and teams with zero or one wins are in trouble - just four races left in the round and maybe fewer matchups for those teams.
Two teams secured spots in the next round by going undefeated through five matchups: napolean (Watkins Glen) and Little Deuce Coupe (Martinsville).
In the Indianapolis group, Yduck is 4-0 and will have its fifth matchup next week at Texas.
Other group leaders:
Daytona - Betty Boop Madness (4-1)
Bristol - 4HORSEMAN (4-1)
Talladega - BLOWINSMOKEJR (4-1)
Lowe's - Shamrock, Gonzo33 and katie's bootleggers (each at 3-2)
Homestead - Buford's Boys (4-1)
Darlington - Arthur Racing (4-1)


HEAD TO HEAD
All of the RMFN teams have played 14 games. Each team will continue to have two matchups/games each races until August, when we'll shift to a four-game format to finish the rest of the season.
RMO Lug Nutz and napolean lead with 14-2-0 records, followed by:
Buford's Boyz and Sunday Money 2011 (11-3-0);
FC Newman, RYAN'S FAST, JoRo's Rockets, and Betty Boop Madness (10-4-0);
katie's bootleggers (9-4-1);
SICK PUPS, Arthur Racing, Oval Cowboys, Little Deuce Coupe, Dirt Track OUTLAW and CLOWN CAR (9-5-0).


CHASE
46 of the 48 active teams are within 400 points of the leader and eligible for the Chase. Looking at the total points in the standings, you can identify key groups:
RMO and napolean are in firm control at the top;
The next four teams are firmly near the top;
The next 25 teams are separated by just 100 points.
That last group will separate in the coming weeks but staying in the top half of that last group as it shrinks will be key.


OVERALL
As noted in the M'ville primer, the Overall standings shuffled quite a bit. napolean is the highest rated team with an elimination in eighth place, followed by Oval Cowboys in 23rd. Betty Boop Madness jumped up to the second spot after napolean's drop behind RMO Lug Nutz.


MISC
RMFN season's average score increased despite a subpar week. Martinsville's average was 254, with just five scores above 300 (only two scores were under 200).
The streaking list (those teams with consecutive 300+ scores) shrunk: billy's boys 10 is the only team on the list (330 and 307 at M'ville).




nascar11.mville

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Martinsville primer

SINGLE ELIM HEAT
Final race of the first round means we'll lose 18 teams from this competition. Among the close matchups (entering qualifying at Martinsville's paperclip):
RMO Lug Nutz by 7 points over napolean (yes, our top two teams in the Yahoo and Overall standings were paired in the first round. Weird. But it also means one of them will likely be eliminated from Overall title contention with a loss here. Kinda sucks given the strong starts for both teams and some terrible starts for others, but the matchups were set before the season started)
Gonzo33 Racing by 9 points over Swindell Motorsports
JoRo's Rockets by 11 points over Arthur Racing
Shamrock by 21 points over Yduck


SINGLE ELIM HEAT
Like the bracket version, this is the last race of the first round/heat. The top 18 teams advance to the next heat against 14 other teams that received first-round/heat byes. Rev-a-lusions and HEAVY CHEVY share the final spots; nine other teams are within 50 points of them.


DOUBLE ELIM BRACKET/HEAT
M'ville will be the second race of the second round; not much to say at this point. If you're in a hole entering Sunday, you're in trouble. Big trouble. This round ends in two weeks at Talladega.


WORLD CUP
We're halfway through the Track Qualifying phase, and these teams are unbeaten through four matchups: Yduck (Indy group), napolean (Watkins Glen), Little Deuce Coupe (Martinsville) and Tony is The Man (Pocono). Based on RMFN World Cup history, those teams will likely only need one more point to secure a spot in the next round.


OVERALL
Expect some significant changes after Sunday's race at the paperclip. We'll eliminate 18 teams from both the single elim heat and single elim bracket. As of now, RMO Lug Nutz holds a slim edge of napolean, but that doesn't mean much in April.


CHASE
Same two lead early. The top 12 plus any other teams within 400 points of the leader advance to the Chase. Right now that would be 47 of the 48 eligible teams (Dirty Drivers is in an early hole).


MISC
RMFN has turn the tables after a VERY slow start to the 2011 season.
Through three races, RMFN had five scores above 300 points and 43 lower than 200.
The last two races, RMFN has 36 scores above 300 points and just one lower than 200.
The average scores reflect it, as well, going from 208 at Daytona to 251 heading into Martinsvile.
Who's hot (two or more consecutive 300+ scores): Loose Lugnuts, #3 Intimidator, Shamrock, and Tony is the Man.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Fontana

Great race but did it save the track from losing a date?

Comments on RMFN later this week.



nascar11.cali

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Bristol

First round of the double elimination competitions ended at the short track. See if you're in the winners' group or the other one.

The single elim contests are tightening, as well, with two races left in the first round.

Great week at Bristol for RMFN (except for me and a handful of others).




nascar11.bristol

Monday, March 7, 2011

Roll the dice at Vegas

RMFN IN VEGAS
Average score for the league stayed at 232, but we had a season-best four scores above 300. FC Newman continues to lead with a Matt Kenseth-like performance through three races.


OVERALL
Top 11 teams in the Yahoo standings are the same here. There are some changes due to records in the Head2Head. These will begin shuffling as we eliminate teams in the other competitions, beginning with the Double Elims after Bristol.


CHASE
Since all teams with 400 points of the leader qualify for the Chase, all running 48 teams would be eligible if the Chase started today. You'll note the jump some teams made in this competition compared to the Yahoo standings - wins get you 50 more points.


WORLD CUP
Through three races, we quickly have some haves and have nots:
UNBEATEN: BLOWINSMOKE, RYAN'S FAST, CLOWN CAR, katie's bootleggers, Yduck, RMO Lug Nutz, FC Newman, Arthur Inc., napolean, Little Deuce Coupe, Sunday Money, Tony is The Man
WINLESS: Killer Carl, MONSTER, All Eight, Thumper Bugeater, Cooter, Shamrock, GOOD TO GO, Team Lester, Jr. Nation, Damn Sunday Drivers, Dirty Drivers


SINGLE ELIMINATION BRACKET/HEAT
We're midway through the first round. Teams trailing by more than 100 points are in big danger of not advancing to the next round.


DOUBLE ELIMINATION BRACKET
Same note for the Single Elim trailers applies here, as well. The first round in this competition ends at Bristol. However, there are also some close matchups heading into Bristol:
Rolling Thunder over SICK PUPS by 8
All Eight over Loose Lugnuts by 13
smokeum over GoSlow by 18
Little Deuce over Oval Friends by 32
Team Lester over Damn Sunday by 40
Gonzo33 over Oval Cowboys by 43


DOUBLE ELIMINATION HEAT
The first round ends at Bristol, and the top 18 teams after that race advance to the second round. Three teams currently hold that final spot; eight more are within 25 points of the final advancing position.


HEAD2HEAD
Five teams are unbeaten or have just one loss through three races and eight games: FC Newman, RMO Lug Nutz, napolean, SICK PUPS and katie's bootleggers. The 48 playing RMFN members have at least one victory. Each team will have two matchups for each race through August. For the rest of the season, each team will have four matchups for each race.


nascar11.Vegas

Monday, February 28, 2011

Big one clears the field ... and the scores

Race 2 is typically much better than Race 1 for fantasy players, but a big wreck cleared the field and the scores at Phoenix.

Competitions are moving along - how's your team faring?



nascar11.Phoenix

Monday, February 21, 2011

For weeks where we have eliminations, I'll break up the pdfs by competition. Since that isn't the case this week, it's a lump-sum post.

Rough week for almost everyone at Daytona. I rolled the dice with Trevor and he saved my lost points from Burton and Newman.

A quick 'Booo!' to Nasty Habits and Winner By A Tire Length. Both dropped out of RMFN before the green flag.

Implications: the matchups in the bracket competitions and World Cup.
For the brackets, those opposing teams will advance to the next round but will be reseeded like the other second-round qualifiers for Round Two.
For the World Cup, the top two fourth-place teams will be determined by average points instead of World Cup points.

Good luck at Phoenix!!



nascar11.Daytona

Friday, February 18, 2011

Turn up the heat 2 notches

Overall seeds determine heat placement; the top 14 overall seeds received first-heat byes.

Top-10 teams from 2010 that will compete in the first heat include:
No. 4 BUSTER HYMEN
No. 5 Little Deuce Coupe
No. 7 Damn Sunday Drivers
No. 8 Betty Boop Madness
No. 9 #3 Intimidator

The first heat covers the first four races of the season. The top 18 teams at that point join the top 14 seeds in the winners' heat of the second round; the rest compete in the losers heat.



nascar11.pre2Heat

Turn up the heat 1 notch

The Single Elimination Heat competition features the same seeds as the Single Elimination Bracket.

As a result, the same overall top-10 teams that are competing in the first round of the SEB are in the first heat of the SEH:
No. 4 Cooter88
No. 5 RMO Lug Nutz
No. 7 billy's boys 10
No. 8 Swindell Motorsports
No. 9 Texas Speed Reavers

The first heat covers the first six races of the season. The top 18 teams at that point advance to the second heat and will be joined there by the top 14 seeds from 2010 who received first-heat byes.




nascar11.pre1Heat

Double trouble for some

Unlike the Single Elimination Bracket, this competition is uses the overall rating to seed teams.

Five teams that finished in the 93rd percentile or better face first round matchups:

No. 4 (seed from 2010 rating) BUSTER HYMEN vs. Buford's Boyz
No. 5 Litle Deuce Coupe vs. Oval Friends
No. 7 Damn Sunday Drivers vs. Team Lester
No. 8 Betty Boop Madness vs. JoRo's Rockets
No. 9 #3 Intimidator vs. Arthur Racing Inc.

The first round covers the first four races of the season.




nascar11.pre2Bracket

One and done

2010 finishes determined the seeds and pairings for the Single Elimination Bracket, and with that, some teams with solid overall ratings face difficult first-round matchups.

No. 7 overall/No. 29 2010 billy's boys 10 faces your's truly - No. 15 overall/No. 36 2010 in the first round. A tenured pair from past RMFN seasons also meet in the first round No. 4 overall Cooter88 meets No. 26 overall Buford's Boyz (formerly Hoosier).

Other top-10 overall teams with first-round pairings (the others earned first-round byes): No. 5 Yduck, No. 6 RMO Lug Nutz, No. 8 Swindell Motorsports, and No. 9 Texas Speed Reavers.

The first round covers the first six races of the season.




nascar11.pre1Bracket

The World is watching ...

My favorite side competition of RMFN - World Cup.

The first group phase runs through the 10th race of the season and features a double round-robin format for the five group members (10 groups).

Teams were seeded based on overall rating, resulting in some interesting groups:

DARLINGTON: No. 7 overall billy's boys 10 is paired with No. 3 from 2010 AMSKahne4.
POCOCONO (group of death): No. 10 overall/No. 10 2010 Sunday Money 1011; No. 11/No.13 Tony is The Man; and No. 30/No. 7 Damn Sunday Drivers.




nascar11.preWC