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.