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