STEEM Cup Series: Daytona 500 – Preview and Contest

The inaugural event for the season-long NASCAR contest is finally here!

This is it! The Daytona 500 will kick off our weekly, monthly, and season-long contests for NASCAR, as promised in my post, Announcing the 2017 Calendar Year Sports Contests and Development Funding.

First, some adjustments to the rules.

A great point about contestants simply picking favorites every week was brought up in conversation with another user. My goal is to make these contests fun for all users, whether they are actually fans of the sport in question or not. So, with that in mind, I decided to make a tweak to my originally proposed points system.

NASCAR races will typically have 40 drivers, so the points distribution will be:

1st place – 40 points
2nd place – 39 points
3rd place – 38 points

And down the list until...

39th place – 2 points
40th place – 1 point

Each contestant chooses three drivers for the race and the assigned points will be tallied based on where they finish. An additional 20 points will be given to the race winner. But here’s the twist...

I will choose one driver each week and contestants will not be able to select that driver as one of their own for the contest. Wherever that driver finishes in the final race standings, the number of places between that driver and the contestants’ three drivers will be added together and then deducted from the contestants’ previous points total.

For example:

My driver finishes in 20th place. Contestant N’s drivers finish in 4th, 15th, and 29th, giving them a point total of 75 points.

The total distance between the 20th place and the 4th, 15th, and 29th, place drivers is 31 places. Contestant N’s new total will be 44 points (75 – 31) for the contest.

If my driver finished in 5th place, then the total earned by Contestant N would be 40 points (75 – 35).

If my driver finished in 37th place, then the total earned by Contestant N would be 12 points (75 – 63).

This adds a different dynamic to the contest and should discourage contestants from simply choosing the top drivers week after week.

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The Weekly STEEM Cup Series Contest

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Race Information – The Daytona 500

Race Date and Time: Sunday, February 26th, 2017 – 2:00pm EST (UTC -5)

The Daytona 500 is the first big race of the NASCAR season, held every year at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The track is 2.5 miles long and the total distance is 500 miles for the race, which means that 200 laps are required to complete that distance. Race times typically last in the 3-hour range.

Last year’s winner was Denny Hamlin. He finished the race in 3 hours, 10 minutes, and 25 seconds, with an average speed of 157.549 miles per hour. Hamlin will be starting in the 4th position for this year’s race. The pole position was won by Chase Elliott, last year’s rookie of the year. Fan-favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr., will be starting in the second position. The 7-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, will be starting in the 24th position. Johnson is currently the defending champion of the season-long Series.

You can find the complete projected starting lineup here: Starting Lineup for the Daytona 500

The weather for Sunday’s race should be a sunny day, with highs in the upper 60s.

Driver Selections

As stated above, each contestant will choose three drivers for the weekly STEEM Cup Series from the field of drivers. Based on the number of drivers and the final results of the race, drivers will be assigned points as follows:

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Results	Points Awarded
1st place	40
2nd place	39
3rd place	38
4th place	37
...	...
39th place	2
40th place	1

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The race winner will be worth an additional 20 points.

MY SELECTED DRIVER FOR THE DAYTONA 500: DANICA PATRICK

Contestants cannot choose DANICA PATRICK as one of their drivers for this race.

The total numerical difference in places between the contestant’s selections and my driver selection will be deducted from the total points gained according to the distribution chart above. The new point totals after deductions will determine the weekly winners.

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How to Play and Win

1. In a comment on this post, submit the full names of your three drivers. ONLY ONE COMMENT SUBMISSION PER USER, PER WEEKLY CONTEST.

2. Submissions will be confirmed and locked in at the start of the weekly race. ALL CONTEST SUBMISSIONS MUST BE ENTERED PRIOR TO THE SCHEDULED START TIME OF THE RACE. Late submissions and any edits after that time will be automatically disqualified from the weekly contest.

3. There will be three winners each week. The winners will be the contestants with the most points gained, based on the points distribution outlined in Driver Selections. All point totals earned from all contestants will carry over for the monthly and season-long contests.

4. The contest is funded with a minimum pot of 50 STEEM. The total weekly pot distribution will be divided as follows:

Place	Rewards Percentage
1st	50%
2nd	30%
3rd	20%

In the event of a tie, the pot will be split between the tying contestants.

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Please help with outreach by sharing this post outside of Steemit!

One of the goals for this contest and the fantasy sports development project is to bring users to Steemit, keep them engaged on the platform, and onboard them into the STEEM cryptocurrency ecosystem. So, please invite your friends and family to Steemit and share this with any NASCAR/racing fans or sports enthusiasts. Growing the active user base can benefit all users and investors, no matter their interests.

As always, please ReSteem this post and let’s grow the sports community through posting, discussing, competing, and earning!

Thank you for participating and good luck!

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Special thanks to @blocktrades for supporting and sponsoring this Steemit community event!

Please show him support in return with a witness vote and by using the BlockTrades services.

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Follow me: @ats-david