Rules for 2008 NASCAR Nextel Cup League

2008 Season Rules

Each week you pick five drivers: 2 from Tier-1, 2 from Tier-2, and 1 from Tier-3. The drivers in the three tiers are based upon 2007 season-end standings. All rookies are in Tier-3.
Your weekly selection will also include a guess at the number of laps that will be led by the race winner, to be used for a tie-breaker (remember that the race winner always leads at least the last lap).
You may play each driver in a maximum of 9 races.
Driver selections must be made no later than 30 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the televised race coverage. This does not include "Pre-Race Show"

There is a 15-minute grace period built into the deadline. The website will inform you of how much time is left for pick submittal.
This should allow all participants the opportunity to select drivers who have qualified for that race.
In the event that a player fails to enter a weekly pick, the players picks from the prior week shall be reused.
In the event that a player fails to enter a weekly pick for the first week, the players will receive no points.
In the event that one or more of those previously picked drivers is no longer eligible (due to the 9 race limit) then the player forfeits that driver pick for that week.
"Kurt Busch Rule": In the event that a driver is suspended from competition (by team owner or NASCAR officials), or is injured prior to the start of the race, and this occured within the 24 Hour period prior to the scheduled start of the race, then the players in this pool will be entitled to the points earned by the replacement driver.

The webmaster's picks will be available for viewing when entered prior to the deadline to guarantee fair play.
All other players' picks will be posted after the entry deadline has passed and with the results after scoring is completed.

The Official NASCAR results (as posted on NASCAR.COM) for the race will be used for scoring this pool. These are usually posted at the end of the next business day following the completion of the event. Television and Radio coverage results are considered unofficial results and often differ slightly from the official results. For a Sunday race, league results are typically on the league website by 10:00 p.m. Monday.
For selected races designated at the beginning of the season, points will be doubled. Refer to the schedule posted on the league site.
You are awarded points based on those drivers’ finishing position in the race (regardless of the order you select them in, but that is important for the tie breakers - see below).
20 points are given for 1^st place, 19 for 2^nd, 18 for 3^rd, etc. All drivers that qualify for the race and finish 20^th or lower get one point.

Any driver who fails to qualify for a race is worth zero (0) points.
If you pick a driver more than nine (9) times, then that driver is worth zero (0) points for the 10th or more times picked.

The maximum number of points possible is 90 (20+19+18+17+16).
The minimum number of points is 5 (assuming all five drivers selected qualify for the race, but finish outside of the top 19).
The player with the most points for that race is the winner for that week and will receive the weekly monetary award as described below.
In the event of a tie, the following tiebreakers (in order listed below) will be used:

The player whose #1 driver has the higher finishing position.
The player whose #2 driver has the higher finishing position.
The player whose #3 driver has the higher finishing position.
The player whose #4 driver has the higher finishing position.
The player whose #5 driver has the higher finishing position.
The player whose guess of the total # of laps led by the race winner is closest.

When determining the League-End Award, each player’s lowest week point total will be discarded. This will result in the best 17 weeks' scores for each player being used to determine the league winner. (This is referred to as the "Adjusted Score").

All monetary awards are held in non-interest-bearing escrow and paid out in lump sums at the end of the league season.
Of the total entry fees collected, 40% goes to the weekly winner monetary fund.

The total weekly monetary fund is evenly divided over the 18-race period.
At the current $18.00/season cost, this amounts to 40 cents multiplied by the number of players as the weekly payout.
If the weekly award amount computed at the start of the season contains fractions of a cent, then the fractional portion will be dropped and split evenly among the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd place season-end awards, with the 1^st place position receiving the rounded-up portion of any fraction obtained by dividing by 3.

The league-end monetary fund pays out at league end to the three (3) players with the highest "Adjusted Score" as defined above.
The player with the highest "Adjusted Score" will receive 50% of the league-end monetary fund.
The player with the second-highest "Adjusted Score" will receive 32% of the league-end monetary fund.
The player with the third-highest "Adjusted Score" will receive 18% of the league-end monetary fund.
If there is a tie for first and second place, then those players will share equally in the sum of the first and second-place awards.
If there is a tie for second and third place, then those players will share equally in the sum of the second and third-place awards.
If there is a tie for first, second, and third place, then those players will share equally in the total league-end monetary fund.
If there is any tie for third-place with the fourth and lower positions, then the third-place award will be split equally among all players involved in the tie for that position.

Example based on 10 players is: $4.00 for each weekly winner; $54.00 for league-end 1st-place; $34.56 for league-end 2nd-place; and $19.44 for league-end 3rd-place.

For the legality of this pool in New York State, please visit the following links:

In summary it states that this pool is completely legal because all money taken in is paid out, and everyone has an equal chance to win the pool.