Thank you to everyone who participated and supported the first week of the STEEM Cup Series and the Fantasy Sports Development Fund!
With your continued support, the ability to create a fantasy sports platform for the STEEM blockchain is more likely to be achieved.
As a reminder, these contests that are used to partially fund that initiative are experimental and occasional changes will be made to tweak/test the points systems and efficiency of record-keeping. In addition, like other fantasy sports platforms, these posts serve as a means to reward participants who engage in the contests and outperform other contestants. These contests also provide participants with the means to give feedback on them, as well as giving incentive to Steemit users to continue engaging on the platform throughout the respective seasons without needing to be a blogger/content creator.
Please be sure to read the How to Play and Win section for any rule changes from week to week. There was one change made this week that will affect scoring, so don’t miss it. I will try to limit any changes to monthly timeframes going forward, unless there is an immediate need.
You can find the results for the Daytona 500 contest here: RESULTS: Steemit Scramble and STEEM Cup Series – February 27, 2017. The first monthly contest will conclude with the Auto Club 400 on March 26th.
STEEM Cup Series Contest
Race Information
Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500
Sunday, March 5, 2017 – 2:30pm EST
Atlanta Motor Speedway – Hampton, Georgia
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series heads to Georgia this week for the Quiktrip 500. The track at the Atlanta Motor Speedway is 1.54 miles long and the race is scheduled for 325 laps (which actually puts the total miles at 500.5 instead of 500).
The defending champion of the Quiktrip 500 is Jimmie Johnson, who has won the race four times in his career. He won last year’s race in 3 hours, 15 minutes, and 38 seconds with an average speed of 155.863 miles per hour. The race was extended last year for an additional five laps due to an overtime finish brought on by a caution in lap 323.
Qualifying for the race will take place later today (Friday). The current practice results have Jamie McMurray at the top of the board with a lap time of 29.531 seconds and a top speed of 187.735 miles per hour. He is currently followed by Matt Kenseth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Larson, and Trevor Bayne. Last week’s Daytona 500 winner, Kurt Busch, is currently in 7th during the practice sessions.
[UPDATE] - Qualifying is complete. Kevin Harvick will start in the pole position, with Ryan Newman on the outside in the second spot. For the complete list of starting positions, please visit this link and click on "QUALIFYING" above the list of drivers: NASCAR Race Center
The current weather forecast for Sunday’s race is mostly cloudy, with highs in the upper 60s and no expected precipitation.
Driver Selections
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:
| Results | Points Awarded |
|---|---|
| 1st place | 40 |
| 2nd place | 39 |
| 3rd place | 38 |
| ... | ... |
| 39th place | 2 |
| 40th place | 1 |
The race winner will be worth an additional 20 points.
The bonus will be added to the point totals after the deductions based on my driver selection, as explained below.
Unique driver combinations will be worth a bonus of 5 points.
The bonus will be added to the point totals after the deductions based on my driver selection, as explained below. If two or more contestants choose the same combination of drivers for the contest, then the contestant who entered their selections first will receive the bonus.
My selected driver for the Quiktrip 500 is: RYAN NEWMAN
Contestants cannot choose RYAN NEWMAN 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.
How to Play and Win
In a comment on this post, submit the full names of your three drivers. ONLY ONE COMMENT SUBMISSION PER USER, PER WEEKLY CONTEST.
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 AT THE RACE. Late submissions and any edits after that time will be automatically disqualified from the weekly contest.
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.
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.
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!
Special thanks to 
for supporting and sponsoring this Steemit community event!
Please show him support in return with a witness vote and by using the BlockTrades services.
