[football05]

The 2006 Nextel Cup revs off with the Daytona 500 beginning on Sunday, February 19.

We are starting this for the first time and the season will be broken up into two halves. The first 18 races will make up the first half (Daytona through Chicagoland - not counting the Nextel All-Star Challenge) and the remaining 18 races will make up the second half.

Members can jump in and play at any time. We're looking at prizes for each half's winner and an overall winner for adding each half, which is why members will be allowed to jump in and play at any time.

How to Play:
Post your weekly top ten finishing picks by car numbers only, since this will help out in our new scoring system. Ex: 18, 40, 12, 20, 8, 21, 9, 24, 2, 6. If they are not in this format, I will not accept them.

Scoring:
50 participation points for posting each week.
10 points for every driver you pick that finishes in the top ten, regardless of finishing order.
10 points for every driver you pick that correctly finishes in the spot you placed them.
5 bonus points for correctly picking the winner
5 bonus points for correctly picking seven drivers in the top ten

For example:
Your picks: 18, 40, 12, 20, 8, 22, 9, 24, 97, 17
How they finished: 18, 55, 45, 20, 8, 22, 17, 97, 24, 9

Participation: (50 points)
Top 10: #18, #20, #8, #22, #17, #97, #24, #9 (8 drivers = 80 points)
Exact Pick: #18, #8, #22 (3 drivers = 30 additional points)
Pick the winner: #18 (5 additional points)
Eight drivers in the top ten (5 additonal points)

Total for that week: (120 points)
Rules:
**You must have your picks in by Noon (ET), 11 (CT) on Sunday races and by 4 pm (ET), 3 pm (CT) on Saturday race days. I will not accept any posts after that time. This is a change from the past.

**You cannot ask another member to post your picks for you. You can send me your top ten picks in advance, if for some reason you know you will not be able to post them closer to the day of the race.