FanDuel Fantasy NASCAR Contests: Running Now

FanDuel announced on Monday that it is launching fantasy NASCAR contests beginning this weekend with the GEIGO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. The FanDuel lobby is now listing NASCAR contests with buyins ranging from free to $333 and prize pools as high as $25,000.

The new NASCAR format is a simple offering: pick any five drivers for a day’s race and stay within the $50K salary cap. Then, your drivers will accumulate points based on their final position in the race plus points for laps completed, laps led and overall place differential.

FanDuel will be kicking things off with a $5,000 freeroll on Sunday offering cash prizes and a free entry to the Race to Daytona Championship, which will be giving out $10K in prizes and a VIP trip for two to Daytona.

The other big contest of the weekend is the $25K guaranteed Sunday NASCAR Intimidator with an entry fee of just $4. First place in that one is good for $5,000 and prizes are paid all the way down to 1,470^th out of a total field of 7,440.

Introducing the Race to Daytona Promotion

FanDuel is welcoming NASCAR fans with the Race to Daytona Free Play Series starting this weekend and running through June 3^rd. From April 29^th through June 6^th, FanDuel will host a series of five freeroll contests that award cash prizes and seats to the final Race to Daytona Championship contest on June 10^th.

Here’s how it works:

• Play in free contests: FanDuel will be holding five free contests between April 29^th and June 3^rd
• Win entry to the Daytona Championship: Finish first in any of those five free contests or finish first in any Race to Daytona GPP contest during that time to win a spot in the Daytona Championship. Alternatively, you’ll get 1-5 free entries if you finish in the top 10,000 on the Race to Daytona leaderboard.
• Play in the Daytona Championship: On June 10^th, FanDuel will hold the Daytona Championship with $10,000 in prizes and a VIP trip for two to Daytona

For the Race to Daytona leaderboard, FanDuel will keep your three bets scores out of the five free Race to Daytona contests. Your final position in your three best results will determine your standing on the leaderboard. Finish anywhere in the top 10,000 on the leaderboard (or win a Race to Daytona contest outright) and you’ll be invited to the Race to Daytona Championship.

The Race to Daytona Championship will have a guaranteed prize pool of $10,000. Additionally, the first place finisher will win a trip for two to Daytona.

You can get started by entering any Race to Daytona GPP or by playing in the following free-to-play contests:

• April 29^th: $5,000 Talladega contest
• May 6^th: $2,500 Dover contest
• May 13^th: $2,500 Kansas contest
• May 27^th: $2,500 Charlotte contest
• June 3^rd: $2,500 Pocono contest

If you win any of these contests, any of the Race to Daytona GPPs or finish in the top 10,000 on the leaderboard, here’s what you’ll be playing for on June 10^th:

$10,000 Daytona Championship Contest

• Free invitation-only entry
• 1^st Place: VIP trip for two to the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in Daytona on July 7^th where you’ll get a pre-race ride-along experience, flight and 1 night of hotel accommodations.
• 2^nd Place: $1,000
• 3^rd Place: $500
• 4-6^th Place: $250
• 7-10^th Place: $100
• 11-15^th Place: $75
• 16-20^th Place: $50
• 21-30^th Place: $25
• Prizes all the way down to 2,515^th Place

FanDuel NASCAR Scoring Rules

FanDuel has updated its website with new NASCAR scoring rules. Under the new format, players will be given a virtual salary of $50,000 used to draft any five drivers for the race of the day.

After you draft your five drivers, they’ll be scored according to the following rules.

• Lap Completed: +0.1 points
• Lap Led: +0.1 points
• Overall Place Differential: +/- 0.5 points

Points are also awarded for each driver’s finishing position:

Position	Points Earned	Position	Points Earned
1st	43 points	2nd	40 points
3rd	38 points	4th	37 points
5th	36 points	6th	35 points
7th	34 points	8th	33 points
9th	32 points	10th	31 points
11th	30 points	12th	29 points
13th	28 points	14th	27 points
15th	26 points	16th	25 points
17th	24 points	18th	23 points
19th	22 points	20th	21 points
21st	20 points	22nd	19 points
23rd	18 points	24th	17 points
25th	16 points	26th	15 points
27th	14 points	28th	13 points
29th	12 points	30th	11 points
31st	10 points	32nd	9 points
33rd	8 points	34th	7 points
35th	6 points	36th	5 points
37th	4 points	38th	3 points
39th	2 points	40th	1 point

FanDuel is Fully on Board with Single-Game Contests

FanDuel’s biggest competitor DraftKings was first to the single-game punch when DraftKings began offering NASCAR contests in 2015. The move appeared somewhat risky at the time from a legal perspective due to the wording of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA).

The UIGEA carved out an exemption for fantasy sports contests, but only if those contests are based on “multiple real-world sporting” events. DraftKings decided to test the limit by hosting NASCAR contests, presumably viewing each driver’s participation in a single race as individual sporting events.

However, no states challenged DraftKings on the legality of NASCAR contests in the intervening years. Fantasy sites were still hesitant to hold contests based on a single NFL or NBA game after 2015, but that too changed when DraftKings launched single-game contests for last season’s NFL Playoffs.

FanDuel followed shortly after with its own single-game contests for the 2018 Super Bowl. No states have challenged either site’s interpretation of the law and now it seems FanDuel has determined the risk of legal action to be low enough to warrant expanding into single-race NASCAR contests.