Just like the past six years, we're going to treat the 2018 NASCAR All-Star Race next Saturday (May 19) just like a normal weekend NASCAR race but with more bonus point opportunity.
All picks for the Monster Energy Open and the Monster Energy All-Star race events must be posted before 6:00PM EDT (3:00PM PDT) Friday, May 18th, before the television coverage of Qualifying starts on Fox Sports 1.
Here's the weekend schedule:
* Qualifying, a three-lap run with no speed limit on pit road will be televised on Friday night. As always there will be a -1 bonus point if you pick the Qualifying winner. If one or both of your driver picks are not already eligible to drive in the All-Star race, then they will be qualifying for the Monster Energy Open and if they qualify #1 for the Open then you will pick up a -1 bonus point. Theoretically, you could pick up a -1 bonus point for each qualifying if you pick an already eligible All-Star race driver and a driver from the Monster Energy Open. Something to think about.
* The Monster Energy Open, a qualifying race for all drivers not automatically eligible to drive in the All-Star race. There will be three segments to the Monster Energy Open: 20, 20, and 10 laps, with each stage winner advancing to the All-Star race. Another driver will advance to the All-Star race based on the fan vote.
* There are four stages in this year's Monster Energy All-Star Race -- a 30-lap opening stage, a 20-lap second stage, a 20-lap third stage and a 10-lap final dash to the finish. Only green-flag laps will be counted in the final 10-lap final dash to the finish, and NASCAR overtime rules will apply to all stages.
Confused yet?
So, how are points going to work? Pick two drivers as always - driver picks are for the Friday night qualifying and Saturday All Star Race only, you are not picking drivers for the Monster Energy Open.
All game scoring will be based on All Star Race qualifying and finish position only.
But you can pick a driver that is driving in the Saturday Monster Energy Open if you think they will be one of the three drivers from either the Monster Energy Open, or will be the fan vote winner, and advance to the Saturday All Star Race.
If your driver wins the final 10-lap segment of the All Star Race you'll get a -5 bonus, 2nd-place driver pick will get a -3 point bonus. Also, the driver pick winning the 30-lap or any 20-lap segment of the All Star Race will get a -1 point bonus. If the same driver pick wins multiple 30-lap or 20-lap segments they'll get a -1 point bonus for each.
As always, finishing positions from the All Star Race for your driver picks will be averaged. But not all current drivers will be starting the 80-lap All-Star race.
Only 21 drivers will start the All-Star race event, including the Fan Vote Winner and the three stage winners from the Monster Energy Open preliminary race.
If you pick a driver that doesn't make it out of the Monster Energy Open, you'll get an 22nd-place finish.
No picks at all will be counted as 22 points since only 21 cars will be starting the All-Star Race stages.
Here's the list of drivers guaranteed entry to the All-Star Race. They'll be joined by the Fan Vote Winner and the three stage winners of the Monster Energy Open:
#1 Jamie McMurray
#2 Brad Keselowski
#3 Austin Dillon
#4 Kevin Harvick
#6 Matt Kenseth
#11 Denny Hamlin
#12 Ryan Blaney
#14 Clint Bowyer
#17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
#18 Kyle Busch
#22 Joey Logano
#31 Ryan Newman
#41 Kurt Busch
#42 Kyle Larson
#48 Jimmie Johnson
#78 Martin Truex Jr.
#95 Kasey Kahne
Pick any driver not on the above list and double any bonus points earned by that driver. You could get -10 points for an event win, -6 points for an event runner-up, -2 points for any 30-lap or 20-lap segment wins.
Not interested in any driver except for those already locked in, you say? How about #9 Chase Elliott, #10 Aric Almirola, #19 Daniel Suarez, #20 Erik Jones, #21 Paul Menard, #24 William Byron or #43 Bubba Wallace? Any of them or any other non-qualified NASCAR driver could easily win either the Monster Energy Open or the Fan Vote on Friday night. Pick a non-qualified driver and possibly earn double bonus points.
So, do you feel lucky? Well, do you?
Vote for your favorite driver if he's not already in the set field and try to get him in via the Sprint Fan Vote.
And of you just want to keep your already "locked in" picks...that's OK too.
Good luck all! Let me know if you have any questions.