Before you read anything else on this page, know this: There’s a chance the Fantasy Chase could end this week.
Say what?! Yep, it’s true. The chances of our game still being undecided at Homestead are now quite small. In fact, it’s likely the game will be over in the next couple weeks.
First of all, look at how the Fantasy Chase field has shrunk:
| Pre-race | Players left |
| Chicago | 197 |
| New Hampshire | 183 |
| Dover | 113 |
| Kansas | 107 |
| Charlotte | 71 |
| Talladega | 50 |
| Martinsville | 21 |
So you’re saying, “OK, still 21 players. That’s not so bad.”
Actually, it IS that bad when you consider the picks for this week:
| Twitter ID | Martinsville |
| wdoyle66 | Busch, Kurt |
| fatbuzz66 | Busch, Kurt |
| digertwo | Busch, Kyle |
| CopaCavanna | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| gonzalezterence | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| Adam_Huth | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| Sam_Beishuizen | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| Sports2hiphop | Gordon, Jeff |
| devyanks90 | Gordon, Jeff |
| BPierce | Gordon, Jeff |
| dave_phillips1 | Gordon, Jeff |
| dallasjunebug | Gordon, Jeff |
| chrisonethree | Gordon, Jeff |
| trv240sx | Gordon, Jeff |
| Amishkid17 | Gordon, Jeff |
| TheTigerBones | Johnson, Jimmie |
| thndrnghrd24 | Johnson, Jimmie |
| Mattdobson_7 | Johnson, Jimmie |
| mattgross | Johnson, Jimmie |
| kennethriggs | Johnson, Jimmie |
| jsoupzzz | Kenseth, Matt |
Did you see that? Look at all the italics! All of those picks in italics are worthless for Martinsville because those drivers are no longer in the Chase. So in reality, there are only nine people who can advance past this week:
| Sports2hiphop | Gordon, Jeff |
| devyanks90 | Gordon, Jeff |
| BPierce | Gordon, Jeff |
| dave_phillips1 | Gordon, Jeff |
| dallasjunebug | Gordon, Jeff |
| chrisonethree | Gordon, Jeff |
| trv240sx | Gordon, Jeff |
| Amishkid17 | Gordon, Jeff |
| jsoupzzz | Kenseth, Matt |
So there you have it: The ONLY picks this week are Jeff Gordon (eight people) and Matt Kenseth (one). If they both finish in the top four of the remaining Chase drivers, they move on to Texas. But if both Gordon and Kenseth finish in the bottom half of the Chasers this week, the game is over.
In that case, it would be decided on a tiebreaker. Here are the tiebreaker rules I just made up for Martinsville:
Tiebreaker 1) If both drivers are eliminated, those who picked the driver who finished higher at Martinsville will win the championship.
— If both Kenseth and Gordon are eliminated but Kenseth finishes higher, @jsoupzzz wins the championship.
— If both Kenseth and Gordon are eliminated but Gordon finishes higher, there’s an eight-way tie for the championship and we go to Tiebreaker No. 2.
Tiebreaker 2) In the event of an eight-way tie, the tiebreaker will be the person who still has the most eligible Chase drivers for the remaining three races after Martinsville.
There is only ONE person out of all remaining players who has four eligible drivers in the remaining four races. So @amishkid17 would win the championship this week if both Kenseth and Gordon go out and Gordon finishes higher.
Details (eligible driver in bold):
| Sports2hiphop | Gordon, Jeff | Keselowski, Brad | Harvick, Kevin | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| devyanks90 | Gordon, Jeff | Keselowski, Brad | Johnson, Jimmie | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| BPierce | Gordon, Jeff | Keselowski, Brad | Johnson, Jimmie | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| dave_phillips1 | Gordon, Jeff | Keselowski, Brad | Johnson, Jimmie | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| dallasjunebug | Gordon, Jeff | Earnhardt Jr., Dale | Harvick, Kevin | Johnson, Jimmie |
| chrisonethree | Gordon, Jeff | Logano, Joey | Harvick, Kevin | Johnson, Jimmie |
| trv240sx | Gordon, Jeff | Johnson, Jimmie | Harvick, Kevin | Keselowski, Brad |
| Amishkid17 | Gordon, Jeff | Logano, Joey | Harvick, Kevin | Keselowski, Brad |
Let me know if there are any questions, since this might be confusing. By the way, in the event the game continues to next week, here are @jsoupzzz’s picks for the rest of the season:
| Kenseth, Matt | Logano, Joey | Busch, Kyle | Kahne, Kasey |