Welcome to the first week of the Fantasy Chase. For those of you who are playing, I have some great news: Winning just got a whole lot easier.
One-quarter of the eligible players — 66 people — missed the deadline for getting their picks in. I tried to send out reminders every day for a week and posted multiple updates on the website, but people either forgot or just weren’t paying attention. I’m bummed about that.
Anyway, we’re down to 197 players, so thanks to the rest of you for submitting your entries on time.
A refresher on how it works at Chicagoland: Your pick for today must finish in the top 12 Chase drivers. If he doesn’t, you have a buffer depending on how many wins you had in the regular season. The bonus points are for this week only.
For example:
— If you had one win, your driver can finish 13th among Chase drivers and you can still advance.
— If you had two wins, it’s 14th.
— If you had three wins, it’s 15th.
— If you had four or more wins (we’re looking at you, seven-time winner Adam Huth), you’re automatically through to the next round no matter what happens to your driver today.
Here are the picks for Chicagoland (along with bonus points for this week only). I grouped these by driver picks so it’ll be easy to follow along and see which of the 197 players get eliminated in Week 1. All 16 Chase drivers were picked today, so some people will definitely get eliminated.
Good luck everyone!
| Twitter ID | Bonus Pts | Chicago |
| ZackaryDWilson | 1 | Allmendinger, AJ |
| Daniels_Caudill | 2 | Allmendinger, AJ |
| LoganReardon20 | 2 | Allmendinger, AJ |
| 1OutlawBandit | 1 | Almirola, Aric |
| truex56fan | 1 | Almirola, Aric |
| JAGillespie90 | 1 | Almirola, Aric |
| J_Fellenbaum | 1 | Almirola, Aric |
| SubmarineMike88 | 2 | Almirola, Aric |
| Sam_Beishuizen | 4 | Almirola, Aric |
| racingwench | 1 | Biffle, Greg |
| jvirgs | 1 | Biffle, Greg |
| jay_christley | 1 | Biffle, Greg |
| 88bfar | 2 | Biffle, Greg |
| tgb_RPh | 2 | Biffle, Greg |
| brendan14394 | 2 | Biffle, Greg |
| racefan_11 | 2 | Biffle, Greg |
| JMNakai | 2 | Biffle, Greg |
| bradleykarnes | 3 | Biffle, Greg |
| jay_wilkins17 | 3 | Biffle, Greg |
| NancyatStudioN | 1 | Busch, Kurt |
| chrisonethree | 1 | Busch, Kurt |
| spitz121 | 1 | Busch, Kurt |
| Hokiefitz | 1 | Busch, Kurt |
| joey_fonseca | 2 | Busch, Kurt |
| devyanks90 | 2 | Busch, Kurt |
| quickdraw222 | 2 | Busch, Kurt |
| jsugi48 | 2 | Busch, Kurt |
| Jddorman2 | 4 | Busch, Kurt |
| jonedwards24 | 0 | Busch, Kyle |
| jeff_gluck | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| 18frannie | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| DJstatman482454 | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| Coates_Burghfan | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| mattlovisa | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| DTrainMurphyTX | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| glenburdett | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| VinnieV77 | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| Carlajarvi | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| fnmetal | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| PhotoMatt_KCCO | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| chris_siebold22 | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| Lil’ Debbie | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| rebel388 | 1 | Busch, Kyle |
| wdoyle66 | 2 | Busch, Kyle |
| jmorris_np | 2 | Busch, Kyle |
| ClintLJones | 2 | Busch, Kyle |
| goofyfordfan | 2 | Busch, Kyle |
| gregatkins | 2 | Busch, Kyle |
| vasteve | 2 | Busch, Kyle |
| NSCRtruckFAN | 2 | Busch, Kyle |
| ashaver13 | 2 | Busch, Kyle |
| _Chouinard | 2 | Busch, Kyle |
| samhissett7 | 3 | Busch, Kyle |
| mauhernz | 3 | Busch, Kyle |
| clebren45 | 4 | Busch, Kyle |
| stevemichalik | 4 | Busch, Kyle |
| Adam_Huth | 7 | Busch, Kyle |
| The_real_tc_ | 1 | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| fatbuzz66 | 1 | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| Amishkid17 | 1 | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| hzirbel | 1 | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| jsoupzzz | 2 | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| ZTsmiley | 3 | Earnhardt Jr., Dale |
| Bob_14 | 1 | Edwards, Carl |
| dave_phillips1 | 1 | Edwards, Carl |
| kid67y | 1 | Edwards, Carl |
| JoeGwilt | 1 | Edwards, Carl |
| Ed_326 | 1 | Edwards, Carl |
| alovewithoutend | 1 | Edwards, Carl |
| coreyr12 | 1 | Edwards, Carl |
| dallasjunebug | 2 | Edwards, Carl |
| Cody_Masse | 2 | Edwards, Carl |
| dwilwer | 3 | Edwards, Carl |
| bshell00 | 3 | Edwards, Carl |
| pamnielsen | 3 | Edwards, Carl |
| jjwolfeman | 3 | Edwards, Carl |
| echo837 | 1 | Gordon, Jeff |
| ZHorrall224 | 2 | Gordon, Jeff |
| chrisallen_nc | 2 | Gordon, Jeff |
| icemankeller | 1 | Hamlin, Denny |
| scottaltimaman | 1 | Hamlin, Denny |
| CodfishCodfish | 1 | Hamlin, Denny |
| P_prissypants | 2 | Hamlin, Denny |
| DRLDeBoer | 3 | Hamlin, Denny |
| markvphotos | 1 | Harvick, Kevin |
| Springwolf | 1 | Harvick, Kevin |
| richman43 | 1 | Harvick, Kevin |
| ItsAlexKaplan | 1 | Harvick, Kevin |
| LAW9960 | 1 | Harvick, Kevin |
| foolrain | 1 | Harvick, Kevin |
| Chubdubblub | 1 | Harvick, Kevin |
| Revvin4Seven48 | 2 | Harvick, Kevin |
| 4toddboyer | 2 | Harvick, Kevin |
| whenske | 2 | Harvick, Kevin |
| kevinkletti | 2 | Harvick, Kevin |
| Nascar_Nut | 2 | Harvick, Kevin |
| turbojunker | 2 | Harvick, Kevin |
| BigLiciousT | 2 | Harvick, Kevin |
| Jrig1980 | 3 | Harvick, Kevin |
| soller00 | 3 | Harvick, Kevin |
| mrdevore | 2 | Johnson, Jimmie |
| robwright11 | 1 | Kahne, Kasey |
| ashinyobject | 1 | Kahne, Kasey |
| abadacejr182288 | 1 | Kahne, Kasey |
| cpeuterb | 1 | Kahne, Kasey |
| ncraiderfan17 | 1 | Kahne, Kasey |
| Jrioux_ | 1 | Kahne, Kasey |
| caseylandrum15 | 1 | Kahne, Kasey |
| basspro24chevy | 1 | Kahne, Kasey |
| MoWhi | 1 | Kahne, Kasey |
| dickiep1018 | 1 | Kahne, Kasey |
| trv240sx | 1 | Kahne, Kasey |
| Toenailurface | 2 | Kahne, Kasey |
| Gael78II | 2 | Kahne, Kasey |
| DeuceStaley_48 | 2 | Kahne, Kasey |
| Bradley_016 | 2 | Kahne, Kasey |
| J_Carleton | 2 | Kahne, Kasey |
| AshBollinger | 2 | Kahne, Kasey |
| MrsJPancake | 2 | Kahne, Kasey |
| csvelin | 2 | Kahne, Kasey |
| jojolv48 | 2 | Kahne, Kasey |
| thasmoke | 3 | Kahne, Kasey |
| Huth88 | 3 | Kahne, Kasey |
| CopaCavanna | 3 | Kahne, Kasey |
| katiecole125 | 3 | Kahne, Kasey |
| oldguyjk | 3 | Kahne, Kasey |
| arlenekrue | 3 | Kahne, Kasey |
| Dfblanchard | 3 | Kahne, Kasey |
| jbenik | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| rsc654 | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| Freak4Harvick | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| dfairhurst2448 | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| gonzalezterence | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| summerbrooke23 | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| DillonSims | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| Readymixchick | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| kjflye | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| jrkenbok | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| BPierce | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| lorettamagers | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| thejosh20 | 1 | Kenseth, Matt |
| brian_wiggins | 2 | Kenseth, Matt |
| kennethriggs | 2 | Kenseth, Matt |
| jayua | 2 | Kenseth, Matt |
| cswiecki84 | 2 | Kenseth, Matt |
| tcholbrook | 2 | Kenseth, Matt |
| bakemoney2000 | 2 | Kenseth, Matt |
| stevelo48 | 2 | Kenseth, Matt |
| lancesells | 2 | Kenseth, Matt |
| RealJDogg_82 | 2 | Kenseth, Matt |
| pat_decola | 2 | Kenseth, Matt |
| folimu | 2 | Kenseth, Matt |
| n08fear | 2 | Kenseth, Matt |
| Kfisher88 | 3 | Kenseth, Matt |
| _Carlton | 3 | Kenseth, Matt |
| Sports2hiphop | 3 | Kenseth, Matt |
| hollywoodtlb | 3 | Kenseth, Matt |
| prettymonkey | 4 | Kenseth, Matt |
| cgros127 | 4 | Kenseth, Matt |
| AndrewWaldrop | 1 | Keselowski, Brad |
| YenndeeZ | 1 | Keselowski, Brad |
| poloshot | 1 | Keselowski, Brad |
| HitYourMarks | 1 | Keselowski, Brad |
| bruce_compton15 | 1 | Keselowski, Brad |
| Scottwilfong | 2 | Keselowski, Brad |
| KeviRHatfield | 2 | Keselowski, Brad |
| acheckeredflag | 2 | Keselowski, Brad |
| davidlerner75 | 3 | Keselowski, Brad |
| HD388 | 3 | Keselowski, Brad |
| thndrnghrd24 | 1 | Logano, Joey |
| digertwo | 1 | Logano, Joey |
| 07vanquish | 1 | Logano, Joey |
| Kharvfanfla15 | 1 | Logano, Joey |
| Race5599 | 1 | Logano, Joey |
| LDGringo | 1 | Logano, Joey |
| Bundy315 | 2 | Logano, Joey |
| nuggie99 | 3 | Logano, Joey |
| 1kfox | 3 | Logano, Joey |
| mattgross | 1 | Newman, Ryan |
| CraigHaasis | 1 | Newman, Ryan |
| Mattdobson_7 | 1 | Newman, Ryan |
| tvphotog17 | 1 | Newman, Ryan |
| MarkRH | 2 | Newman, Ryan |
| TheTigerBones | 2 | Newman, Ryan |
| grammatea4u | 2 | Newman, Ryan |
| stephenflorentz | 2 | Newman, Ryan |
| TannerFoutz | 2 | Newman, Ryan |
| StatsDavid | 2 | Newman, Ryan |
| 3Dingo | 2 | Newman, Ryan |
| Shady__Hill | 2 | Newman, Ryan |
| MaximeB92 | 3 | Newman, Ryan |
| dlschamp | 3 | Newman, Ryan |
| DR_FNP | 3 | Newman, Ryan |
| HotStoverReport | 3 | Newman, Ryan |
| jdubharris | 3 | Newman, Ryan |
| AppBuckeye31 | 3 | Newman, Ryan |
| CFDIG | 4 | Newman, Ryan |