I was going to try to hop on yesterday, but I pretty well based my defaults on the 1.5 milers, so I figgered they'd be as good as anything else. Good for Tony! Nice to see him back in the winner's circle. Also funny to see Newman laughing and Kahne all angry after the race.

But...but....but....

Well...I knew it eventually had to happen. I know I have friends here for life, but I guess I have to end my quest to meet all of the WxChat family?

Aaron, I'll shoot you some notes off line. Need to pick your brain. A new dimension of WxChat awaits.

And right under the wire!!

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
4. Carl Edwards
5. Ryan Newman
6. Jeff Burton
7. Matt Kenseth
8. Jeff Gordon
9. Kyle Busch
10. Kurt Busch
SG. Tony Stewart

This should either give you a huge lead Kevin, or really close the gap tonight.

My one guess cost me. I put Gordon in place of Ragan. SGS....

OK, so finally a quiet morning. Just so's you knows...

My wife is now an EMT and she works every single weekend now. So I get to be the "chaser" meaning I have to do the shopping, errands, kid running etc., so my leisurely weekends for the most part have gone ::POOF::

So finally a Sunday where most everything looks to be quiet except for some grocery shopping, cooking and making a batch of homemmmmade ice cream...

So I get to be a stinker. I tried to do those online fantasy type games where your picks are limited to certain drivers from certain groups. Never liked them.

The way you have it now lets each and every race stand on its own. A new driver who has a stellar prerace weekend with top 10 start and excellent practice times would probably be a good pick in the scenario above. But if he is joined by top notch prerace performance from the other top 10 in points, you are then left with not much hope from the lower 3 brackets. You would likely get 2-4 good picks out of the weekend and the rest would be "also rans".

The way you have it now, even if we all pick the same basic combination of drivers, still sees points shake out a lot differently based on where we put them in our top 10. About the only thing I might suggest to the current scoring is granting more points when your pick is dead on by position, or maybe a bonus for how many drivers finished in the exact position predicted. Maybe a 2-5 point kicker for each correct pick, except first which I will note below. And the ability to have the safety net of defaults is a beautiful thing when the time to ponder picks just isn't there sometimes. But season long defaulters should have their own standings or give them a sexy red color highlight in the weekly standings so we can see who is who.

As for some winner bonus points, maybe factor in the Vegas odds somehow. USAToday runs odds every week: USAToday Sports Odds and maybe using that as the official bonus line for picking a winner. Maybe half the front end line. Your #1 pick goes out at 12-1 odds to win, you get 6 points if he does. But if you pick a 100-1 driver and win, 50 points. So at least picking a long shot winner can pay off.

Only other thing I would change is the 10 lap down requirement for the SG pick. Anything more than 2 laps down means your driver got caught up in something or had mechanical issues. A blown pit stop, speeding penalty, stuff like that might knock a driver a lap or two, but more than that, something out of the ordinary happened, so I would like to see that SG rule loosened a bit.

Other than that, I REALLY like the way you do it. Participation? Well...I don't think it is a result of how you do the contest. Things are just kinda quiet.

No guessing (except one). Going by the numbers:

1. Greg Biffle
2. Carl Edwards
3. Tony Stewart
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Jeff Burton
6. Jimmie Johnson
7. Matt Kenseth
8. Kasey Kahne
9. Jeff Gordon
10. Clint Bowyer


SG. Juan Montoya

Hit and run posting today. Lemme digest this and I will get my thoughts up!

Blind luck can be better than bad luck. I'll take the 227 on defaults when used for a road course.

OK, I'm finally back. And I want my lead back!!! Hopefully this will do it:

1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Jeff Burton
3. Kevin Harvick
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Juan Montoya
6. Ryan Newman
7. Tony Stewart
8. Mark Martin
9. Clint Bowyer
10. A.J. Allmendinger

SG. Denny Hamlin

Revised my defaults and I will go with those for today. It's Daytona, I'll end up with less than 175 points no matter what I do.

Bump, edited post above.

I am not sure I ever remember being under a 45% hatched day 2 outlook right here in the big city. I'll believe it when I see it.

But if you believe it, wide swath across the lower western Great Lakes should get hammered by this time Wednesday. So find your spot to get nailed and get it in by 0500z.

7 years of doing this and I still have a few lines to pull out of the hat!

Thanks Jeff!

First place still up for grabs.

After a dull start today, a flourishing finish in many areas.

What will Tuesday show? Ingredients may actually be better than they were for Monday. Just a mere 15 minutes 'til the deadline! Pick quick!

Wingin' it

1. Jeff Gordon
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Kyle Busch
4. Juan Montoya
5. Ryan Newman
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Tony Stewart
8. Boris Said
9. Marcos Ambrose
10. Jamie McMurray

SG Jimmies Johnson

The home stretch is upon us. Another in an unending stretch of Slight Risk days is up for Sunday. LARGE area to consider as this very active damaging wind pattern continues. Nice to see it has stretched to again include my neck o the woods again.

And just to clarify, Saturday June 26th is the FINAL CHASE DAY. Last picks will be made on Friday, June 25th for the 26th. So tune it in as tight as you can the next few days. Top spot is still available to a lot of Chasers!

149 reports and not one near enough to me. An embarrassing bust, since I would have scored from my original spot. And I was doing so well without catching the SGS bug this year....

WeatherHawk, I don't see you in the Db for today. Did you get the usual confirmation screen?

FrodoFox, I also don't see you in the Db for today either, which is why you couldn't get a confirmation on your move. Do you have any email confirmation from your original entry?

Chicago Storm, I think we can grant the mulligan since you immediately posted this.

Should be an active day Thursday with a Moderate likely to show up either right off the bat in the SWODY1 or in one of the outlooks by midday. Potent set up should evolve along the ND/MN border and extend south as the day goes. This could be a make or break day for folks over that 4.0 point average. A 24 pointer right now is worth just about a full point on your average with most folks right in that mid-20 Chase range.

So who will it be? Will a top of the pack Chaser break away? Will someone down the rank shoot to the top? It won't happen either way if that pick isn't in by 0500z!

Do you need a VC break? Not gonna happen!

But at least we have some new virtual ground to hunt on. Big Sky country takes center stage for Wednesday. Lots of area, not a lot of eyes to see the prize up there though. Unless you want to shoot the small target out east. Probably more population in that small east coast area than in the vast slight out west.

But all it takes is one trained pair of eyes near your pick! And pickin time is still 0500z.

So what company is it so I know which app to get since this will be THE most RELIABLE weather app out there!

Nice!!!

This may be the tightest contest of all this far into the VC. Anyone at the top has a shot. I think the new "stay put" bonus has paid off well. I think I may have had a single Chase day in past years where I "drove" as many miles as I has this entire season so far.

Good luck all!

And congrats fairwxcu on a big move yesterday.

OK, LAST CALL!!!!

I may have my own for yesterday for that tornado that was in the OK panhandle between Booker, TX and Elmwood, OK. If a damage survey is done that may have just passed within 5 miles. Right now it is about 6.25 miles away.

See previous 20 or so consecutive threads for details...

We need some serious virtual maintenance on the chase vehicles...

I may just let the defaults ride on this one.