NASCAR Fantasy Live 101
NASCAR Fantasy Live is free to play on the official NASCAR website and app. You can join leagues or create your own league and invite friends to join. This season-long league runs through all 36 points races and concludes with the championship race in Phoenix. The top scorer for the season-opening Daytona 500 will win $10,000. The player with the most points for the full 36-race schedule will win $25,000, with the runner-up winning $10,000 and third place taking $5,000. The top scorer in just the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs will win $10,000.
NASCAR Fantasy Live Basics
Roster
Each race users will select five starters and one garage driver to roster. The garage driver can be swapped for one of your starters up until the conclusion of Stage 2. At that point your lineup will lock and you will earn points based on the total number of points your starters accumulate in the race. This is based on NASCAR's points system that includes results from the first two stages as well as the race finish.
Featured Matchups
In addition to a driver roster each week, users will have to pick the highest finisher of four different driver matchups. Each correct matchup selection will be awarded 10 points towards your weekly total. Unlike the roster part of the contest, stage results do not matter in featured matchups. It's all about who finishes the race in the higher position. You will also not be able to change your featured
NASCAR Fantasy Live 101
NASCAR Fantasy Live is free to play on the official NASCAR website and app. You can join leagues or create your own league and invite friends to join. This season-long league runs through all 36 points races and concludes with the championship race in Phoenix. The top scorer for the season-opening Daytona 500 will win $10,000. The player with the most points for the full 36-race schedule will win $25,000, with the runner-up winning $10,000 and third place taking $5,000. The top scorer in just the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs will win $10,000.
NASCAR Fantasy Live Basics
Roster
Each race users will select five starters and one garage driver to roster. The garage driver can be swapped for one of your starters up until the conclusion of Stage 2. At that point your lineup will lock and you will earn points based on the total number of points your starters accumulate in the race. This is based on NASCAR's points system that includes results from the first two stages as well as the race finish.
Featured Matchups
In addition to a driver roster each week, users will have to pick the highest finisher of four different driver matchups. Each correct matchup selection will be awarded 10 points towards your weekly total. Unlike the roster part of the contest, stage results do not matter in featured matchups. It's all about who finishes the race in the higher position. You will also not be able to change your featured matchup picks once the race begins.
Driver Uses
The strategy for NASCAR Fantasy Live comes in when you realize that you only get 10 uses for each driver during the 26-race regular season. This will require users to pick and choose their spots to use some of the top drivers in the sport. Prior to the start of the 10-race NASCAR Playoffs, all driver uses will reset to five. You will be able to select both playoff eligible drivers and non-eligible playoff drivers over those final 10 races with a maximum of five uses.
Tips for NASCAR Fantasy Live
Pay Attention to Practice
While there isn't as much practice time as there used to be, teams will still get around 20 minutes to make some laps prior to single-car qualifying. NASCAR has lap averages available on their site to take a look at and give you an idea of which teams have the best race pace. You can split these up into 5-lap averages, 10-lap averages, 15-lap averages, and so on depending on the track size and how many laps drivers are able to complete in that 20-minute practice session. While there is track history for pretty much every driver, often those lap averages are the best data to use when selecting your rosters and matchup winners.
Good Qualifying and Stage Points
It's certainly never a given, but typically drivers that end up qualifying towards the front will have the best chance to score stage points. If there's anything we've learned about this Next-Gen car it is that dirty air and being back in traffic is extremely challenging. If a driver shows speed in practice, but makes a mistake on their qualifying lap, it might be worth saving a use because of the difficulties of passing.
When to Save Driver Uses
While you'd like to be able to play some of the elite drivers every week like Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Chase Elliott, the reality is that you're going to have to find the right times to pick and choose your spots for some of those top options considering we only have 10 uses in the regular season and only five for the playoffs. Superspeedways like Daytona, Talladega, and to some degree Atlanta, are the great equalizers because of the draft. This allows teams with less funding and resources to be able to compete for finishes they typically wouldn't at your standard intermediate track. Superspeedways and road courses are excellent places to save some of those top drivers and play some of the smaller teams.
Be Ready to Make a Swap
The nice part about NASCAR Fantasy Live is that your roster has a bit of a security blanket. You will be able to swap your garage driver in for any of your starters prior to the conclusion of Stage 2. This can protect you from one of your drivers being involved in an early wreck and getting basically no points for that starter. If you get towards the end of Stage 2 and you're not sure who to leave in the garage for the final stage, the best way to decide is typically who has the least amount of stage points. Those stage points stay with you no matter what happens in that final stage, so it increases your floor.
