🏁 Commissioner setup guide

NASCAR Pick’Em — Commissioner Setup Guide

Every setting for a NASCAR Pick’Em pool: roster size, scoring (points/finish/average), DNF handling, driver caps, live running order, and the entry fee + organizer cut.

NASCAR Pick’Em pool commissioners · 6 min read

NASCAR Pick’Em is a single-race contest: each entrant drafts a small roster of drivers before the green flag, and the roster that scores the most points on race day wins. It runs on the same “field roster pool” engine as our Golf Pick’Em, so the setup flow and scoring options will look familiar if you’ve run one before.

You choose the race, how big a roster entrants draft, how points are scored, and how driver ownership is capped. This guide covers every setting the commissioner controls, from creation through paying out winners.

Creating your pool

Pick a series and race, then set the roster rules.

Series: Cup Series, Xfinity Series, or Craftsman Truck Series. Each series has its own schedule and driver field.
Race: Pick the specific race entrants are drafting for. Races are imported by a platform admin ahead of time — if none show up, ask us to load the season schedule.
Contest name: Defaults to the race name plus “Pick’Em” but you can rename it.
Roster size: How many drivers each entrant drafts: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 8 (5 is the default).
Picks lock at (green flag): Defaults to the race’s scheduled start and rosters lock at that time, but you can move it earlier or later.

Scoring

Scoring method: Official NASCAR points (sum of each driver’s race points, the default), finish-position points (points assigned by where each driver finishes), or average finish position (lowest average wins).
Best X countPro: Only each entry’s top N drivers count toward their score instead of the whole roster — lets a couple of strong drivers carry a roster past one bad finish.
If a driver DNFs: Choose what happens when a drafted driver crashes or has a mechanical failure: score their actual finish (the default), zero points, or a fixed value you set.

Driver pool & pick rules

Driver availability: Unlimited (anyone can draft any driver, the default) or limited — cap how many entries can own the same driver so the field doesn’t collapse onto the favorites.
Max owners per driver: Only shown when availability is limited — the number of entries allowed to draft the same driver.
Pick visibility: Hidden until picks lock (default), public immediately, hidden until the race begins, or hidden until the race ends.
Entries per personPro: Let each participant submit more than one roster — 1 (default), up to 2, up to 3, or unlimited.
Ties: NASCAR Pick’Em has no tiebreaker prediction (that’s a golf-only feature for guessing the winning score) — if entries finish tied, the prize is split evenly between them.

Entry fee, pot & organizer cut

Entry fee: What each entry pays to join. Leave it at 0 to run the pool for fun.
Organizer cut: What your program keeps before payouts — a percentage of the pool, a flat total, or a flat amount per entry. Set on the Settings tab; the pot is always shown net of it. No fundraising add-on required.
How players pay: Players pay you through the app’s in-app payment step when they join — we never route the money.

Running the race

Live running order & scoresPro: The leaderboard and each roster’s live score update automatically from the free NASCAR results feed while the race is green — refreshed roughly every two minutes, far faster than our golf feed.
Pick popularity: See how often each driver was drafted across the field while building your roster, so you can gauge chalk versus contrarian picks.
Finalize & pay winners: Finalizing (automatic once the race goes final, or one click any time) scores every roster, splits the pot among the top scorer(s), and settles the contest. Winners appear with one-tap pay links so you can mark them paid.

FAQ

How does NASCAR Pick’Em scoring work?

By default your roster is scored on official NASCAR race points, but you can switch to finish-position points or average finish position instead. The commissioner also chooses how DNFs are handled.

What happens if my driver crashes out (DNF)?

That’s the DNF-handling setting: by default the driver scores their actual result, or the commissioner can set DNFs to zero points or a fixed value.

Can two entrants draft the same driver?

Yes by default — driver availability is unlimited. The commissioner can switch it to limited and cap how many entries may own the same driver.

What happens if entries tie?

The prize pot is split evenly among tied entries. NASCAR Pick’Em doesn’t use a tiebreaker prediction the way golf pools do.

Does the leaderboard update live during the race?

Yes, for Pro Commissioner pools — running order and scores refresh automatically roughly every two minutes off the live NASCAR feed. Free pools can be scored by hand or refresh when finalized.

How do the entry fee and organizer cut work?

The pot is entries × fee minus your organizer cut (a percentage, a flat total, or a flat per-entry amount, set on the Settings tab). Players pay you in-app at join; you finalize the race to split the net pot and pay winners.

Ready to run yours?

Set it up in a few minutes — every option here is right there in the wizard.

Start a NASCAR Pick’Em pool →