NASCAR Daily Fantasy Coming Soon to DraftKings
UPDATE (5/14/15)
NASCAR and DraftKings have entered an official partnership, making DraftKings the fantasy game of choice for the racing giant. This will allow live scoring direct from NASCAR’s statistics feed during events, and will lead to NASCAR-themed experiences as prizes for contests. Contests will begin with the Coca-Cola 600 on May 24th.
ORIGINAL STORY
DraftKings is apparently not content with being the official daily fantasy game of MLB, and a leading DFS site handing out millions in prizes across several sports. On the heels of the rise of popularity of DFS PGA and the introduction of other sports like soccer and MMA, the Boston-based company is on the verge of releasing their daily fantasy NASCAR product.
We don’t yet have firm details on what sorts of contests we’ll see from DraftKings in this new sport, but a rules page has been posted to the site, and offers a look into how the contests will be scored.
Drivers will be scored based on their finishing positions, but also based on the following scoring categories.
- - Place Differential = +/- 1 PTs
- - Fastest Laps = +0.5 PTs
- - Laps Lead = +0.25 PTs
- - Pass Differential = +/- 0.25 PTs
Place differential is defined as the difference between starting and finishing position (so if a racer starts first and finishes 20th, he will lose 19 points for those who draft him). Pass differential is defined as times passing other cars with times passed by other cars subtracted.
This obviously provides incentive to find cars that aren’t near the front of the pack to start the event, as the place and pass differential points will be very valuable in differentiating a DFS NASCAR lineup. Picking a driver with pole position may not pay off unless he wins, as picking a driver who starts deeper in the pack and makes a run to the front offers more upside and potential for bonus points.
Earlier this month, DraftKings hired a full-time communications director (as reported by PR Week), the first full-time employee of that sort in their history, with ties to NASCAR as a previous employee of the racing giant. It’s unclear if this hire had anything to do with DraftKings’ decision to move forward with their racing product, but they certainly have an employee who understands marketing to that community, which should help grow their user base along with this new product.
The big question surrounding DFS NASCAR has been its legality. Other sites have offered NASCAR as a game in the past, but have included qualifying, lower-tier races, or two-week slates to get around a provision in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that allows for daily fantasy sports in general.
I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t really speak to this issue. But DraftKings is unlikely to enter a new gaming arena without confidence that they’re not putting themselves and their customers at risk for violating these laws. The appeal of a popular fantasy sport generating more revenue and bringing in more customers isn’t worth the risk of losing their current status as a booming DFS business with a valuation around a billion dollars. It will be interesting to see how they approach the sport.