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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

2014 March Madness NASCAR Style


By Richard Tix

Well its March again and just like last year NASCAR Behind the Wall is going to do a March Madness Bracket NASCAR Style. This is NASCAR Behind the Wall's Second Annual March Madness NASCAR Style Bracket.

Here are the rules and how things were set up:
  • Brackets were decided by current standings after the race at Las Vegas. Four Divisions, top 4 in the standings got the #1 seeds, 5-8 in the standings got the #2 seeds, 9-12 #3 seeds and so on.
  • From the standings the rankings were given out serpentine style. Meaning: The driver ranked 5th (first #2 seed) started in the lowest #1 seed's bracket (in this case Joey Logano's). It continued all the way up until 3 seeds, which then went from Jr's bracket on down.
  • Here is how the rounds break down by race (first race we have two eliminations to speed it up).
    • Bristol: Round 32 and Sweet 16 (Bristol= NASCAR's Definition of Madness)
    • Auto Club: Elite 8
    • Martinsville: Final Four
    • Texas: Championship
  • The driver that finishes Highest in the race moves on (Think the last Chase Race)

Here are the standings that were used (Standings after Las Vegas):
**Note, NASCAR Behind the Wall is going by points, so Kevin Harvick slides down the list and in between Dillon and Kahne. Everyone else moves up a spot and everything else is the same past that.**


That should be most of the information you need. The rest of it is pretty straight forward, we have a bracket and the highest driver moves on. Just remember, Bristol holds the key to the first TWO rounds. So after Bristol 8 drivers will remain. (So Jr has a match up with Ragan and then the winner of Mears or Stenhouse, all decided at Bristol).


2014 NASCAR Behind the Wall March Madness Bracket

The Jr Division
Loud Mouth Division
1
D Earnhardt Jr
1
B Keselowski
8
D Ragan
8
D Gilliland
4
C Mears
4
K Kahne
5
R Stenhouse Jr
5
P Menard
3
R Newman
3
Ky Busch
6
A Almirola
6
K Larson
2
D Hamlin
2
C Edwards
7
M Truex Jr
7
R Sorenson
6-Time Division
Young Gun's Division
1
J Johnson
1
J Logano
8
C Whitt
8
J Allgaier
4
K Harvick
4
A Dillon
5
M Ambrose
5
B Vickers
3
J McMurray
3
G Biffle
6
C Bowyer
6
AJ Allmendinger
2
M Kenseth
2
J Gordon
7
T Stewart
7
Ku Busch


A few interesting matchup's in the first round

2) Matt Kenseth v 7) Tony Stewart
  • Smoke has started out slow like he did in 2013, actually really slow. Because he started so slow he comes in with a 7 seed. The fact remains that he is still a threat to Matt Kenseth. All he needs is one race to get going and could "upset" Kenseth.
2) Jeff Gordon v 7) Kurt Busch
  • Another SHR driver sliding into the bracket, Kurt Busch has started slow with his new team. He could upset Gordon because NASCAR starts at Bristol, a track he is pretty good at, but Gordon is no push over. In fact, Gordon also comes into Bristol on a very hot start to the 2014 season.

Some Interesting Facts:
  • Danica Patrick missed out on the bracket by one spot in the standings (She is 33rd).
  • Three rookies made the cut (Dillon, Larson, and Whitt).
  • Dale Jr or Logano may have the easiest trip to the Elite 8. 
  • Potential second round matchups at Bristol:
    • BK v Kahne
    • Gordon v Biffle
    • JJ v Harvick
    • Edwards v Ky Busch

Here are the 2013 March Madness articles on the tournament:
What do you think? Who is moving on? Who are the favorites? 
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