DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Last year, all eyes were on Peoria (Ill.) Speedway driver Billy Tuckwell. This Peoria resident dominated the quarter-mile dirt track's Late Model division en route to 15 wins and the 2002 NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series Heartland Region championship. This year, Tuckwell has not matched that performance and dropped out of the Heartland Region Top 10 this week. Taking Tuckwell's place on the Heartland Region leaderboard is Mapleton, Ill. driver Tim Lance. After collecting his fourth feature win, Lance advanced into the Peoria Speedway track points lead and second place in the regional standings.
Tom Seets Sr., of Alton, Ill., stayed in the top spot for the third consecutive week after collecting his 10th win at Tri City Speedway in Granite City, Ill. Seets has won more than 90 % of the races he's entered at Tri City this year - a better winning percentage than any other driver in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series. Elsewhere, Jeff Aikey of Cedar Falls, Iowa and Scott Lawver, of Roscoe, Ill., recorded feature wins at their respective home tracks to remain in the Heartland Region Top 10 this week.
THIS WEEK'S TOP 10 ...
Driver Home Track Starts Wins Top 5 Top 10 CPI Change*
1. Tom Seets Sr. Tri City Speedway 11 10 10 10 .8273 - -
2. Tim Lance Peoria Speedway 11 4 11 11 .7936 +9
3. Steve Holzhausen LaCrosse Fairgrounds Spwy 11 3 9 11 .7727 -1
4. Ricky Bilderback Rockford Speedway (Sat.) 11 8 10 11 .7373 - -
5. Jeff Aikey Dubuque Fairgrounds Spwy 8 3 6 8 .7100 +1
6. Dean Cornelius Raceway Park 9 2 8 9 .6700 +1
7. Jeff Martin Elko Speedway 11 1 7 11 .6673 +1
8. Andy Bozell Kalamazoo Speedway 11 1 7 10 .6564 +7
9. Sam Heckman Kil Kare Speedway 7 2 6 7 .6443 - -
10. Scott Lawver Rockford Speedway (Wed.) 7 3 4 6 .6286 - -
*Editor's Note: The +/- numbers in the "change" column indicate a driver's movement in the regional standings, versus their position during the previous week. The dash marks indicate that a driver has maintained their position in the standings.
A closer look at the NASCAR CPI index ... NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series regional and national championships are determined by the Competition Performance Index, or CPI. This index measures four factors - winning percentage, top-five finishes, average car count at a drivers' home track and starts - to rank each feature division driver. At the end of the season, the driver with the highest CPI rating in each region is declared the regional champion. The racing records of the eight regional champions are then compared to determine the national champion.
This week, the final step in the process is examined - combining all the factors together to produce an index and rank the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series championship competitors.
Based on NASCAR's formula, each of the four factors is assigned a value. For example, Driver A has a record of 18 starts, five wins and 17 top-five finishes. Driver A has not missed any races at his or her home track and competes against an average field of 22 cars. The track with the highest average car count in Driver A's region has 25 cars. Driver A's CPI values would look like this:
Winning percentage - 0.277 (5 divided by 18 = .277)
Top-five percentage - 0.944 (17 divided by 18 = .944)
Starts - 1.0 (18 divided by 18 = 1.0)
Car count - 0.840 (21 divided by 25 = .840)
These four factors are added together (0.277 + 0.944 + 1.0 + 0.840 = 3.061) and the result is divided by four - representing the number of factors - to produce Driver A's CPI ranking of .7653. Once the CPI index is calculated for each driver in the region, the driver with the highest CPI is the regional leader. A driver must be his or her track championship points leader to be placed in the top "tier" of the regional standings. This top tier includes the nine or 10 drivers that will receive a portion of the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series championship point fund and participate in the annual awards banquet in Nashville.
Race winners across the nation ... Who's the hottest driver in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series? Take a look at these win totals from across the nation:
Driver Home track (region) Wins (as of July 16)
Tom Seets Sr. Tri City Speedway (Heartland Region) 10
Ricky Bilderback Rockford Speedway (Heartland Region) 8
Mark McFarland Old Dominion Speedway (Atlantic Region) 8
Jerry Robertson Colorado National Speedway (Northwest Region) 8
Denny Hamlin Southern National Speedway (Southeastern Coastal) 7
Jeff Klem I-70 Speedway (Midwest Region) 7
Gary Madsen Rocky Mountain Raceways (Northwest Region) 7
Stuart Ricks Myrtle Beach Speedway (Southeastern Coastal) 7
Chris Whorton Huntsville Speedway (Sunbelt Region) 7
Tom Seets Sr., of Alton, Ill., stayed in the top spot for the third consecutive week after collecting his 10th win at Tri City Speedway in Granite City, Ill. Seets has won more than 90 % of the races he's entered at Tri City this year - a better winning percentage than any other driver in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series. Elsewhere, Jeff Aikey of Cedar Falls, Iowa and Scott Lawver, of Roscoe, Ill., recorded feature wins at their respective home tracks to remain in the Heartland Region Top 10 this week.
THIS WEEK'S TOP 10 ...
Driver Home Track Starts Wins Top 5 Top 10 CPI Change*
1. Tom Seets Sr. Tri City Speedway 11 10 10 10 .8273 - -
2. Tim Lance Peoria Speedway 11 4 11 11 .7936 +9
3. Steve Holzhausen LaCrosse Fairgrounds Spwy 11 3 9 11 .7727 -1
4. Ricky Bilderback Rockford Speedway (Sat.) 11 8 10 11 .7373 - -
5. Jeff Aikey Dubuque Fairgrounds Spwy 8 3 6 8 .7100 +1
6. Dean Cornelius Raceway Park 9 2 8 9 .6700 +1
7. Jeff Martin Elko Speedway 11 1 7 11 .6673 +1
8. Andy Bozell Kalamazoo Speedway 11 1 7 10 .6564 +7
9. Sam Heckman Kil Kare Speedway 7 2 6 7 .6443 - -
10. Scott Lawver Rockford Speedway (Wed.) 7 3 4 6 .6286 - -
*Editor's Note: The +/- numbers in the "change" column indicate a driver's movement in the regional standings, versus their position during the previous week. The dash marks indicate that a driver has maintained their position in the standings.
A closer look at the NASCAR CPI index ... NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series regional and national championships are determined by the Competition Performance Index, or CPI. This index measures four factors - winning percentage, top-five finishes, average car count at a drivers' home track and starts - to rank each feature division driver. At the end of the season, the driver with the highest CPI rating in each region is declared the regional champion. The racing records of the eight regional champions are then compared to determine the national champion.
This week, the final step in the process is examined - combining all the factors together to produce an index and rank the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series championship competitors.
Based on NASCAR's formula, each of the four factors is assigned a value. For example, Driver A has a record of 18 starts, five wins and 17 top-five finishes. Driver A has not missed any races at his or her home track and competes against an average field of 22 cars. The track with the highest average car count in Driver A's region has 25 cars. Driver A's CPI values would look like this:
Winning percentage - 0.277 (5 divided by 18 = .277)
Top-five percentage - 0.944 (17 divided by 18 = .944)
Starts - 1.0 (18 divided by 18 = 1.0)
Car count - 0.840 (21 divided by 25 = .840)
These four factors are added together (0.277 + 0.944 + 1.0 + 0.840 = 3.061) and the result is divided by four - representing the number of factors - to produce Driver A's CPI ranking of .7653. Once the CPI index is calculated for each driver in the region, the driver with the highest CPI is the regional leader. A driver must be his or her track championship points leader to be placed in the top "tier" of the regional standings. This top tier includes the nine or 10 drivers that will receive a portion of the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series championship point fund and participate in the annual awards banquet in Nashville.
Race winners across the nation ... Who's the hottest driver in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series? Take a look at these win totals from across the nation:
Driver Home track (region) Wins (as of July 16)
Tom Seets Sr. Tri City Speedway (Heartland Region) 10
Ricky Bilderback Rockford Speedway (Heartland Region) 8
Mark McFarland Old Dominion Speedway (Atlantic Region) 8
Jerry Robertson Colorado National Speedway (Northwest Region) 8
Denny Hamlin Southern National Speedway (Southeastern Coastal) 7
Jeff Klem I-70 Speedway (Midwest Region) 7
Gary Madsen Rocky Mountain Raceways (Northwest Region) 7
Stuart Ricks Myrtle Beach Speedway (Southeastern Coastal) 7
Chris Whorton Huntsville Speedway (Sunbelt Region) 7
