The NASCAR Cup Series is set to debut its inaugural In-Season Challenge, in which 32 drivers are seeded and bracketed into a tournament, like March Madness or a tennis draw.
The In-Season Challenge, which will run for five weeks, is actually a series of individual races within five larger races. The drivers will not only be competing to win the weekly race as they normally would, but they will also be facing off in head-to-head matchups with the goal of finishing better than their opponent in the race and advancing to the next round.
The drivers were seeded based on their finishes at three previous races – at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono – with the bracket placing the top two seeds on opposite halves of the draw. That means if the tournament holds to form, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds would not meet up until the final, presuming they both advanced through each round.
The winner of the inaugural In-Season Challenge will take home $1 million.
The first round begins Saturday, June 28 at Echo Park Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) and features 16 head-to-head matchups among the 32 drivers. Beat your head-to-head opponent and you advance to the second round. Sixteen drivers will be eliminated after the first round.
Does that sound complicated? If so, we have you covered with the list of seeds, how the rounds work, every first-round matchup and where and when each of the five In-Season Challenge races will take place.
NASCAR In-Season Challenge seedings
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
- Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
- Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
- Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
- Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
- Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
- Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
- William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
- Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
- Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
- Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
- Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
- Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
- Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
- Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
- Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
NASCAR In-Season Challenge matchups, rounds
The NASCAR In-Season Challenge puts the 32 drivers in a bracket, which begins with 16 first-round matchups.
The No. 1 seed faces the No. 32 seed in the first round, the No. 2 seed takes on the No. 31 seed, No. 3 matches up with the. No. 30 seed, etc. The losers of the head-to-head matchups will be eliminated, and the 16 winners will advance to the second round, where the winner of the No. 1 vs. No. 32 matchup will face the winner of the No. 16 vs. No. 17 matchup, the winner of the No. 2 vs. No. 31 matchup takes on the winner of the No. 15 vs. No. 18 matchup, etc.
Like March Madness, the tournament will move from a Round of 32 to a Sweet 16 to an Elite Eight to a Final Four and finally a championship race.
- First round: 32 drivers in 16 head-to-head matchups; 16 drivers eliminated at end of race.
- Second round: 16 drivers in eight head-to-head matchups; eight drivers eliminated at end of race.
- Third round: Eight drivers in four head-to-head matchups; four drivers eliminated at end of race.
- Fourth round: Four drivers in two head-to-head matchups; two drivers eliminated at end of race.
- Fifth round: Two drivers in a head-to-head matchup; winner wins the in-season challenge.
TOURNAMENT: Full visual NASCAR In-Season Challenge bracket
NASCAR In-Season Challenge first-round pairings
Here are the pairings for the first-round race at Echo Park Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) on Saturday, June 28. The winner of each head-to-head matchup advances to the next round.
Top half of draw
- No. 1 Denny Hamlin vs. No. 32 Ty Dillon
- No. 16 Kyle Busch vs. No. 17 Brad Keselowski
- No. 8 Alex Bowman vs. No. 25 Joey Logano
- No. 9 Bubba Wallace vs. No. 24 Daniel Suarez
- No. 12 John Hunter Nemechek vs. No. 21 Josh Berry
- No. 5 Chase Elliott vs. No. 28 Austin Dillon
- No. 13 Ross Chastain vs. No. 20 Erik Jones
- No. 4 Christopher Bell vs. No. 29 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Bottom half of draw
- No. 2 Chase Briscoe vs. No. 31 Noah Gragson
- No. 15 Ryan Preece vs. No. 18 William Byron
- No. 7 Ryan Blaney vs. No. 26 Carson Hocevar
- No. 10 Kyle Larson vs. No. 23 Tyler Reddick
- No. 11 Michael McDowell vs. No. 22 AJ Allmendinger
- No. 6 Ty Gibbs vs. No. 27 Justin Haley
- No. 14 Zane Smith vs. No. 19 Austin Cindric
- No. 3 Chris Buescher vs. No. 30 Todd Gilliland
NASCAR In-Season Challenge races
All times Eastern
Round 1 — 32 drivers
- Echo Park Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway)
- Saturday, June 28 | 7 p.m. | TNT, truTV altcast
Round 2 — 16 drivers
- Chicago street race
- Sunday, July 6 | 2 p.m. | TNT, truTV altcast
Round 3 — 8 drivers
- Sonoma Raceway
- Sunday, July 13 | 3:30 p.m. | TNT, truTV altcast
Round 4 — 4 drivers
- Dover Motor Speedway
- Sunday, July 20 | 2 p.m. | TNT, truTV altcast
Round 5 championship — 2 drivers
- Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- Sunday, July 27 | 2 p.m. | TNT, truTV altcast
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