NASCAR’s in-season Bracket Challenge was nothing if not surprising.
The concept was originally proposed by Denny Hamlin on his podcast and then adopted by Dale Jr’s Dirty Mo Media to provide some additional excitement to NASCAR’s summer stretch while the season marches on. This year, it was adopted by NASCAR as a hallmark of TNT’s six-race coverage in their return to the sport, with the promise of a million dollars for the winning driver.
If any proof is needed that it’s been unpredictable throughout, the numbers are there. Fans were invited to fill out brackets for a chance of a million-dollar payout of their own, but after the first race of the challenge at superspeedway-style Atlanta, no perfect brackets remained and everyone was out of contention.
The drivers still had the prize to play for, though. And as the rounds progressed, the biggest surprise of all took shape. Ty Dillon entered as the 32nd and final seed of the tournament – seeding was set based on best finish of the three races before the tournament started.
That seed isn’t necessarily a surprise; Dillon has never won at the Cup level and has scored eight career finishes, took a part-time season last year, and drives for Kaulig Racing this year. However, what Dillon was able to do with it has been. Dillon is one of the two drivers in the final round going for a million dollars.
The last hurdle comes at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he will take on Ty Gibbs in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 presented by PPG (airing at 2 p.m. ET on TNT, IMS Radio, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Odds via BetMGM
+450 – Denny Hamlin
+500 – Kyle Larson
+625 – Ryan Blaney
+900 – Chase Elliott
+900 – Tyler Reddick
+1000 – William Byron
+1100 – Christopher Bell
+1200 – Chase Briscoe
—————————
+2500 – Ty Gibbs
+100,000 – Ty Dillon
It’s been a journey to get to this point. In the first round, Dillon took out the No. 1 seed, Denny Hamlin, when Hamlin got caught up in a wreck at Atlanta. Then he took out Brad Keselowski at the Chicago Street Course when Keselowski was unable to finish. Then at Sonoma, he battled into the last corner to beat Alex Bowman to the line. At Dover, he once again beat John Hunter Nemechek by just one position on the track.
For Dillon, it hasn’t been about being the most dominant car – just about refusing to go away without a hard fight.
“We haven’t been a dominating car,” Dillon admitted at Dover, “but we’ve been a pain to everyone around us. That’s all we can do—put pressure on them and execute at the right time.”
If there’s any track where Dillon might bring out that dominant performance, though, Indianapolis is it. He has just won Xfinity Series win, but it came at the Brickyard. That race, he beat out car No. 54, which finished second, on pace, with Dillon leading nearly a quarter of that race. This time, he’s going toe-to-toe with the current driver of the No. 54 in the Cup Series, Ty Gibbs.
Ty Gibbs is also going for his first Cup Series win. He’s in just his third full-time Cup Series season, but he’s just as motivated as Dillon. Gibbs competes in Joe Gibbs Racing equipment, which is capable of winning: last week’s winner Denny Hamlin drives for JGR. Gibbs has been close several times in his young career, and his success in the Xfinity Series proves his talent, but getting that first win would validate his place in the sport.
While both Dillon and Gibbs are certainly going for a win, the In Season Challenge does not require one: the best finisher between the two of them will take home the million-dollar purse, regardless of their ultimate finishing position.
The rest of the field certainly isn’t planning on rolling over for two drivers who are both certainly longshots in the odds, admittedly one more than the other. Kyle Larson is the defending winner at Indianapolis and comes in with additional experience at the track, having competed in the Indy 500 with IndyCar the past two years on the same day as NASCAR’s Coke 600 at Charlotte.
“Indianapolis Motor Speedway is full of prestige and it was cool to win the Brickyard 400 there last year,” Larson said.
For all its prestige as an event, it is notable that this is the second Indy oval race after a three-year hiatus for the Indy road course from 2020-2023. The return to the iconic 2.5-mile oval was a popular decision among drivers and it means restoring one of NASCAR’s historic ‘crown jewel’ races to the schedule.
Michael McDowell won at the Indianapolis Road Course during that period, a significant win for the driver as just his second Cup Series victory. But even he admits that it wasn’t the same as a win on the iconic oval.
“I’m a traditionalist when it comes to motorsports history and crown jewels, and I’m so thankful to have won at Indianapolis. There’s nothing cooler than kissing the bricks. I’ll cherish that moment forever with my family. But to me, that’s not a Brickyard win,” McDowell explained.
“We won on the road course — the Indy Road Course — which is awesome. But it’s not the Indy 500 and it’s not the Brickyard 400. You can only win those races on the oval. That’s a separate piece of history. A separate win. Separate everything.”
As for the chance to win, “it would be unbelievable,” McDowell concluded.
Cup Series practice will take place at 1:05 p.m. ET on Friday with qualifying at 2:35 p.m. ET on Saturday. Both sessions will air on TruTV.
Young Xfinity Series Phenom Takes on NASCAR Top Talent
Connor Zilisch has proven the breakout talent of the Xfinity Series this season. His road course skills were not in dispute – he won his class in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in his first attempt and he won in his Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen. But this year, he’s proven he can more than hang on the ovals too.
Zilisch, who just turned 19 this week, now has four wins so far in his rookie season, the most of any driver in the Xfinity Series, and two of those have come on the ovals (Pocono and Dover). It puts him second in the regular season points standings despite having missed a race compared to the rest of the field because of an injury sustained in a Talladega crash.
It’s by no means a stretch to imagine that he could get his fifth win of the season and third win in three races in Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (airing at 4:30 p.m. ET on CW, IMS Radio, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
However, Zilisch will have to face a new challenge at Indy: Kyle Larson. The former Cup Series champion and one of modern NASCAR’s top talents has never competed against Zilisch in a race that Zilisch has won. In fact, this season, of the three races Larson has attempted in the series, he’s won two of them.
Larson will be back behind the wheel of his usual No. 17 Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson previously drove the No. 88 in the Xfinity Series for JR Motorsports earlier this year, filling in for Zilisch – and won that race.
Expect a formidable battle at the front at one of the most hallowed tracks that plays host to NASCAR racing: the hugely talented young up-and-comer versus the hugely talented established star.
Xfinity Series practice will take place at 12:05 p.m. ET on Friday with qualifying at 1:00 p.m. ET on Saturday. Both sessions will air on The CW App.
Truck Series Goes to Indianapolis Too, But for a Slightly Smaller Track
during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series TSport 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park on August 11, 2023 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
All three of NASCAR’s national divisions will be racing in Indianapolis this weekend. However, while the Cup and Xfinity series are competing at the famous 2.5-mile international speedway, the Truck Series is racing at its traditional track type: a short track.
It’s a classic Truck Series event, taking place on Friday night under the lights. It’s the sort of event that always tends to produce bumping-and-banging and short tempers by the end.
All that’s what to expect for Friday night’s TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (airing 8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). IRP is a 0.686-mile oval.
The track might be shorter than many others on the schedule, but it’s proven a good predictor for the championship. Last year, Ty Majeski scored his first win of the year at IRP and then went on to win the championship, with two more wins on the season.
This year, Majeski comes in with a lot more to lose, sitting tenth in the provisional Playoff grid coming into the race – and in the Truck Series only ten drivers qualify for the postseason. Majeski is a short track ace, and he’ll be hoping that IRP can turn around a disappointing year for his ThorSport Racing team all around.
On the flip side of the Playoff picture, Corey Heim continues to extend his lead with five wins on the season, the most of any driver. He holds a 144-point advantage over second-place Chandler Smith in the regular-season standings. Heim has proven adept at all different tracks on the schedule, but has yet to win at IRP in the Truck Series.
Truck Series practice will take place at 3:05 p.m. ET with qualifying at 4:10 p.m. ET on Friday. Both sessions will air on FS1.
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