Since the start of the Cup Series season this year, fans have been hit with a wave of unexpected updates month after month. In the summer of 2025, NASCAR launched its first-ever In-Season Challenge, aiming to shake up the typically midseason stretch with drama and prize money. Beginning in June at Atlanta with a 32-driver lineup and spanning five head-to-head elimination races, through Chicago, Sonoma, Dover, and culminating at Indy, it mimicked a “bracket” tournament with a $1 million bonus on the line for the No. 1 seed driver. It was a novel gamble, fueling fresh rivalries and strategy shifts mid-race, just like the NCAA or NBA formats don’t usually, but NASCAR does.
During the course of this challenge, driver standings kept fans guessing. No. 32 seed Ty Dillon surprised everyone by knocking out top seed Denny Hamlin at Atlanta, riding late-race chaos into the quarterfinals. Meanwhile, other favorites have had mixed success, as Hamlin’s early exit opened the door for upsets, while duel format racing elevated mid-pack into the spotlight moments. But the curveball came weeks after the announcement, leaving drivers and insiders feeling blindsided by the revelation.
New paycheck puzzle emerges as drivers battle on track
The bombshell landed this week, where, instead of funneling the $1 million prize directly into drivers’ pockets, NASCAR confirmed the reward goes to the car owner. Fox broadcaster Bob Pockrass revealed the news in a post on X, “Update: NASCAR says the $1 million for the winning driver will go to the owner.” The announcement triggered uproar across the garage and among fans, eager for transparency about who truly benefits from the In-Season tournament’s headline grabber.
The general understanding was that the lucrative sum for winning this new mid-season spectacle would go directly to the victorious driver. This incentive was designed to ignite individual performance and create captivating narratives. Pockrass also noted on X, quoting his own tweet, “I believe when the in-season tournament was first announced, the understanding of many in the garage was that the $1 million would go directly to the driver. But NASCAR says it will be paid to owner just like the purse (and depends on driver contract on how much driver gets).”
This impression was further solidified by NASCAR’s existing policy of paying drivers directly for bonus money derived from the “driver ambassador program,” a separate initiative rewarding popularity, past performance, and appearances. Pockrass had also noted earlier, “NASCAR now pays drivers directly in two forms of bonus money — the $1 million for winning the in-season tournament is paid directly to the driver. And $$ paid to those with most “points” in driver ambassador program based on driver popularity/past performance and the appearance.”
Update: NASCAR says the $1 million for the winning driver will go to the owner. https://t.co/e4cUsGTBtT
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 22, 2025
But as the tournament progressed, the on-track action certainly delivered, creating the very drama NASCAR hoped for. The current situation has culminated in an intriguing “Ty vs. Ty” final, pitting Joe Gibbs Racing‘s rising star, Ty Gibbs, against the underdog sensation, Ty Dillon of Kaulig Racing. Gibbs earned his spot in the championship round by outdueling Tyler Reddick at Dover Motor Speedway. However, the true Cinderella story belonged to Dillon, who famously knocked No. 1 seed, Hamlin, in Atlanta.
Dillon’s improbable journey continued at Dover, where he secured his final spot by narrowly beating John Hunter Nemechek, due to a well-timed free pass during a late caution. However, the showdown at Indy has now been overshadowed by the clarification over the prize money. But this is a practice that has long existed in NASCAR, where the majority of race winnings typically go to the team owner, who then pays the driver a percentage of the winnings and performance bonuses.
Ultimately, this episode underscored the complex financial ecosystem within NASCAR and the often blurred lines between individual driver earnings and team revenues. And fans and drivers alike would not need some time to accept this change.
Hamlin’s million-dollar idea became reality, but not without flaws
Rewinding back to 2023, Denny Hamlin dropped a million-dollar idea on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’ Dirty Mo Media podcast. “So the number one seed is whoever’s first in points, they will be going up against the 32nd Place guy in points this week, so on so forth second we’ll play 31 we’ll go against the second seed, third will go against 30.” he said, laying out what sounded like a March Madness-style showdown embedded into NASCAR’s summer slate. Now, in 2025, that idea transformed into the In-Season Challenge, shaking up the schedule, ratings, and driver morale.
Though Hamlin was eliminated at Atlanta, he has been vocal in both praise and criticism of how NASCAR executed the concept. “I think if I were in charge, right, it’s just tweaking the tracks that it is, I mean, even your finale next week, you’re not going to have a side-by-side battle of your head-to-head guys,” he explained, pointing to a lack of traditional ovals. Instead, the series leaned heavily on superspeedways and street courses, chaotic formats that made head-to-head matchups more luck-driven than skill-based.
Ironically, the final 4 drivers, Gibbs, Dillon, Reddick, and Nemechek, have yet to score a single win in the regular season. Yet they are the ones destined to claim the $1 million at Indy for their team now. “Even if you have someone who’s…your top two guys are running eighth to 10th, they might as well be a full track apart,” Hamlin said. He rather explained that NASCAR should build the schedule around fan-favorite intermediate tracks that allow strategic duels. But his remark on the recent news is still pending, and will be highly anticipated by fans.
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