What a dramatic million-dollar race it has been! It is still ongoing, with NASCAR fans and drivers excited to know who will become the final winner. That is because all prediction models were smashed as soon as the NASCAR Bracket Challenge unfolded in Atlanta. A Motorsports.com prediction in late June placed Chase Elliott vs Kyle Larson in the final match-up at the Brickyard 400. However, both of those drivers were wiped out seamlessly in the wildcard Atlanta race.
Presently, four iconic drivers are still alive and standing. The semi-finals are going to be flagged off at Dover Motor Speedway. We will reach the climax at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, at the end of which lies a bag of a million dollars for the winner. Let us dive deeper into how things stand at present.
An eclectic bag of talents for the NASCAR Bracket Challenge
After all, the four surviving drivers all have merits of their own. Starting off with Ty Dillon, whose story has been jaw-dropping so far. Everybody figured that the Kaulig Racing driver would be the first to bow out. Yet Dillon knocked out Denny Hamlin in Atlanta after the latter got caught in a lap 70 pile-up. Then, Dillon faced 2012 Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski, and the latter was collected in a lap 3 traffic jam in Chicago. Last but not least, Dillon knocked out Alex Bowman in Sonoma. For Dover, he will be matched up with John Hunter Nemechek. The Legacy Motor Club defeated Josh Berry at Atlanta and Chase Elliott at Chicago. He eliminated his own teammate, Erik Jones, in Sonoma after the latter spun out in a wreck with 9 laps to go.
Although the others’ stories were not so dramatic as Dillon’s Cinderella story, they are remarkable nonetheless. Tyler Reddick eliminated Kyle Larson at Atlanta, akin to his 2024 regular season championship run. He knocked out Carson Hocevar at Chicago and Ryan Preece at Sonoma. The 23XI Racing driver’s rival will be Ty Gibbs. Joe Gibbs’ grandson eliminated Justin Haley at Atlanta and road course star AJ Allmendinger at Chicago. In Sonoma, he placed 7th to outduel Zane Smith.
Examining the NASCAR Cup In-Season Challenge semifinal matchups at Dover https://t.co/r60isZ5Sio
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 17, 2025
So, who will prevail?
Dover Motor Speedway, dubbed the Monster Mile, is not going to be easy. For Ty Dillon, especially, who last ran a Dover race in 2023, finishing 36th. His best finish was a 14th-place result in 2017. John Hunter Nemechek, on the other hand, clinched his best finish of 20th in 2024. So will Nemechek’s threat to Dillon turn into reality? Or will Dillon continue the Cinderella streak into Indianapolis? Only time will tell.
For Tyler Reddick and Ty Gibbs, it is actually a tough call. Both have finished within one position of each other in the past two races and finished within three spots of each other in five of the last 11 races. Hence, their fight will be action-packed. With Reddick’s best finish in Dover being 7th in 2023 and Gibbs’ finish being 10th last year, it will be a thrilling match-up.
The maximum attention will most probably be on Reddick and Gibbs for the final round in Indianapolis. Yet the final prize of $1 million is too enticing to ignore a wildcard mash-up. Who knows, maybe either Nemechek or Dillon will prevail over the better-performing duo of Reddick or Gibbs?
For Denny Hamlin, the focus is on one of these four.
Still dazzled by his rival’s performance
Well, with good reason. Ty Dillon barely scraped people’s imaginations at the start of the NASCAR Bracket Challenge. And yet, he is the dominant storyline three races into the venture. After knocking out Denny Hamlin in the first round at Atlanta, Dillon uttered a savage line for Hamlin’s fans. “For all you Denny fans out there, I just knocked your favorite driver out.” Not only were fans impressed, but Hamlin himself conceded to Dillon’s brilliance. Dillon, the last seed in the 32-driver event, has posted three consecutive top-20 finishes. That’s the first time he has achieved those stats since August 2022.
What particularly enthralled Denny Hamlin was Dillon’s masterful fight with Alex Bowman. Dillon did a smooth bump-and-run in the waning laps of Sonoma to overtake the seasoned road course racer. For Hamlin, that was a true show of skill: “I could see it coming. Poor Alex Bowman. I think he outran him for most of the race. Next thing you know, some strategies come into play, some restarts, Ty was motivated and he got him in the last corner.” He continued, “It wasn’t crazy egregious either. He didn’t wreck him or anything like that. He just got to the bumper, shoved him up off the bottom. …And then once he gets beside him, he kind of gives him the door on the exit to make sure he gets fully clear. It was great execution of a bump and run.”
Clearly, Ty Dillon is ruling the storyline for the NASCAR bracket challenge. However, only time will tell if he can beat his three rivals on the field or not.
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