NASCAR’s first in-season tournament adds some drama to the Cup Series finish in Chicago

CHICAGO (AP) — NASCAR’s first in-season tournament hasn’t made much of an impression on its drivers so far. Ty Gibbs said Sunday he didn’t know who his second-round opponent was until after the Cup Series race.

That might be about to change.

Gibbs is one of eight drivers still in the mix for the $1 million prize that goes to the winner of the five-race, bracket-style competition. While Shane van Gisbergen was closing out his Cup victory in Chicago this weekend, some of the most compelling action on the downtown street course was at least connected to the inaugural In-Season Challenge.

Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace raced each other hard in the final laps after they tangled in Chicago last year. Bowman got the better of the head-to-head matchup, finishing eighth and eliminating Wallace from the tournament.

John Hunter Nemechek was 15th, one spot better than his opponent, Chase Elliott. Gibbs had a strong day and finished second, good enough to beat AJ Allmendinger in sixth. Ty Dillon, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith and Erik Jones also moved on.

The 14th-seeded Smith upset No. 3 seed Chris Buescher by finishing 14th. He is matched up with Gibbs for Sunday’s road race at Sonoma.

“I hate we had to knock another Ford out, but it’s super cool to advance,” Smith said.

With the in-season tournament — part of a new media rights deal that includes TNT — NASCAR is following in the footsteps of the NBA and soccer leagues around the world. After Sonoma this weekend, it concludes with races at Dover and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Bowman said the tournament wasn’t on his mind as he battled with Wallace at the end in Chicago. Whatever the reason for the contact, their head-to-head matchup certainly added a bit of intrigue to the racing behind van Gisbergen’s victory.

With the money involved and the field trimmed to eight drivers, there could be more moments like the duel between Bowman and Wallace in the final weeks of the challenge.

“I wasn’t expecting that to happen or to get raced like that, but we did,” Bowman said. “We just have to move on from it and keep digging.”

It sure sounds as if Dillon is enjoying the competition. Dillon, the No. 32 seed, eliminated Brad Keselowski on Sunday after he upset top-seeded Denny Hamlin at Atlanta on June 28.

There was absolutely no drama in Dillon’s win after Keselowski was collected in an early crash that began with Carson Hocevar hitting the wall and spinning out between Turns 10 and 11. Hocevar was eliminated by Reddick.

“I’m just so proud of Kaulig Racing and our No. 10 team,” Dillon said. “I knew in a basketball city, going up against Brad in a game of knockout, I was going to have a good chance.”

Dillon takes on Bowman and Preece faces Reddick in the next round. But the most interesting contest just might be Nemechek versus Jones in a matchup of Legacy Motor Club teammates.

“I felt like if we could have gotten through the first round, these next two rounds are really good for us,” Preece said. “Our road course program is pretty strong, and we keep making it better. So going into Sonoma, I think we’re up against Tyler Reddick, so he’s really good at road courses as well, but I like being the underdog.”

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