ChicagoThus far, drivers have not been particularly affected by NASCAR’s first in-season competition. Ty Gibbs said on Sunday that he was unaware of his opponent for the second round until the Cup Series race was over.
That could be changing soon.
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The winner of the five-race, bracket-style competition will get a $1 million reward, and Gibbs is one of eight drivers still in the running. Some of the most exciting action on the downtown street course this weekend was at least related to Shane van Gisbergen’s closing out in Chicago.
Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman in the penultimate laps following their collision in Chicago the previous year. The head-to-head matchup was won by Bowman, who eliminated Wallace from the tournament after finishing eighth.
John Hunter Nemechek finished in 15th place, one position ahead of Chase Elliott, his rival. Gibbs had a great day and ended in second place, which was enough to overcome sixth-place finisher AJ Allmendinger. Erik Jones, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith, Tyler Reddick, and Ty Dillon also moved on.
Smith, ranked 14th, defeated Chris Buescher, ranked 3rd, by placing 14th. For the road race at Sonoma on Sunday, he is paired with Gibbs.
Smith remarked, “It’s really cool to advance, but I hate we had to knock another Ford out.”
NASCAR is following in the footsteps of the NBA and international soccer leagues by including the in-season tournament in a new television rights agreement that includes TNT. It ends this weekend with races at Dover and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, after Sonoma.
Bowman, who fought Wallace in the end in Chicago, claimed he wasn’t thinking about the competition. Their head-to-head clash undoubtedly provided some drama to the racing behind van Gisbergen’s victory, regardless of the reason for the incident.
In the final weeks of the challenge, there might be more moments like the duel between Bowman and Wallace because of the money involved and the fact that the field has been reduced to eight drivers.
“We got raced like that, which I wasn’t expecting to happen,” Bowman added. We simply need to put it behind us and continue to dig.
Dillon seems to be having fun with the competition. After defeating top-seeded Denny Hamlin in Atlanta on June 28, Dillon, the No. 32 seed, defeated Brad Keselowski on Sunday.
After Keselowski was collected in an early collision that started with Carson Hocevar colliding with the wall and spinning out between Turns 10 and 11, Dillon’s victory was completely devoid of drama. Reddick had gotten rid of Hocevar.
Dillon expressed his pride in Kaulig Racing and our No. 10 squad. I knew I would have a decent chance against Brad in a knockout match in a basketball city.
In the following round, Preece takes on Reddick, and Dillon takes on Bowman. However, Nemechek vs. Jones, a duel between Legacy Motor Club colleagues, may be the most intriguing contest.
“These next two rounds are really good for us if we could have made it through the first round,” Preece remarked. “We continue to improve our road course program, which is rather robust. I want to be the underdog, but I think Tyler Reddick, who is also very skilled at road courses, will be our opponent in Sonoma.
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