HAMPTON, Ga. — A pair of major incidents during Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway had enormous implications for the In-Season Challenge tournament.
The top 32 drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series were seeded into a bracket that will be played out in head-to-head fashion over five weeks beginning Saturday night, with the first 16 drivers eliminated from contention for the $1 million top prize.
Denny Hamlin, the top seed, fell victim to 32nd seed Ty Dillon in the biggest upset of the opening round.
“For all you Denny fans out there, I just beat your favorite driver,” Dillon quipped afterwards, borrowing from one of Hamin’s signature phrases. He finished eighth at the 1.54-mile track.
Second-seeded Chase Briscoe was ousted by close friend Noah Gragson, who survived the major incidents and finished 25th. Point leader William Byron bowed out to Ryan Preece, who finished 15th.
Joining race winner Chase Elliott, runner-up Brad Keselowski, Dillon, Preece and Gragson in advancing to the second round of the Challenge were Alex Bowman, Bubba Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, Carson Hocevar, Tyler Reddick, Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., A.J. Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs and Zane Smith.
Second round pairings will feature Keselowski against Dillon, Bowman vs. Wallace, Elliott against Nemechek, Jones and Stenhouse, Preece against Gragson, Reddick and Hocevar, Gibbs and Allmendinger and Buescher matching up with Smith.
