NASCAR Cup Series drivers will head to Indianapolis Motor Speedway next weekend after Denny Hamlin grabbed his fourth win of the 2025 season at Dover on Sunday. With Ty Dillon and Ty Gibbs set to go up against each other in the final round of the inaugural In-Season Challenge for the $1 million prize, Hamlin has some tips for NASCAR to improve the challenge for next year.
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Hamlin can be credited as the inventor of the In-Season Challenge, as he ran a similar ‘bracket challenge’ on his popular podcast Actions Detrimental, a year before NASCAR came up with the idea and made the challenge official.
The tournament has affected both on-track driver behavior and fan engagement as a result, but the No. 11 Toyota driver has some pointers for the racing body.
Ahead of the Dover race, Hamlin opined, “If I were in charge, it’s just tweaking the tracks. Even your finale next week, you’re not gonna have a side-by-side battle of your head-to-head guys, just because you’re going to a track that we don’t run side-by-side.
“It’s just refining your schedule around, if you keep it, make sure you got these five racetracks that could create a compelling thing to watch on TV.”
Touching on the characteristics of the Next Gen car and how racing with this new package has been for drivers following at certain tracks, Hamlin thinks that certain venues, such as Dover and Indianapolis, do not necessarily bring out the best from drivers from an on-track action and passing standpoint.
The purpose of the In-Season Challenge is to create more buzz around drivers and highlight underdog stories, such as Ty Dillon. So, an exciting and dynamic on-track battle at an unpredictable racetrack, which offers drivers plenty of overtaking opportunities, should ultimately make for a more compelling product for the fans to watch.
“Even if you have someone who’s, if next week your top two guys are running eighth to tenth, they might as well be a full track apart, like that’s just such a huge buffer on a track like Indy,” Hamlin added.
The in-season tournament has pretty much been Denny Hamlin’s idea. What he has thought of NASCAR’s execution of it: @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/VBHy64rEXs
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 20, 2025
Yesterday’s race at Dover was more a game of track position than outright grip, as proven by Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin’s overtime battle, which saw Hamlin hold off his teammate with better tires at the end.
This is precisely what Hamlin doesn’t want to see again in the in-season tournament, especially with Indy coming up and drivers expected to face similar issues with dirty air and track position at the famed Brickyard.
