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After Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski, Can Giant-Killer Ty Dillon Take Down Alex Bowman?

Jerry Bonkowski
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NASCAR Cup Series driver Ty Dillon (10) during Daytona 500 media day at Daytona International Speedway.

While countless NASCAR fans have likely already lost interest in the inaugural In-Season Challenge because their favorite driver has already been eliminated, fans of dark horses couldn’t have made a better pick than Ty Dillon.

Dillon was the final seed picked for the 32-driver tournament, and the Kaulig Racing driver has proven to be the biggest story thus far of the five-round Challenge.

The grandson of Richard Childress and younger brother of Austin Dillon is being referred to as the In-Season Challenge’s “giant killer” after he knocked off top seed Denny Hamlin in the first round at Atlanta, and then kept the momentum going by topping No. 17 seed Brad Keselowski in Round 2 at Chicago.

With the Challenge field now cut from 32 to 8, Dillon will face No. 8 seed Alex Bowman this Sunday on the twisting road course at Sonoma. In his first two rounds of the Challenge, Bowman has gotten past Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace.

In head-to-head competition in the first 19 Cup races this year, Bowman has finished ahead of Dillon 12 times, including a 4-1 mark versus Dillon in the last five races.

But here’s the biggest statistic that is in Bowman’s favor heading into Sonoma: on road courses head-to-head since 2022, Bowman has finished ahead of Dillon in 13 of 14 events.

Given he’s struggled through much of his Cup career, Dillon is enjoying his newfound success in the Challenge. After beating Hamlin in Round 1, he borrowed one of Hamlin’s favorite lines when it comes to opposing fans.

“All you Denny fans out there, I just knocked out your favorite driver,” Dillon said with a big smile after finishing eighth at Atlanta, compared to 31st by Hamlin.

Then at Chicago, Dillon finished 20th, compared to Keselowski’s 37th, prompting him to say on social media, “I knew in a basketball city going up against Brad (Keselowski) in a game of knockout, I was going to have a good chance.”

Dillon would have to bring his road-course A-game if he wants to beat Bowman, especially since the No. 48 HMS driver is three-for-three in top-20 finishes at Sonoma in the Next Gen era while Dillon has a best finish of only P23 in the same period.

Post Edited By:Abhishek Ramesh

About the author

Jerry Bonkowski

Jerry Bonkowski

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Jerry Bonkowski is a veteran sportswriter who has worked full-time for many of the top media outlets in the world, including USA Today (15 years), ESPN.com (4+ years), Yahoo Sports (4 1/2 years), NBCSports.com (8 years) and others. He has covered virtually every major professional and collegiate sport there is, including the Chicago Bulls' six NBA championships (including heavy focus on Michael Jordan), the Chicago Bears Super Bowl XX-winning season, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs World Series championships, two of the Chicago Blackhawks' NHL titles, Tiger Woods' PGA Tour debut, as well as many years of beat coverage of the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA for USA Today. But Jerry's most notable achievement has been covering motorsports, most notably NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA drag racing and Formula One. He has had a passion for racing since he started going to watch drag races at the old U.S. 30 Dragstrip (otherwise known as "Where the Great Ones Run!") in Hobart, Indiana. Jerry has covered countless NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA races and championship battles over the years. He's also the author of a book, "Trading Paint: 101 Great NASCAR Debates", published in 2010 (and he's hoping to soon get started on another book). Away from sports, Jerry was a fully sworn part-time police officer for 20 years, enjoys reading and music (especially "hair bands" from the 1980s and 1990s), as well as playing music on his electric keyboard, driving (fast, of course!), spending time with Cyndee his wife of nearly 40 years, the couple's three adult children and three grandchildren (with more to come!), and his three dogs -- including two German Shepherds and an Olde English Bulldog who thinks he's a German Shepherd.. Jerry still gets the same excitement of seeing his byline today as he did when he started in journalism as a 15-year-old high school student. He is looking forward to writing hundreds, if not thousands, of stories in the future for TheSportsRush.com, as well as interacting with readers.

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