Ty Gibbs won $1 million for capturing the finale of the five-race inaugural NASCAR In-Season Challenge on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, defeating Ty Dillon. And now he has something in common with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
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Gibbs’ big payday marked the first time NASCAR had awarded a cool million during a regular season race in nearly 23 years, when Dale Jr. earned a $1 million Winston No Bull 5 bonus for also winning the EA Sports 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 6, 2002. It was Earnhardt’s second No Bull 5 win, having also claimed the seven-figure prize in 2000 at Talladega.
One of the funniest parts of Earnhardt’s victory celebration was before he drove to victory lane, he followed behind an armored truck that drove around the 2.66-mile oval. Workers inside the truck were tossing out fake $1 bills in Earnhardt’s direction, almost as if they were paying tribute to the king of the race and the $1 million bonus.
Whoever wins the million dollar In-Season Challenge, whether it’s Ty Dillon or Ty Gibbs, it’ll be the biggest midseason payday NASCAR has seen in some time.
The last time a driver earned a midseason million dollar bonus? @DaleJr at Talladega in 2002 in a No Bull 5 race. pic.twitter.com/QjTybP8U21
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) July 25, 2025
But Junior wasn’t the only winner of a cool million. A fan, Debra Polzun of Manchester, Connecticut, also earned a $1 million fan bonus as part of the “They Win, You Win” promotion from series sponsor Winston cigarettes.
It was Earnhardt’s seventh career win in the Cup Series at the time. And it was also his third straight win at ‘Dega and he would go on to win there a total of six times in his 26-win Cup career, and four other times at Daytona.
“These are big races,” Earnhardt said at the time. “Talladega and Daytona are two of the biggest tracks in spectacle means on the circuit.
“To win at these tracks is a great boost for the team, a good confidence boost and for the sponsors. These guys like the exposure they get out of winning these races. We’re good at it and hopefully we’ll be good at it for a long time.”
More about Junior’s momentous win
Here’s a few other highlights from that race, courtesy of Crash.net:
- Junior and his No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet led six times for 56 laps in the 188-lap event, including the last 39 laps. It was also the third race of the season where he had led the most laps in a race.
- When he unzipped his firesuit to cool off after the race, Earnhardt was seen wearing a Superman t-shirt underneath. When asked if that shirt had any special meaning or significance, Junior laughed and quipped, “No, just a cool shirt, I thought.”
- Tony Stewart finished second, taking over first place in the standings for the first time in his Cup career. “Smoke” would go on to win his first of three Cup championships that season (he’d also win in 2005 and 2011).
- Talladega, like its sister track in Daytona, is known for being the home of “the big one,” big multi-car wrecks that are inherent in almost every Cup race there. But for whatever reason, there were no caution flags in the entire 2002 race. It was one of the quickest races that ‘Dega had ever seen, finishing in a crisp two hours, 43 minutes and 22 seconds.
“We just kind of hung tight to what we ran in the past,” Earnhardt said at the time. “Tony [crew chief Tony Eury Sr.] and the guys… just gave me a good driving car and the car could just about go everywhere I wanted it to.”
Eury added, “We got a good group of guys that works on that Bud Chevy that really love plate racing and they put a big effort in it because they know Dale Jr. loves it so much. So we work hard on that car. It’s the same car that every time we’ve won a plate race, it’s been that car.”
Interestingly, Earnhardt may not have won that race had it not been for a crucial decision by Eury the day before. “Yesterday we had a big discussion in the truck,” Eury said. “We actually considered changing the engine in the car before the race today.
“(NASCAR was) going to take points away from us if we did, so we went in there and worked on the valve springs and a little bit of valve train stuff and decided we’d go with it today and hope for the best. It turned out good.”
Boy, was that ever an understatement.
“(The DEI engine department) held up their part. They said it was going to be a good engine for the race; they had all the confidence in the world. So we took their word for it and it come out.”
But perhaps the best part of the day for Earnhardt was he was fighting fuel mileage issues in the closing laps. In fact, after he crossed the finish line and then did the victory lap behind the armored truck, his car pulled into victory lane with an empty tank and no fuel pressure.
