The second round of NASCAR’s in-season tournament was wrapped at the Chicago Street Course on Sunday. The contest that originally began with 32 drivers has now trickled down to a battle between eight. Here’s a brief breakdown of who has been knocked out of the chance of winning $1 million and who are still in the picture.
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Ty Dillon and Brad Keselowski went head-to-head in the Windy City after winning their fights in the first round. Dillon, once again, shocked the crowds by getting the better of a veteran driver. But it was more fate than skill that made this happen. Keselowski wrecked his car within the first few laps of the day and had to retire. Dillon finished 20th.
In the next round, at the Sonoma Raceway, he will be facing Alex Bowman. Bowman advanced after defeating 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace by quite a big margin. He finished eighth while Wallace came home in 28th place. Another upset was caused by Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek. The youngster got the better of Chase Elliott, of all people. He finished 15th, as Elliott was edged out in 16th.
32 has quickly become eight. pic.twitter.com/bnp2nETEDs
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 6, 2025
Nemechek will be racing against his teammate Erik Jones in Sonoma, who advanced after finishing higher than Ricky Stenhouse Jr. One of the most interesting battles of the next round will be between Tyler Reddick and Ryan Preece. Reddick finished third on Sunday and beat Carson Hocevar.
Preece, on the other hand, was the better driver on the day versus Noah Gragson. Now pitched against each other, Reddick and Preece will go all out to be the one standing at the end of next weekend. The final battle of the third round will be between Ty Gibbs and Zane Smith. Gibbs overcame his opponent, A.J. Allmendinger, and finished as the runner-up in Chicago.
Smith finished 14th, above Chris Buescher in 18th. This was yet another surprise in its own right. Many of the favorite drivers have already been knocked out of the competition. Among those that remain, only a few have considerable fan support behind them. This, arguably, reduces the appeal of the in-season tournament a huge deal.
But then, that’s how elimination-style contests work. Hopefully, some interesting storylines will be formed before the first-ever In-Season Challenge comes to a close at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway following the upcoming visits to Sonoma and Dover.
