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NASCAR In-Season Challenge

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For the actual edition, see 2025 NASCAR In-Season Challenge.

NASCAR In-Season Challenge
FounderDenny Hamlin
First season2023 (as concept)
2025 (officially)
Organising bodyNASCAR
Broadcaster(s)
  • United States:
  • TNT
Streaming partner(s)
Current sports event 2025 NASCAR In-Season Challenge

The NASCAR In-Season Challenge (initially titled the NASCAR In-Season Tournament) is an upcoming single-elimination tournament that will be conducted among drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series. It is scheduled to debut in during the 2025 season.

The In-Season Challenge will be the second $1 million bonus event in the Cup Series, joining the NASCAR All-Star Race.[1]

Predecessors and creation

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The in-season tournament is not the first time that a extra event was organized alongside the Cup Series season, with various formats done through NASCAR history. The first one was the Winston Million from 1985 to 1997, giving a driver a cash prize for his victory in 3 of 4 "Crown Jewel" races. In 1998, the format was expanded for 5 races and became the No Bull 5, a challenge where a driver must be the top 5 and then winner in two consecutive Crown Jewel races in order to become the winner and earn a million dollar prize. This format lasted until 2002.

With the advent of the Chase for the Cup in 2004, later reformulated as the NASCAR Playoffs in 2014-2017, the idea of a mid-season event was instead used in the lower tiers of NASCAR competition. In 2009, NASCAR adopted the Dash 4 Cash for its Nationwide Series, now named the Xfinity Series. In 2019, the Triple Truck Challenge was adopted in the NASCAR Truck Series. Both are organized to this day alongside the regular seasons and playoffs for both series.

The idea of a in-season format based on March Madness and the NBA Cup (which was introduced in 2023) was conceptualized by Cup Series driver and co-owner Denny Hamlin, first publicly mentioned in his podcast Actions Detrimental. For Denny, the Cup season needed more storylines during the mid-summer part of regular season as he felt there wasn't much buzz and too few stories going on in the series until the final races before the Playoffs. Denny himself realized a non-official version of the format during the 2023 and 2024 seasons.[2][3][4]

The format, along his podcast, became successful enough to get the attention of NASCAR leadership, who decided turn the concept idea into a official mid-season event from the 2025 season. Upon the announcement, Denny jokingly mentioned that he wanted to win the million-dollar prize for the first In-Season Challenge as royalties.[5]

Format

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The tournament consists of eight regular season races that are run during the regular season, with all races counting toward the regular season and playoff standings as normal. For the first three races, all full-time drivers in the series are eligible to compete. Race winners automatically qualify for the bracket, and are joined by the drivers with the best finish in any of the three races. Any ties in finishing position are broken by total race points. The 32 drivers with the best performances move on to the next phase of the tournament. The seeding races for 2025 were streamed on Amazon Prime Video as part of their inaugural broadcasting tenure.[6] The last five races are conducted in a single elimination bracket. In each of the four "Challenge Rounds", the driver in each matchup with the better finish advances, while the other is eliminated. This process will continue until only two drivers remain in what is known as the "Champions Round"; the driver with the better finish in that race will be the tournament champion and win a $1 million bonus. All tournament races are shown on TNT.

In 2025, the first race of the bracketed portion was held at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Quaker State 400 on June 28.[7] The rest of the races include the Chicago Street Course, Sonoma, Dover, and Indianapolis.

List of tracks held

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Track City Round in 2025
Atlanta Motor Speedway Hampton, GA Challenge Round 1
Chicago Street Course Chicago, IL Challenge Round 2
Sonoma Raceway Sonoma, CA Challenge Round 3
Dover Motor Speedway Dover, DE Challenge Round 4
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway, IN Champions Round

Reception

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The NASCAR in-season tournament's concept was praised by several current and former NASCAR Cup Series drivers, including Christopher Bell, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Blaney upon being announced.[8][9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "NASCAR's new in-season tourney has $1M prize". ESPN.com. May 13, 2024. Retrieved March 9, 2025.
  2. ^ Actions Detrimental (April 25, 2023). Denny Hamlin Proposes NASCAR Cup Series Mid-Season Tournament. Retrieved June 23, 2025 – via Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Dirty Mo Media in YouTube.
  3. ^ Willis, Ken. "Wanna bet? NASCAR's Denny Hamlin has a good idea (and there's a bracket!)". Daytona Beach News-Journal Online. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
  4. ^ Gluck, Jeff; Bianchi, Jordan (May 14, 2024). "How will NASCAR's $1M In-Season Tournament work? What should fans make of the new event?". The Athletic. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 14, 2024. Retrieved June 23, 2025 – via The New York Times.
  5. ^ "NASCAR planning in-season tournament in 2025, with opening race in Atlanta". AP News. May 15, 2024. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
  6. ^ Sam, Doric. "NASCAR to Hold 5-Race In-Season Tournament Starting in 2025; Features $1M Prize". bleacherreport.com. Retrieved March 9, 2025.
  7. ^ "TNT Sports to kick off NASCAR return with Atlanta's Night Race in June 2025". Atlanta Motor Speedway. May 13, 2024. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
  8. ^ Albert, Zack (May 17, 2024). "Break out the brackets: Drivers react to 'great addition' of in-season tournament for 2025". NASCAR.
  9. ^ Geddes, Nick (May 17, 2024). "Dale Earnhardt Jr. explains his expectations for 2025 NASCAR In-Season Tournament".
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