Here’s what’s happening in NASCAR with the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) in the rearview and the Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course up next.
MORE: Chicago entry list | In-Season Challenge hub
1. Challenge’s second round sweet for some, heartache for others
Atlanta was a wringer for In-Season Challenge hopefuls. The opportunity for more upsets looms in the Chicago Street Race, where the search for a breakout favorite continues.
The carnage that befell much of the NASCAR Cup Series field last weekend at Atlanta also broke the brackets of the inaugural In-Season Challenge. The 32-driver invitational, which coincides with TNT Sports’ broadcast segment of the season, is now rife with disarray heading into an intriguing showdown on the lone street circuit on the NASCAR schedule.
A handful of standouts could restore some order to the $1 million tournament in this weekend’s Chicago Street Race (Sunday, 2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Round 2 in the five-race series. The event also marks the third trip to the tricky 2.2-mile downtown course, officially turning the page into the second half of the Cup Series season.
First, let’s pick up the tattered pieces from Atlanta, which left everyone’s brackets in varied shards and shreds. Gone are top-seeded Denny Hamlin, a three-time winner this year, who was in the midst of the race’s largest wreck in Stage 2. That same melee claimed Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe, the second seed and the series’ most prolific pole winner this season, and a host of others with damaged cars that found the wreckers’ hooks.
RELATED: Cup Series standings | 2025 schedule
Some of the biggest winners from the challenge’s opening round were obvious. Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman carried the baton for Hendrick Motorsports, with the former notching his first win of the season and the latter sealing his best finish since mid-March in third. The two are also distinctively poised to advance, given their momentum, plus Elliott’s overall road-course acumen and Bowman’s role as the defending Chicago race winner. That said, Elliott is still searching for his first road-course win since the Next Gen car’s 2022 introduction.
On the team side, RFK Racing — as hinted in this space last week — still carries plenty of upside into the next phase of the In-Season Challenge. All three of its drivers — Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece and Atlanta runner-up Brad Keselowski — advanced into the Round of 16, providing the organization with the most opportunities for a deep tournament run. Buescher was a trendy final-four pick when the brackets were unveiled, and his potential as the top seed remaining at No. 3 is great.
Kaulig Racing also produced some Cinderella positives, with 32nd-seeded Ty Dillon upending Hamlin and teammate AJ Allmendinger turning back Michael McDowell in the opener. Of the two, 22-seed Allmendinger has boundless possibilities for a deeper run toward the challenge’s prize with a pair of road-racing circuits — Chicago, then Sonoma — the next two weeks.
With Atlanta in the past, NASCAR’s next superspeedway-style racing at a drafting track won’t happen again until the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway in late August. Until then, the chaos will have to be contained within Chicago’s city limits in the next round of the In-Season Challenge, where most everyone’s brackets will be bracing again, this time for a street fight.
2. The ‘other’ Sweet 16: The rapidly filling playoff grid
The list of first-time 2025 winners has grown in recent weeks, with Atlanta victor Chase Elliott the most recent to clinch. Incentives abound in Chicago, including more for one of NASCAR’s newest free agents.
Another 16-driver grid is looming larger in the season’s second half — the race for spots in the Cup Series Playoffs, which is three-quarters of the way to completion. Four open berths remain for the taking in the regular season’s eight remaining races, and three of those eight events occur on road courses.
Of the 16 drivers left in the In-Season Challenge, only one — Elliott, by virtue of his Atlanta win — is a playoff lock. The remaining 15 are hungry not just for a deep-dish victory in the Windy City, but for the opportunity for a season-altering moment that ensures championship eligibility.
Those opportunities — with five first-time winners in the last six Cup Series races — are making life on the playoff bubble all the more volatile. Tyler Reddick — last year’s Chicago runner-up and the Regular Season Champion from 2024 — is the only non-winner in a seeming spot of comfort, 128 points above the provisional elimination barrier. Chris Buescher (plus-52), Alex Bowman (plus-39) and Bubba Wallace (plus-23) are less relaxed, especially with the knowledge that the bubble can easily narrow in the coming weeks.
Ryan Preece is the closest to reaching the positive side of the playoff ledger, down just 23 points to Wallace. But the minus side also includes two former Cup Series champions in Kyle Busch (-72) and Brad Keselowski (-122), and a new free agent in Daniel Suárez, who will part company with Trackhouse Racing at season’s end in a mutually reached agreement that was announced Tuesday.
There’s incentive beyond the obvious for Suárez, who has the chance to end his five-year run with Trackhouse on an up note, but also to audition for a potential new landing spot for the 2026 season. He holds a top-10 speed rating for the Chicago Street Race, according to Racing Insights, and will return next week to Sonoma Raceway, site of his first Cup Series win in 2022.
3. Who has the Chicago advantage (or third-time charm)?
Do all signs point toward another Shane van Gisbergen type of day in the third edition of the Chicago Street Race? Crew chief experts Steve Letarte and Todd Gordon break down the street-circuit favorites, plus other top names to watch among the Cup Series regulars.
4. International intrigue on all-time list
A victory by either Shane van Gisbergen or Daniel Suárez on Sunday would move them into the lead among the Cup Series’ winners born outside of the United States — all of whom hail from different countries. A glance at the half-dozen drivers who make up that list. (Credit: Racing Insights)
| Driver | Birth country | Wins | Track, year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shane van Gisbergen | New Zealand | 2 | Chicago, 2023; Mexico City, 2025 |
| Marcos Ambrose | Australia | 2 | Watkins Glen, 2011-12 |
| Daniel Suárez | Mexico | 2 | Sonoma, 2022; Atlanta, 2024 |
| Juan Pablo Montoya | Colombia | 2 | Sonoma, 2007; Watkins Glen, 2010 |
| Mario Andretti | Italy | 1 | Daytona, 1967 |
| Earl Ross | Canada | 1 | Martinsville, 1974 |
5. Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage
Paint Scheme Preview: 2025 Chicago Street Race weekend
Trackhouse, Suárez mutually opt to part company after 2025 season
Checking in on the NASCAR Cup Series playoff bubble before Chicago
Power Rankings: Momentum leans in Alex Bowman’s favor
NASCAR Insights: Bowman’s vital role in Atlanta victory
Kyle Petty: Atlanta makes its case as a hype-worthy hybrid
Analysis: Chase Elliott savors home-state emotion
Cup Series favorites break down new In-Season Challenge
@nascarcasm: Fake texts to Atlanta winner Elliott
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