NASCAR’s first in-season tournament begins Saturday night at Atlanta.
The Quaker State 400 is the first race of the five that will make up the head-to-head contest. Dubbed the “In-Season Challenge,” the winner of the tournament will receive $1 million — the same amount given to the winner of the All-Star Race — and was implemented after the idea was floated by Denny Hamlin on his podcast a year ago.
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Coincidentally, Hamlin is the No. 1 seed for the tournament. He’s got Ty Dillon in the first round.
How it works
The tournament field includes 32 drivers who are paired against each other via their seeds for Saturday night’s race. The highest-finishing driver in each matchup moves on. If Hamlin finishes fifth and Dillon is 25th, Hamlin is on to the next round.
With 36 full-time drivers in the Cup Series, the field for the tournament was determined via the top 32 drivers in the points standings after the Nashville race. Over the last three races, the seeds were determined via average finish. Hamlin got the top seed for the tournament because he had the best average finish at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono.
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However, Hamlin did expose a possible flaw in NASCAR’s seeding process. He missed the Mexico City race for the birth of his son and only competed in two of the three races. Missing the race didn’t cost Hamlin at all in the seeding process. While other drivers’ seeds were determined via an average of three races, Hamlin’s seed was only from his win at Michigan and his second-place finish at Pocono.
Here is a look at the bracket:
(NASCAR)
After Atlanta, the second round will happen during the street race in Chicago on July 6 and the quarterfinals will occur at Sonoma. The final two races of the in-season tournament will be held at Dover and Indianapolis, and the champion will be crowned at the Brickyard.
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All five races of the in-season tournament will be broadcast on TNT. The network returns to NASCAR television coverage this season for the five races before NBC takes over for the rest of the season.
Here’s a look at the seeds and the 16 first-round matchups taking place at Atlanta.
NASCAR In-Season Challenge first-round matchups
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No. 1 Denny Hamlin vs. No. 32 Ty Dillon
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No. 2 Chase Briscoe vs. No. 31 Noah Gragson
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No. 3 Chris Buescher vs. No. 30 Todd Gilliland
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No. 4 Christopher Bell vs. No. 29 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
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No. 5 Chase Elliott vs. No. 28 Austin Dillon
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No. 6 Ty Gibbs vs. No. 27 Justin Haley
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No. 7 Ryan Blaney vs. No. 26 Carson Hocevar
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No. 8 Alex Bowman vs. No. 25 Joey Logano
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No. 9 Bubba Wallace vs. No. 24 Daniel Suarez
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No. 10 Kyle Larson vs. No. 23 Tyler Reddick
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No. 11 Michael McDowell vs. No. 22 AJ Allmendinger
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No. 12 John Hunter Nemechek vs. No. 21 Josh Berry
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No. 13 Ross Chastain vs. No. 20 Erik Jones
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No. 14 Zane Smith vs. No. 19 Austin Cindric
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No. 15 Ryan Preece vs. No. 18 William Byron
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No. 16 Kyle Busch vs. No. 17 Brad Keselowski
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