The bracket for the second NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge is now officially set, but not without a nailbiting tie-break to decide the final spot.
The five-race lucrative new wrinkle from the brass in Charlotte made its debut in 2025, with Ty Gibbs landing a massive $1million paycheck by pipping Ty Dillon to victory.
Now the idea - popularized of course by Denny Hamlin on his 'Actions Detrimental' podcast - is back again in 2026 and the bracket and opening matchups have been set.
The final touch was added over the weekend when Alex Bowman tied with Cole Custer for the 32 seed but gained entry thanks to the 'highest finish' tiebreaker.
The 2026 Challenge will run for five races from Sonoma on June 28 to Indianapolis on July 26. It is also important to note that the bracket is NOT re-seeded after round. This is March Madness style.
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NASCAR In-Season Challenge 2026 Bracket
The bracket and first-round matchups for 2026 look like this:
- No. 1 Tyler Reddick vs No. 32 Alex Bowman
- No. 16 Austin Cindric vs No. 17 Brad Keselowski
- No. 8 Daniel Suárez vs No. 25 Todd Gilliland
- No. 9 Carson Hocevar vs No. 24 Zane Smith
- No. 12 Chase Briscoe vs No. 21 AJ Allmendinger
- No. 5 Ty Gibbs vs No. 28 Austin Dillon
- No. 13 Bubba Wallace vs No. 20 Michael McDowell
- No. 4 Chase Elliott vs No. 29 Noah Gragson
- No. 2 Denny Hamlin vs No. 31 Ty Dillon
- No. 15 Erik Jones vs No. 18 Joey Logano
- No. 7 Chris Buescher vs No. 26 John Hunter Nemechek
- No. 10 Christopher Bell vs No. 23 Ross Chastain
- No. 11 William Byron vs No. 22 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- No. 6 Kyle Larson vs No. 27 Riley Herbst
- No. 14 Shane van Gisbergen vs No. 19 Ryan Preece
- No. 3 Ryan Blaney vs No. 30 Josh Berry
How the NASCAR In-Season Challenge works
NASCAR's In-Season Challenge is a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament that will take place over five races on the 2026 regular season schedule, all of which will be broadcast live on TNT Sports.
32 Cup Series drivers are set to compete in the challenge, with the field locked in after the regular season race at Nashville (May 31), and matchups set to be determined by seedings based on the following three races at Michigan (June 7), Pocono (June 14) and San Diego (June 21).
Once the seedings are set, drivers will be placed in head-to-head matchups, with whoever achieves the better finishing position in the matchup advancing to the next round. The losing driver in a matchup will be eliminated.
This means that after each In-Season Challenge race, the field will be halved, with winners advancing and losers being eliminated. For example, 32 drivers are set to compete in round one, 16 in round two, eight in round three, four in round four, before two drivers battle it out in the fifth and final race, the champions round.
NASCAR's In-Season Challenge will be determined by results in regular Cup Series races and is therefore not a standalone event. However, there are no regular season or playoff implications depending on whether or not you win or lose in the In-Season Challenge.
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