Everything You Need to Know About NASCAR’s 2026 In-Season Challenge
What’s Happening? NASCAR is bringing back its five-race In-Season Challenge in 2026, adding a midyear jolt to the calendar. Just like…
Denny Hamlin’s win at Pocono brought the curtain down on the qualification phase and locked in NASCAR’s bracket for the In-Season Challenge, so, with a gap week until the start of the second-ever in-season NASCAR tournament, here’s a look at this year’s first-round matchups.
This season, the Round 1 of the Tournament will pit the following drivers against each other:
Points leader Tyler Reddick enters the In-Season Challenge as the No. 1 seed, joining him at the top of the bracket are Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Ty Gibbs, who locked down the remaining spots among the top five seeds and will begin the competition from positions of strength.
Further down the order, the battle for the final berth came down to the wire. Alex Bowman and Cole Custer found themselves deadlocked for the 32nd and last spot in the tournament following the Pocono race.
However, Bowman got the chance through the tiebreaker, owing to his highest finish of the 2026 season, a third-place result at Talladega, which proved enough to tip the scales in his favor.
Interestingly, Denny Hamlin and Ty Dillon will cross swords in the opening round for the second year in a row. Their paths collided at EchoPark Speedway during last season’s tournament, and it was Dillon who came out on top, knocking Hamlin out of contention in the very first round.
And after eliminating Hamlin, he set social media buzzing with Hamlin’s famous: “I just knocked your favorite driver out.”
As the 2025 tournament moved from round to round, Dillon continued that momentum. His run eventually carried him all the way to the final round, where the Cinderella story met its end. Ty Gibbs managed to be the last man standing, leaving Dillon to settle for a runner-up finish.
What’s Happening? NASCAR is bringing back its five-race In-Season Challenge in 2026, adding a midyear jolt to the calendar. Just like…
The 2026 In-Season Challenge will begin on Sunday, June 28, at Sonoma Raceway, where drivers will start their pursuit of the title and a $1 million prize.
From there, the challenge will take its show on the road, making stops at Chicagoland Speedway, EchoPark Speedway, and North Wilkesboro Speedway before the battle reaches its final act. And finally, the championship round will happen at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Here’s the full schedule:
| Round | Date | Venue |
| Round 1 | Sunday, June 28, 2026 | Sonoma Raceway |
| Round 2 | Sunday, July 5, 2026 | Chicagoland Speedway |
| Elite Eight | Sunday, July 12, 2026 | EchoPark Speedway |
| Finaists (Four) | Sunday, July 19, 2026 | North Wilkesboro Speedway |
| Championship | Sunday, July 26, 2026 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway |
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