2025 NASCAR In-Season Challenge

2025 NASCAR In-Season Challenge
presented by DraftKings Sportbook

Tournament information
Date	June 28 – July 27, 2025
Venue(s)	Atlanta Motor Speedway Chicago Street Course Sonoma Raceway Dover Motor Speedway Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Teams	32 (full-time)
Purse	US$1 Million
Final positions
Champions	No. 54 Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing
Runner-up	No. 10 Ty Dillon Kaulig Racing
2026  →

The 2025 NASCAR In-Season Challenge presented by DraftKings Sportbook was a multi-stage motorsport tournament that was played during the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. It was the first edition of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge.

32 full-time drivers in the series participated in the tournament and races also counted toward the regular season and playoff standings as normal. Following the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, 4 full-time drivers failed to make the challenge: Shane van Gisbergen, Cole Custer, Riley Herbst, and Cody Ware. Following the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing defeated Ty Dillon of Kaulig Racing to win the US$1 million.

Format

Main article: NASCAR In-Season Challenge § Format

The tournament consisted of eight regular season races that would run during June and July. Before the bracket was set, there was a qualifying phase where all eligible drivers compete. The bottom four full-time drivers in the standings after the phase failed to qualify for the bracket. Then, the remaining 32 drivers got seeded into the bracket based on their performance in the three qualifying races. The last five races were conducted in a single elimination bracket, with the first four rounds known as "Challenge Rounds". In each round, the driver in each matchup with the better finish advanced, while the other is eliminated. This process continued until only two drivers remain in the "Champions Round"; the driver with the better finish in that race will be the tournament champion and win a $1 million bonus. Ty Gibbs defeated Ty Dillon for the $1 million.

Schedule

No	Race name	Track	Location	Date	Time (ET) [1]	TV [2]	Radio	Report
Seeding Races
1	FireKeepers Casino 400	O  Michigan International Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan	June 8	2 PM	Prime Video	MRN	Report
2	Viva México 250	R  Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez	Mexico City, Mexico	June 15	3 PM			Report
3	The Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA	O  Pocono Raceway	Long Pond, Pennsylvania	June 22	2 PM			Report
Challenge Round 1 (Round of 32)
4	Quaker State 400 available at Walmart	O  Atlanta Motor Speedway	Hampton, Georgia	June 28	7 PM	TNT	PRN	Report
Challenge Round 2 (Round of 16)
5	Grant Park 165	S  Chicago Street Course	Chicago, Illinois	July 6	2 PM	TNT	MRN	Report
Challenge Round 3 (Quarter-Final)
6	Toyota/Save Mart 350	R  Sonoma Raceway	Sonoma, California	July 13	3:30 PM	TNT	PRN	Report
Challenge Round 4 (Semi-Final)
7	Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400	O  Dover Motor Speedway	Dover, Delaware	July 20	2 PM	TNT	PRN	Report
Champions Round (Final)
8	Brickyard 400 presented by PPG	O  Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	July 27	2 PM	TNT	IMS/PRN	Report

Notes

 O  Oval track
 R  Road course
 S  Street course

Bracket

Atlanta

Chicago

Sonoma

Dover

Indianapolis

1

#11 Denny Hamlin

31st

32

#10 Ty Dillon

8th

32

#10 Ty Dillon

20th

17

#6 Keselowski

37th

16

#8 Kyle Busch

21st

17

#6 Brad Keselowski

2nd

32

#10 Ty Dillon

17th

8

#48 Bowman

19th

8

#48 Alex Bowman

3rd

25

#22 Joey Logano

25th

8

#48 Bowman

8th

9

#23 Wallace

28th

9

#23 Bubba Wallace

22nd

24

#99 Daniel Suárez

34th

32

#10 Ty Dillon

20th

12

#42 JH Nemechek

21st

12

#42 John Hunter Nemechek

26th

21

#21 Josh Berry

32nd

12

#42 JH Nemechek

15th

5

#9 Elliott

16th

5

#9 Chase Elliott

1st

28

#3 Austin Dillon

20th

12

#42 JH Nemechek

28th

20

#43 Jones

29th

13

#1 Ross Chastain

33rd

20

#43 Erik Jones

5th

20

#43 Jones

25th

29

#47 Stenhouse Jr.

31st

4

#20 Christopher Bell

30th

29

#47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

6th

32

#10 Ty Dillon

28th

6

#54 Gibbs

21st

2

#19 Chase Briscoe

35th

31

#4 Noah Gragson

25th

31

#4 Gragson

30th

15

#60 Preece

7th

15

#60 Ryan Preece

15th

18

#24 William Byron

37th

15

#60 Preece

12th

23

#45 Reddick

6th

7

#12 Ryan Blaney

40th

26

#77 Carson Hocevar

10th

26

#77 Hocevar

35th

23

#45 Reddick

3rd

10

#5 Kyle Larson

17th

23

#45 Tyler Reddick

4th

23

#45 Reddick

12th

6

#54 Gibbs

5th

11

#71 Michael McDowell

18th

22

#16 A. J. Allmendinger

12th

22

#16 Allmendinger

6th

6

#54 Gibbs

2nd

6

#54 Ty Gibbs

14th

27

#7 Justin Haley

23rd

6

#54 Gibbs

7th

14

#38 Z. Smith

27th

14

#38 Zane Smith

7th

19

#2 Austin Cindric

38th

14

#38 Z. Smith

14th

3

#17 Buescher

18th

3

#17 Chris Buescher

9th

30

#34 Todd Gilliland

27th

This bracket:

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Broadcasting

The seeding races were streamed on the new package to be shown on Amazon Prime Video. ^[3] All tournament races were shown on TNT and streamed on HBO Max. ^[4] TNT's sister channel truTV also aired a weekly Altcast, hosted by Larry McReynolds and Jeff Burton, alongside the main feed.

References

1. "NASCAR announces start times and networks for 2025". NASCAR . November 13, 2024. Retrieved November 13, 2024.
2. "NASCAR reveals milestone 2025 Cup Series schedule, complete with international flair, return to roots". NASCAR . August 29, 2024. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
3. "NASCAR announces historic media rights agreements with FOX, NBC, Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery". NASCAR.com. November 29, 2024. Retrieved May 9, 2024.
4. "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.