First Round Of In-Season Tournament Has Wild Shake-Ups

NASCAR's first in-season tournament had some early upsets Saturday night at EchoPark Speedway. (Nigel Kinrade/NKP photo)

HAMPTON, Ga. – The first installment in NASCAR’s inaugural in-season tournament saw several upsets and busted brackets following a wild Quaker State 400 available at Walmart at EchoPark Speedway.

After a pair of big wrecks in stages one and two knocked out many of the race’s contenders, the tournament field for round two began to take shape in chaotic fashion following the biggest wild card of the tournament.

The number one overall seed in the tournament was Denny Hamlin, seen by some as the proprietor of this tournament after his eponymous Denny Hamlin’s Bracket Challenge last year.

But after a poor qualifying effort on Friday, Hamlin was mired to the back and collected in the second big one on lap 70.

His opponent, Ty Dillon (32), outlasted the carnage and brought his Kaulig Racing machine home in eighth, pulling off the 32-vs-1 upset and advancing to round two to take on Brad Keselowski (17), who used a runner-up finish to dethrone Kyle Busch (16) and move on.

Hamlin’s teammate Chase Briscoe was the two seed, and he too fell victim to the second big one, as did his opponent Noah Gragson (31).

Gragson, however, was able to continue while Briscoe was not, eliminating last week’s winner at Pocono Raceway. Gragson will take on Ryan Preece (15) in the second round.

Preece took down William Byron (18), who was yet another victim of the second big one.

A victim of the first big one was Ryan Blaney (7), whose race ended on the 58th lap of 260. By virtue of his early exit, he was officially the first elimination of the tournament. His opponent, Carson Hocevar (26), rallied to a 10th-place finish after getting collected in the second big crash.

Hocevar will take on Tyler Reddick (23), who bumped a heavy favorite in 10th-seeded Kyle Larson from the tournament in the first round.

Fifth seed Chase Elliott captured the race win at his home track, eliminating Austin Dillon (28), and guaranteeing his advancement to round two where he will take on John Hunter Nemechek (12), who knocked Josh Berry (21) from the tournament.

Nemechek’s teammate, Erik Jones (20), parlayed his fifth-place run at EchoPark to a berth in the second round of the tournament and an elimination of Ross Chastain (15), where he will take on 29th-seeded Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Stenhouse knocked four seed Christopher Bell from the tournament after Bell succumbed to damage suffered in the first big crash.

Chris Buescher (3) and Zane Smith (14) were two drivers that avoided upsets, defeating their lower-seeded opponents and advancing to the second round where they will go head to head.

Buescher bounced Smith’s teammate, Todd Gilliland (30), while Smith eliminated 19th-seeded Austin Cindric. Buescher is the highest remaining seed following Hamlin and Briscoe’s eliminations.

A pair of Chevy vs. Toyota head-to-head matchups close out the second round.

Alex Bowman (8) took home a third-place run at EchoPark, eliminating polesitter and 25th seed Joey Logano. Bowman will take on Bubba Wallace (9), who knocked Daniel Suarez (24) from the mid-season incentive.

Sixth seed Ty Gibbs had a strong showing, leading laps and finishing in the top 15. He knocked out Justin Haley (27), who ran around Gibbs for most of the race before a spin on lap 228 took him out of contention.

A.J. Allmendinger, the 22 seed, moved on as well, finishing just six positions ahead of his foe Michael McDowell (11), the closest matchup in the first round. Allmendinger will compete against Gibbs in round two.

The second round of NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament challenge sees the 16 remaining gladiators enter the coliseum of the streets of downtown Chicago.

Eighth-seeded Bowman is the defending winner, with Reddick (23) finishing second, but Allmendinger (22), Gibbs (6), and Buescher (3) have all shown strength on road courses as well.

Thirty-second-seeded Ty Dillon, Stenhouse (29), and Hocevar (26) will look to play spoiler and keep their Cinderella runs going for another week.

The NASCAR Cup Series presses on with round two of the In-Season Tournament on the Chicago (Ill.) Street Course.

Coverage of the Grant Park 165 begins Sunday, July 6 at 2 p.m. ET on TNT, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90, with a tournament alt-cast on TruTV.