This past Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway was the opening race of NASCAR's first-ever in-season tournament, and NASCAR got all the chaos they were looking for (and more) when they scheduled the round of 32 at a superspeedway.
Three of the top four seeds were eliminated, including the top two, due to their involvement in wrecks. But with none of those three eliminated drivers being scored higher than 30th place following DNFs, it's kind of hard to argue against the fact that they did not deserve to advance, given the race-by-race nature of this particular challenge.
However, some drivers made out well simply because of their matchups, while others got a raw deal. Had NASCAR simply taken the top 16 finishers (of the 32 drivers who qualified for the tournament), they may not have been able to utilize a true bracket format like they wanted to, but there probably would have been some added authenticity to the round-by-round advancement process.
3 NASCAR drivers benefit (while 3 get screwed)
Three drivers who ranked in the top 16 (of the 32 tournament drivers) in Saturday night's race did not advance, while three drivers who ranked outside of the top 16 simply drew fortunate matchups based on their results of the three seeding races at Michigan International Speedway, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and Pocono Raceway.
The top 13 finishers (who all finished the race in the top 15) among this group did all manage to advance, which is actually probably a better outcome than NASCAR could have hoped for.
But Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson, Spire Motorsports' Michael McDowell, and Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon did not, despite ranking 14th, 15th, and 16th among tournament drivers.
Larson's 17th place finish was not enough to beat the fourth place finish of 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick. McDowell's 18th place finish was not enough to beat the 12th place finish of Kaulig Racing's A.J. Allmendinger.
And Dillon could have finished in second place and still not advanced, as Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott secured the win. Dillon finished in 20th place.
Yet three drivers who finished lower than all three of those drivers advanced.
23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace, Front Row Motorsports' Noah Gragson, and Legacy Motor Club's John Hunter Nemechek are set to advance, despite only ranking 18th, 20th, and 21st among tournament drivers.
Wallace finished in 22nd place, ahead of Gragson in 25th and Nemechek in 26th. But even their poor finishes and involvement in various incidents throughout the evening wasn't enough to keep them from advancing to the round of 16.
Wallace benefited from squaring off against Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez, who was scored with a 34th place DNF after a wreck. Gragson benefited from squaring off against Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe, who was scored with a 35th place DNF after a wreck. And Nemechek benefited from squaring off against Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry, who was scored with a 32nd place DNF after a wreck.
Like we've said from the start, a driver can technically win the entire tournament with five consecutive bad finishes. It all depends on the matchups. Favorable draws could very well determine the champion of this inaugural in-season challenge.
The Grant Park 165 is set to be shown live on TNT Sports from the Chicago Street Course beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET next Sunday, July 6. This race is the second of five in the tournament.