After 16 drivers were eliminated in their opening-round matchups at Sonoma Raceway, and eight more were eliminated in the second round one weekend ago at Chicagoland Speedway, four of the eight remaining drivers in NASCAR's second annual In-Season Challenge tournament are set to be eliminated in the quarterfinal round this weekend at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway).
There are four matchups set for this Sunday night's 260-lap Quaker State 400 around the four-turn, 1.54-mile (2.478-kilometer) Hampton, Georgia oval, which was repaved before the 2022 season so that it produces the kind of pack racing seen at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
A year ago, Atlanta led off the tournament, so the wild card nature of the track shook things up straight away. This year, with just four matchups to focus on, things are arguably even more interesting, especially with what some of those matchups are.
Which 4 drivers will be eliminated in Atlanta?
Perhaps the most intriguing one is the one nobody saw coming, and it's the matchup between No. 32 seed Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports and No. 25 seed Todd Gilliland of Front Row Motorsports. Both drivers have pulled two upsets to get to this point.
No. 32 seeds are 6-1 all-time in this tournament, while Gilliland has advanced to the quarterfinals despite not finishing in the top 15 at Sonoma or Chicagoland. In other words, while nobody necessarily saw this one coming, this matchup is actually totally befitting of what this tournament and the randomness of its head-to-head matchups have come to represent.
And one of those two drivers, neither of whom is inside the top 24 in the point standings, is guaranteed to be in the semifinals.
The other three matchups are matchups between regular contenders, although one could argue that having such matchups at a superspeedway, rather than at a traditional oval, sort of cheapens the value of what would otherwise be three good battles.
Nevertheless, all three should still be quite fun to follow if the six drivers involved don't get caught up in the "Big One".
Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe and Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott are set to square off, with the winner taking on the winner of the aforementioned Bowman-Gilliland blockbuster at North Wilkesboro Speedway next weekend.
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell are also set to battle, as are Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron and Team Penske's Ryan Blaney. Blaney took pole for Sunday's race in Saturday's qualifying session.
The championship round is set to be contested at Indianapolis Motor Speedway one weekend after the semifinal round at North Wilkesboro.
Reigning tournament champion Ty Gibbs, who beat the No. 32 seed Ty Dillon in the championship round with only a 21st place finish, was eliminated at Chicagoland thanks to Briscoe's victory.
Live coverage of the Quaker State 400 from EchoPark Speedway is set to be provided by TNT Sports beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, July 12. Don't miss the quarterfinal round of NASCAR's second annual In-Season Challenge!
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