Sonoma Raceway's Toyota Save Mart 350 NASCAR Cup Series race got the second annual NASCAR In-Season Challenge underway on Sunday afternoon.
The 32-driver bracket matchups and seeding were determined by the point standings following the race at Pocono Raceway two weekends prior.
When it comes to head-to-head matchups, it pretty much goes without saying that anything can happen. It's why No. 32 seed Ty Dillon advanced all the way to the championship round with only one top 16 finish a year ago, and it's why the title was won by Ty Gibbs with a finish outside of the top 20.
When you're competing against only one other driver, crazy things are not only possible, but inevitable; seeding only means so much. And that was certainly the case again on Sunday.
For one, No. 32 seed Alex Bowman advanced over No. 1 seed Tyler Reddick, after Reddick dealt with power steering issues and finished last, four laps off the lead lap. So in two seasons, the No. 1 seed has still never advanced to the second round.
But aside from that, there were several drivers who actually finished among the top 16 drivers in the 32-driver bracket but were eliminated anyway.
4 drivers eliminated, despite top 16 finishes
RFK Racing's Ryan Preece, Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain, RFK Racing's Brad Keselowski, and Kaulig Racing's A.J. Allmendinger were eliminated, despite finishing eighth, 14th, 15th, and 16th, respectively.
Preece was eliminated by race winner Shane van Gisbergen of Trackhouse Racing. Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell eliminated Chastain with a fifth place finish, while Team Penske's Austin Cindric eliminated Keselowski with a 13th place finish and Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe eliminated Allmendinger with a runner-up finish.
Meanwhile, four drivers who finished below each of those drivers advanced.
RFK Racing's Chris Buescher (19th) beat Legacy Motor Club's John Hunter Nemechek (25th), Legacy Motor Club's Erik Jones (23rd) beat Team Penske's Joey Logano (24th), Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin (26th) beat Kaulig Racing's Ty Dillon (35th), and Front Row Motorsports' Todd Gilliland (29th) beat Spire Motorsports' Daniel Suarez (31st).
Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott finished 17th and advanced as well, beating 32nd place finisher Noah Gragson of Front Row Motorsports, but he was actually 16th among tournament drivers.
Seventh place finisher Connor Zilisch of Trackhouse Racing was not included in the 32-driver bracket, since he was 34th in the standings after the Pocono race. The other excluded full-time drivers are Haas Factory Team's Cole Custer and Rick Ware Racing's Cody Ware.
As we highlighted in 2025, a driver could technically win the whole tournament with finishes in the low 20s or even 30s throughout.
With that in mind, I guess we're all aboard the Todd Gilliland hype train.
The eero 400 at Chicagland Speedway, which hasn't hosted a NASCAR Cup Series race since 2019, is set to be shown live on TNT starting at 6:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, July 5. Don't miss the tournament's second race!
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