NASCAR in-season challenge tournament bracket, matchups for first round in Sonoma

Nick Gray, Nashville TennesseanSat, June 27, 2026 at 4:32 PM UTC

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The NASCAR in-season challenge tournament begins on June 28 with the first round during the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway.

Like last year's inaugural edition, the first round includes 16 head-to-head matchups. The best finisher in the individual matchups move on to the second round next week at Chicagoland.

Denny Hamlin goes up against defending in-season challenge champion Ty Dillon in the 2-31 matchup, a rematch from Dillon's major upset last year.

Here are the 16 first-round matchups in the second annual NASCAR in-season challenge tournament:

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NASCAR in-season challenge tournament first-round matchups

1-seed Tyler Reddick vs. 32-seed Alex Bowman

16-seed Austin Cindric vs. 17-seed Brad Keselowski

8-seed Daniel Suarez vs. 25-seed Todd Gilliland

9-seed Carson Hocevar vs. 24-seed Zane Smith

12-seed Chase Briscoe vs. 21-seed AJ Allmendinger

5-seed Ty Gibbs vs. 28-seed Austin Dillon

13-seed Bubba Wallace vs. 20-seed Michael McDowell

4-seed Chase Elliott vs. 29-seed Noah Gragson

6-seed Kyle Larson vs. 27-seed Riley Herbst

11-seed William Byron vs. 22-seed Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

3-seed Ryan Blaney vs. 30-seed Josh Berry

14-seed Shane van Gisbergen vs. 19-seed Ryan Preece

7-seed Chris Buescher vs. 26-seed John Hunter Nemechek

10-seed Christopher Bell vs. 23-seed Ross Chastain

15-seed Erik Jones vs. 18-seed Joey Logano

2-seed Denny Hamlin vs. 31-seed Ty Dillon

NASCAR in-season challenge tournament schedule

Round of 32: Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, June 28

Round of 16: eero 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, July 5

Round of 8: Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway, July 12

Semifinals: Window World 450 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, July 19

Final: Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, July 26

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR in-season challenge tournament bracket, matchups for first round

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