Denny Hamlin's third straight win at Pocono settled more than the weekend. With the checkered flag, the field for NASCAR's second In-Season Challenge locked in — the 32-driver, single-elimination bracket worth $1 million that turns five midsummer Cup races into a knockout tournament inside the season.
Tyler Reddick heads in as the No. 1 seed. The points leader has set the pace since winning the Daytona 500 in February and has five victories in 2026, the form that earned him the top line in the bracket. Hamlin, riding a three-race heater, takes the No. 2 seed, with Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and reigning In-Season Challenge winner Ty Gibbs completing the top five.
The final spot produced the closest call. Alex Bowman and Cole Custer finished Pocono tied for the 32nd and last place in the field, with Bowman taking the tiebreaker on his best 2026 result — third at Talladega. He lands the unenviable job of opening against Reddick.
The tournament begins June 28 at Sonoma Raceway, then runs through the returning Chicagoland Speedway, EchoPark Speedway and a throwback stop at North Wilkesboro Speedway before the championship round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26. Starting on a road course immediately scrambles the seeding logic, because the bracket rewards survival on a given Sunday rather than season-long consistency.
That quirk has put one first-round matchup above the rest. No. 14 seed Shane van Gisbergen draws No. 19 Ryan Preece at Sonoma — and NASCAR.com's analysis flatly called the New Zealander "arguably the best road-course driver to ever strap into a Cup Series car," noting he has won six of the last seven road-course events. The same preview summed up Preece's draw in two words: "Good luck!"
The seeding cuts both ways for the favorites. Hamlin's biggest weakness remains road courses, but a soft opener against No. 31 Ty Dillon gives him room before the bracket swings back to ovals, where, as NASCAR.com put it, "nobody is currently better." Reddick, by contrast, is described as having "no weaknesses" in 2026, with the No. 45 team rated "a near lock for at least the semifinals." Gibbs, the man who lifted the inaugural trophy, has a schedule that analysts believe lays out well for the No. 54 — a notable shift from a driver who endured an "atrocious" start to 2025.
There is jeopardy lurking for the contenders, too. Bubba Wallace, seeded 13th, drew Michael McDowell, who has never finished worse than seventh in the Next Gen car at Sonoma. Carson Hocevar, a road-course liability by his own admission with finishes of 28th and 31st this year, faces an uphill first round. And Joey Logano, a three-time champion seeded 18th, could escape Erik Jones only to run into Hamlin at Chicagoland, where Ford has struggled in 2026.
The bracket's beauty, as RACER and other outlets framed it, is its volatility. One bad pit stop, one Sonoma restart, one EchoPark wreck and a No. 1 seed is gone, with a million dollars and a midsummer headline going to whoever simply keeps winning the head-to-head. Van Gisbergen, who has improved enough on ovals to score a career-best fifth at Nashville, is the popular pick to ride his road-course edge deep — but as last year proved, the tournament tends to make a mess of the form guide before Indianapolis.
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