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What Is NASCAR's In-Season Challenge? Printable Bracket, Full Schedule, and How It Works
In order to spice up the summer, the NASCAR Cup Series is trying something new for 2025: an in-season tournament.
First proposed by Denny Hamlin on his podcast two years ago, the NASCAR In-Season Challenge is a five-race tournament with the winner taking home $1 million.
How does the In-Season Challenge work? Which tracks are involved? Let's dig into all the details.
How Does NASCAR's In-Season Challenge Work?
The NASCAR In-Season Challenge is a 32-driver tournament that will take place across the next five races.
The winner of the tournament is decided by single-race matchups within the bracket. For example, whoever finishes higher between the 1 seed and the 32 seed in Round 1 will advance to the second round, and so on.
All drivers will still compete in each race, meaning these races will play out the same way you'd see things in a typical Cup Series race. However, those individual matchups will be the key for the purpose of the In-Season Challenge.
What's the Schedule for NASCAR's In-Season Challenge?
The NASCAR In-Season Challenge begins Saturday night in Atlanta. Thus, if you want to fill out a bracket before Round 1, you have until the green flag at around 7 pm Eastern Saturday, June 28th.
The next four races will each represent a round within the bracket. This means the race that determines the champion -- with just two drivers remaining -- will take place on Sunday, July 27th.
Which Tracks Are Included in NASCAR's In-Season Challenge?
As an extra twist for the In-Season Challenge, some hyper-chaotic tracks are in the mix.
It all begins Saturday in Atlanta at EchoPark Speedway, a drafting-style track where crashes are plentiful. There will also be two road courses in the five-race stretch, one of which will be the Chicago street course.
Here's the full schedule for the tournament.
Round | Drivers Eligible | Track | Day | Date | Track Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 32 | EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta) | Saturday | June 28th | Drafting |
| 2 | 16 | Chicago | Sunday | July 6th | Street Course |
| 3 | 8 | Sonoma | Sunday | July 13th | Road Course |
| 4 | 4 | Dover | Sunday | July 20th | Concrete |
| 5 | 2 | Indianapolis | Sunday | July 27th | Big, Fast |
How Was Seeding for NASCAR's In-Season Challenge Bracket Decided?
The other twist is that seeding for the bracket was done in a fairly chaotic manner.
First, the field of 32 was determined by which drivers were inside the top 32 in points after June's race in Nashville. This left full-time drivers Shane Van Gisbergen, Cody Ware, Cole Custer, and Riley Herbst out of the mix. SVG is a threat on road courses, so his exclusion was a significant development.
Then, the next three races determined seeding for the remaining 32 drivers. It was set by each driver's best finish across Michigan, Mexico City, and Pocono. The first tie-breaker was each driver's second best finish, then their third best finish, and -- finally -- their ranking in the point standings after Pocono.
How Can I Fill Out a Bracket for NASCAR's In-Season Challenge?
Now that the field is all set, you can click here to get a free printable tournament bracket for NASCAR's In-Season Challenge.
Want to see what betting markets say about the In-Season Challenge? Check out FanDuel Sportsbook's latest NASCAR betting odds to see the full menu of options.
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