By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
It didn’t take long to bust every bracket in NASCAR’s inaugural In-Season Challenge.
The first two stages of Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at EchoPark Speedway took care of that. A seven-car wreck on Lap 57 and a colossal 22-car incident 12 laps later wiped out most of the top choices to win the $1-million top prize in the five-race tournament.
The No. 11 Toyota of top seed Denny Hamlin sustained severe damage in the massive Lap 69 wreck, paving the way for 32nd seed Ty Dillon to advance to the second round at the Chicago Street Course.
Clearly, Dillon enjoyed prevailing in the matchup almost no one thought he would win.
“I’m pretty pumped about our day, and, oh, one more thing: all you Denny fans out there, I just knocked your favorite driver out,” Dillon crowed with a broad smile on his face, turning one of Hamlin’s pet phrases back on the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
In fact, Dillon didn’t back into his head-to-head victory over the pre-tournament favorite. The driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet took the checkered flag in eighth place.
According to NASCAR’s loop data statistics, Dillon also was eighth-best in average running position at 12.55.
“I have to thank (team owner) Matt Kaulig and (team president) Chris Rice for giving me an opportunity of a lifetime,” said Dillon, who will face Brad Keselowski in the second round. “These are the best cars I’ve ever driven, and we’re building confidence and momentum week in and week out.
“We’ve had a lot of speed this year and just haven’t gotten the results, and it’s nice to get the result on a day like today. We’re building confidence and this is a great start to continue our climb.”
Hamlin was one of three Gibbs drivers to bow out in the first round. Christopher Bell turned sideways in Turn 4 to ignite the seven-car accident on Lap 57, sustained serious damage and eventually retired from the race in 33rd place, losing his matchup to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Second-seeded Chase Briscoe was gobbled up in the 22-car melee and lost his matchup to close friend Noah Gragson, the 31st seed.
That leaves Ty Gibbs carrying the banner for JGR. With a 14th-place run, Gibbs eliminated Justin Haley and will face AJ Allmendinger in an intriguing battle of proficient road course racers at Chicago.
Chase Elliott’s wildly popular victory and Alex Bowman’s third-place finish kept two Hendrick Motorsports drivers in the running, but other organizations fared better.
Led by Keselowski, the race runner-up, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing advanced all three of its drivers to the next round. Ryan Preece eliminated William Byron, another victim of the Lap 69 wreck.
“It was a fun thing while it lasted,” Byron said after a trip to the infield care center. “Now I’m out of it, so whatever. I’ll just go and try to win Chicago.”
RFK’s Chris Buescher, the highest remaining seed at No. 3, moved past wreck victim Todd Gilliland and will face off against fellow Ford driver Zane Smith in the Chicago Street Race.
Smith advanced past Austin Cindric of Team Penske, easily the most star-crossed organization at EchoPark Speedway.
All three Penske drivers—Cindric, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano—as well as Josh Berry of Team Penske affiliate Wood Brothers Racing were eliminated in accidents.
Those four drivers had locked out the first two rows during qualifying, with Logano taking the pole position, and all four were gone early in the second stage.
Asked how many brackets he thought had been busted, Berry replied, “I’m sure a lot. I mean, coming here, you knew that was probably going to happen.
“Everybody thought they had it figured out, but they weren’t planning on that.”
Conventional wisdom says the Chicago Street Race should be more predictable than the wild, random action at Atlanta, as drivers steam toward the $1-million top prize in the In-Season Challenge.
Sadly, even if the Chicago race follows form, the corresponding $1-million prize for picking a perfect bracket already is off the table.
The chaos at EchoPark ended the quest for perfection quickly and decisively.
