2026 NASCAR In-Season Challenge

2026 NASCAR In-Season Challenge

Tournament information
Date	June 28 – July 26, 2026
Venue(s)	Sonoma Raceway Chicagoland Speedway EchoPark Speedeay North Wilkesboro Speedway Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Teams	32 (full-time)
Purse	US$1 Million
Final positions
Champions	No. 34 Todd Gilliland Front Row Motorsports
Runner-up	No. 12 Ryan Blaney Team Penske

The 2026 NASCAR In-Season Challenge was a multi-stage motorsport tournament that was played during the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series. It was the second edition of the NASCAR In-Season Challenge. 32 full-time drivers in the series participated in the tournament and races counted toward the regular season and playoff standings as normal.

Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing was the defending winner of the tournament.

Following the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Todd Gilliland of Front Row Motorsports defeated Ryan Blaney of Team Penske to win the US$1 million.

Format

Main article: NASCAR In-Season Challenge § Format

The tournament consisted of five regular season races that would run during June and July. The top 32 drivers in driver points standings were seeded into the bracket based on their performance based on the regular season standings. The five races conducted in a single elimination bracket, with the first four rounds known as "Challenge Rounds". In each round, the driver in each matchup with the better finish advanced, while the other was eliminated. This process continues until only two drivers remain in the "Champions Round"; the driver with the better finish in that race would become the tournament champion. Cole Custer, Connor Zilisch, and Cody Ware failed to qualify for the In-Season Challenge following the Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, California. Austin Hill, who took over full-time duties in the Cup Series following the death of Kyle Busch, also did not qualify for the tournament, even though his car sits in 26th in owner's points, due to being ineligible for Cup Series points because he had registered to earn points in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.

Changes

2026 marked the first year of major rule changes that marked drivers being ranked off of regular season points rather than three seeding races used in 2025.

Schedule

Chicagoland Speedway for the eero 400, the track where Round 2 was held.

 O  Oval track
 R  Road course

No	Race name	Track	Location	Date	Time (ET)	TV	Radio	Report
1	Toyota/Save Mart 350	R  Sonoma Raceway	Sonoma, California	June 28	3:30 pm	TNT	PRN	Report
2	eero 400	O  Chicagoland Speedway	Joliet, Illinois	July 5	6 pm		MRN	Report
3	Quaker State 400	O  EchoPark Speedway	Hampton, Georgia	July 12	7 pm		PRN	Report
4	Window World 450	O  North Wilkesboro Speedway	North Wilkesboro, North Carolina	July 19				Report
5	Brickyard 400	O  Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Speedway, Indiana	July 26	2 pm		IMS	Report

Bracket

Sonoma

Chicagoland

Atlanta

North Wilkesboro

Indianapolis

1

#45 Tyler Reddick

36th

32

#48 Alex Bowman

10th

32

#48 Bowman

5th

16

#2 Cindric

13th

16

#2 Austin Cindric

13th

17

#6 Brad Keselowski

15th

32

#48 Bowman

22nd

25

#34 Gilliland

19th

8

#7 Daniel Suárez

31st

25

#34 Todd Gilliland

29th

25

#34 Gilliland

16th

9

#77 Hocevar

22nd

9

#77 Carson Hocevar

11th

24

#38 Zane Smith

18th

25

#34 Gilliland

8th

4

#9 Elliott

17th

12

#19 Chase Briscoe

2nd

21

#16 A. J. Allmendinger

16th

12

#19 Briscoe

1st

5

#54 Ty Gibbs

8th

5

#54 Ty Gibbs

3rd

28

#3 Austin Dillon

27th

12

#19 Briscoe

36th

4

#9 Elliott

13th

13

#23 Bubba Wallace

22nd

20

#71 Michael McDowell

9th

20

#71 McDowell

29th

4

#9 Elliott

11th

4

#9 Chase Elliott

17th

29

#4 Noah Gragson

32nd

25

#34 Gilliland

24th

3

#12 Blaney

26th

2

#11 Denny Hamlin

26th

31

#10 Ty Dillon

35th

2

#11 Hamlin

3rd

15

#43 Jones

15th

15

#43 Erik Jones

23rd

18

#22 Joey Logano

24th

2

#11 Hamlin

12th

10

#20 Bell

2nd

7

#17 Chris Buescher

19th

26

#42 John Hunter Nemechek

25th

7

#17 Buescher

19th

10

#20 Bell

2nd

10

#20 Christopher Bell

5th

23

#1 Ross Chastain

14th

10

#20 Bell

19th

3

#12 Blaney

11th

11

#24 William Byron

12th

22

#47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21st

11

#24 Byron

4th

6

#5 Larson

34th

6

#5 Kyle Larson

4th

27

#35 Riley Herbst

30th

11

#24 Byron

16th

3

#12 Blaney

1st

14

#97 Shane van Gisbergen

1st

19

#60 Ryan Preece

8th

14

#97 van Gisbergen

25th

3

#12 Blaney

7th

3

#12 Ryan Blaney

6th

30

#21 Josh Berry

28th

Broadcasting

All tournament races were shown on TNT and streamed on HBO Max.