How the 18-car crash in Atlanta shook up NASCAR’s $1M in-season tournament?

NASCAR's In-Season Challenge has made its debut at Atlanta with a major 18-car crash playing spoilsport for the head-to-head matchups. A Stage 2 restart saw Denny Hamlin make contact with John Hunter Nemechek and spin into Noah Gragson, triggering a multi-car pile-up that took out multiple contenders as well as the polesitter, Joey Logano.

The Challenge Round 1 has been riddled with wrecks and cautions, with reports indicating that as many as 36 of the 40-car field were involved in accidents. The highlight of them all was the multi-car wreck on lap 69, as it ultimately took out the top-2 seeded drivers, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe.

Hamlin's matchup, Ty Dillon, survived the day's accidents and broke into the top 10, while Briscoe's challenger, Noah Gragson, wasn't as lucky and finished nine laps behind at 25th. Nonetheless, the Front Row Motorsports driver will advance to Challenge Round 2 due to Briscoe's DNF.

Similarly, Alex Bowman and Erik Jones finished among the top 10 and cleared their respective pairings, Joey Logano and Ross Chastain. Other drivers who lost out due to DNFs include Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, and Josh Berry. Notably, the Ford stable of drivers began the Quaker State 400 from the first two rows.

Chase Elliott, who finally secured his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the season at Echopark Speedway, automatically advances to the second round. Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski bounced back from his Pocono disaster to come in as the runner-up and beat out Kyle Busch. It's worth noting that the Rousch Fenway Keselowski driver was also caught up in the 18-car pile-up and managed to fight his way back.

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Denny Hamlin reflects on his race-ending crash in NASCAR's inaugural In-season Challenge

After a dominant run of three consecutive top-5 finishes, Denny Hamlin succumbed to a race-ending crash in Atlanta. The NASCAR team owner logged his third DNF of the season after 17 starts.

Reflecting upon the chaotic incident, the 44-year-old spoke to the media post-race and said,

"All of us were in the top line pushing off Turn 2, and some zigged, some zagged, most crashed. I don’t know. I was on the bumper of (Nemechek), and he was on the bumper of somebody else. We all were just pushing and speedway zigging and zagging, and we all crashed, so part of it. Now we go watch the rest of the race.”

Denny Hamlin was marked 31st in a 40-car field. His loss to Ty Dillon negates any chance of winning NASCAR's $1 million prize money from the In-Season challenge. Up next, the bracket-style tournament heads to two other road courses, beginning with the Chicago Street Race. The tournament spans five rounds and culminates in the Champions round at Indianapolis International Speedway.