“Superspeedway was a bad idea”: Fans react as NASCAR reveals the remaining ‘perfect’ bracket for $1,000,000 In-season challenge

As the dust settled at EchoPark Speedway on Saturday night, NASCAR officially confirmed there were no perfect brackets left in the inaugural In-Season Challenge. And with 16 contenders now eliminated, including five of the top ten seeds, fans didn't hold back. Their consensus? Superspeedways should never open a tournament format like this.

Launched in 2025, NASCAR's In-Season Challenge is a five-race, single-elimination tournament designed to spice up the summer stretch. Drivers were seeded based on their best finish in three earlier races (Michigan, Mexico City, Pocono) before being matched head-to-head in a single knockout-style format beginning at Atlanta.

But the Quaker State 400 turned into a demolition derby by Lap 70, leaving the $1 million bracket busted wide open. Chaos hit early, first with a multi-car pileup on Lap 58, followed by a massive 22-car crash on Lap 70 that wiped out most of the field's major players. NASCAR insider Bob Pockrass reposted the 'zero perfect brackets' graphic on X:

"Not a surprise, but NASCAR's bracket contest doesn't have anyone with a perfect bracket:"

And fan replies lit up with frustration. One response summed it up perfectly:

"Almost like starting the whole thing at a superspeedway was a bad idea."

There were several big losers in the first round of NASCAR's In-season Challenge. It wasn't just top-seeded Denny Hamlin, wrecked out by the Lap 70 melee and upset by 32nd-seed Ty Dillon. Second-seed Chase Briscoe was eliminated too, along with top-seeds like Christopher Bell (ousted by Ricky Stenhouse Jr.), Ross Chastain (out to Erik Jones), and William Byron (taken down by Ryan Preece).

No Trackhouse Racing or Team Penske drivers remain in the bracket, and just one Joe Gibbs Racing car (Ty Gibbs) survived. Each fan post carried its version of the same complaint of starting a $1 million elimination challenge on a pack-racing superspeedway was doomed from the beginning.

Bill Swinimer

@swinimer_bill

LINK

I'd like to see them do this again next year, but stay away from super speedways and street races, please.

Others suggested the superspeedway chaos should've been saved for the final round, not the opener.

TONKA ☘️ ⚜️🤘

@TonkaParty2

LINK

Maybe next time NOT a superspeedway to start it?

Matt

@MattGaa_25

LINK

I would say let’s save the super speedway crashes to the last race and not the first!

One fan even compared the unpredictability to basketball's In Season Challenge:

SueH48

@SueH48

LINK

Having a pseudo-super speedway as the first race in the tournament is equivalent to having the teams in the first round of March Madness go out and play dodgeball instead of basketball on the court!

And some fans blamed it on the big crash.

NOT Matt DiBenedetto

@NotMattyDYT

LINK

The big one basically ended anyone's chances

Shar

@Shar8812fan

LINK

We knew that the second "The Big One" hit lol

Despite the criticism, the result is a Round 2 field filled with underdogs, and enough parity to keep the In-Season Challenge wide open. As the tournament shifts to the streets of Chicago, only 16 drivers remain.

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Chicago street race looms next as the remaining drivers chase NASCAR's million-dollar prize

Shane Van Gisbergen (91) leads the field into turn eleven on the final lap of NASCAR's Grant Park 220. Source: Imagn

With Atlanta's bracket carnage behind us, attention now turns to Round 2 of NASCAR's In-Season Challenge. Four races remain in the competition: Chicago (July 6), Sonoma (July 14), Dover (July 20), and the grand finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (July 27), where the two finalists will face off for $1 million.

With multiple major players now out of the challenge, the bracket has thrown up some interesting matchups in Round 2 for Sunday's Chicago Street Course. Chris Buescher is the highest seed (3) remaining, and his road course proficiency gives him the edge over Zane Smith (No. 14 seed).

Ty Dillon (No. 32 seed) will face Brad Keselowski (No. 17 seed), who missed out on a win at Atlanta by a whisker. Meanwhile, Hendrick Motorsports drivers Alex Bowman (No. 8 seed) and Chase Elliott (No. 5 seed) enter the second round as favourites. But perhaps the most exciting matchup is Carson Hocevar (No. 26 seed) vs. Tyler Reddick (No. 23 seed). Reddick has three road-course wins in Cup, and Hocevar enters this round with serious momentum.

The NASCAR Cup Series now returns to Grant Park for the third annual Grant Park 165, where 41 cars will attempt to qualify for 40 spots. The Chicago Street Race, set for Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on TNT Sports and truTV, will decide who advances to the Challenge’s quarterfinals—and whose million-dollar dream ends on the city streets.