Ty Dillon regrets lost shot of giving Ty Gibbs 'a run for it' after In-Season Challenge defeat at Brickyard 400

Ty Dillon reflected on a 'disappointing' end to his In-Season Challenge matchup with Ty Gibbs at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Kaulig Racing driver argued that 'if all things are equal,' he would have 'put some pressure' on his JGR rival.

Compared to Gibbs' fifth-place start, Dillon began on the backfoot at 26th, but his day worsened after a lap 56 restart when the field bunched up behind Josh Berry. The stack-up saw multiple drivers suffer nose-to-tail damage, with Dillon being one among them.

He struggled to bounce back and ultimately finished a dismal 26th, while Gibbs fared only slightly better with a 21st-place finish. During a post-race interview with NBC Sports, Dillon shared his take on the matchup and said,

"Disappointing obviously, but things like that happen and you can’t predict everything. That has been what has been so cool about this In-Season Challenge for everybody. I just hate that we didn’t get to give them a run for it there."

"I don’t think they would say as a team that they had the best day either. I think if all things are equal and we don’t knock the nose off on that restart, we are probably sitting in a pretty good position to put some pressure on him and race him out pretty solid," he added.

Ty Dillon entered the In-Season Challenge as the bottom-most seed and managed to knock out Denny Hamlin in the opening round at Echopark Speedway. Although Hamlin's exit was of his own doing, Dillon's story drew attention as he prevailed over every one of his matchups since.

With Ty Gibbs winning NASCAR's inaugural bracket-style tournament, he takes home a $1 million payout, $10,000 of which he has vowed to donate to a charity of Dillon's choosing.

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Ty Dillon hopes to 'stay in the spotlight' after Indianapolis

Ahead of the Champions round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Ty Dillon shared his thoughts on what lies ahead after the In-Season Challenge. Regardless of the outcome, the 33-year-old hoped to return to winning ways.

"I know this is an awesome moment in time for myself, my family, and Kaulig Racing, but in a few weeks, life’s going to move on, and hopefully we continue to get better, and we win races and continue to stay in the spotlight," he said in a statement.

Ty Dillon is completely out of playoff contention, being 213 points below the cutline. His only way into the postseason is through a race win. Sunday's race (July 27) dropped him two spots on the driver's standings to place 32nd. With just a single top-10 across 22 starts, Dillon's prospects look bleak.

Next up, he heads to Iowa Speedway for the Iowa Corn 350. Notably, the 350-lap event marks his debut at the 0.875-mile short track.