Stubbs: NASCAR Madness keeps the subplots churning
The five-week, 32-driver, bracket-style challenge features a grand prize of $1 million, but why should fans bother to pay attention to yet another storyline in a sport full of them?
Perhaps it is not the shameless gimmick that it seems to be at first glance.
The idea of having an in-season tournament is not exclusive to NASCAR. The NBA introduced one in 2023 as a way to spice up the first half of the schedule. That's exactly what NASCAR is attempting to do with its In-Season Challenge.
Despite several bold scheduling initiatives, including the addition of the Chicago Street Race, a return to Nashville Superspeedway and the return of the Brickyard 400, NASCAR's summer stretch has seemed relatively stale compared to the rest of the season for years.
Fans annually endure one of the longest seasons in professional sports, and races in the dog days of summer generally don't generate the same hype that races over the first and final quarters of the season do.
NASCAR's In-Season Challenge is an attempt to remedy that stale feeling and get fans excited well in advance of the postseason.
The five-race tournament begins Saturday, where half of the 32-driver field will be eliminated. Those 32 drivers were seeded based on their best finish over the last three races: Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono.
Following the Chicago Street Race on July 6, the field will be chopped to eight. Following Sonoma on July 13, the field will be whittled down to four before the July 20 race at Dover decides the final two drivers left standing.
From there, the winner of the tournament is decided in a crown jewel event, as the Brickyard 400 on July 27 crowns the champion of the inaugural In-Season Challenge.
So scoff at the creation if you must, but on the surface, the In-Season Challenge is a harmless storyline that has the potential to liven up the summer. If anything, it will place a spotlight on fights for position that otherwise would have seemed pointless.
A battle for 27th place may be the battle to advance to the next round. If the race leader is running away with the win at Indianapolis, a spirited tussle for 14th could determine who gets an extra $1 million.
Advancing in the tournament carries with it the knowledge that you beat another competitor head-to-head in a pressure-packed situation, regardless of the circumstances.
Bragging rights and a big check may be on the line for competitors, but fans will get to see different strategies and calls be made as teams attempt to do whatever they can to advance. Without the In-Season Challenge, certain strategies or decisions may not seem noteworthy. But during the In-Season Challenge, they could be the difference between $1 million and the wrong kind of blank check.
Saturday's race at Atlanta is pretty much guaranteed to feature soap opera levels of drama with or without the In-Season Challenge. But pitting 32 drivers against each other in head-to-head matchups, in a race where working together is the key to winning, makes the fourth superspeedway race of 2025 appointment viewing.
Fans also have the opportunity to win their own $1 million if they can fill out a perfect bracket. It adds a March Madness wrinkle to the viewing experience.
Throw in a street course, a road course, a unique one-mile oval in Dover and a crown jewel race at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and a chaotic slice of the schedule is ready to offer even more twists and turns.
The In-Season Challenge won't be the sole focus of teams as they try to win races and position themselves to make the Cup Series playoffs. But it's a chance for NASCAR's summer stretch to cut through the noise of a busy entertainment world and give fans a reason to be on the edge of their seats for every lap of the next five races.
With a million bucks on the line, you can bet the drivers will be on the edge of their seats, too.
--Samuel Stubbs, Field Level Media
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