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SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Neither Ty Gibbs nor Ty Dillon was favored to win the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge, but the two drivers have overcome long odds to reach the Championship Round of the $1-million-to win bracket competition.
Sunday’s Brickyard 400 presented by PPG will settle the matter, with the higher finisher claiming the title and the seven-figure bonus.
On paper and in the eyes of oddsmakers, sixth-seeded Gibbs is the favorite to take home the top prize, but Dillon, the 32nd seed in a 32-driver field, has advanced through four rounds as an underdog and hopes to continue the unlikely streak.
Surprisingly, there hasn’t been any bluster or bravado on the part of either driver. The posture is business-as-usual.
“The conversation about him (Gibbs) has been very minimal for us, and that’s been the process week-in, week-out,” Dillon said. “We truly believe as a race team; that’s why we’ve built so much confidence. If we execute our race and do the best of our abilities—no mistakes and out-execute everybody in the field—we might not have the most speed to win the race, but we’re going to do plenty to put pressure on him.
“And you know what they say about pressure: it creates diamonds or it’ll crack your pipes. So you know, that’s what we want to do to him. We want to put as much pressure on him as possible and see how they handle it. It’s worked out to this point. We’re going to worry about our race. Hopefully, he massively underestimates us, and hopefully we’ll be there at the end to take advantage of it.”
In the tale of the tape, Gibbs has posted four top-five finishes and six top 10s this season. Dillon has no top fives and scored his only top 10 of the season when he ran eighth at Atlanta Motor Speedway and eliminated top-seeded Denny Hamlin in the first round of the tournament.
However, the only victory in Dillon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series career came on the Indy oval in 2014. Gibbs won on the Indianapolis Grand Prix Course in 2023, so both drivers have kissed the bricks at the start/finish line.
Dillon ran a limited Cup Series schedule in 2024 and finished 19th in the Gen 7 race car’s first competition on the 2.5-mile Indy oval. Gibbs qualified sixth and finished 23rd in what became a fuel-mileage race.
Gibbs won’t alter his approach to win the Challenge. He’s far more focused on trying to win a Cup race for the first time.
“I’m treating this race like any other race, no matter what’s on the line,” he said. “If I win this race, going up in the point standings is worth more than a million dollars, so I’m not here for the money.
“I’m here for the race wins, and that’s why I’m not just racing the 10 (Dillon) this weekend. I’m racing (38) other people out there. It is super cool to be in this position. I’m just taking it as it is but trying to go and win. Nothing is going to change that. I’m going for it.”
