“The whole thing is only for enjoyment and entertainment. I kind of like the fact that…the races are that unpredictable.” Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s words about NASCAR’s in-season tournament could not be more true. We saw the tremendous upset that last week’s superspeedway racing offered – everybody’s brackets were destroyed as top contenders were engulfed in Atlanta’s chaos. Hope clung to the few high-flyers – yet even they fell in Chicago.

The Grant Park 165 race witnessed Shane van Gisbergen fetch a fascinating victory. But while the Kiwi speedster stamped his second win of the season, his opponents floundered in the background for a million dollars. Most of the popular names crashed out, with underdogs triumphing yet again. Here’s how the In-Season Challenge shapes up as we head to Sonoma.

An uncanny series of events in NASCAR’s experiment

Well, EchoPark Speedway set off that unexpected series of events. Piles of smoke emanated from the race with multiple wrecks, including one 23-car pile-up. Prominent contenders were knocked out due to the chaotic event. But what made people’s jaws drop was who beat whom for the in-season tournament. For instance, the likes of William Byron, Kyle Larson, and Denny Hamlin were taken down by Ty Dillon, Ryan Preece, and Zane Smith!

The same trend continued into Chicago. Barely 4 laps into the road course event, Carson Hocevar spun off a huge wreck. That engulfed Hocevar and Brad Keselowski among others, allowing Tyler Reddick and Ty Dillon to advance. Dillon continued his underdog streak since Atlanta, where he toppled Denny Hamlin, and now took down Brad Keselowski, and he did it with a nice message for Brad on X.

These were only two examples of the further upsets that happened in Chicago. NASCAR journalist Jeff Gluck shed light on the rest: “A look at Round 3 of the #NASCAR In-Season Challenge at Sonoma, which has none of this season’s race winners remaining and only two of the top 10 seeds left. No. 8 Alex Bowman vs. No. 32 Ty Dillon. No. 12 John Hunter Nemechek vs. No. 20 Erik Jones (all-Legacy battle). No. 15 Ryan Preece vs. No. 23 Tyler Reddick. No. 6 Ty Gibbs vs. No. 14 Zane Smith”

Ty Gibbs ran up front and had one of his better races of the season. He finished second to SVG and beat out noted road-course ace AJ Allmendinger (who finished sixth). Then Zane Smith came home 14th and knocked out 18th-place Chris Buescher, who ran most of the race with an engine down on power. The most intriguing match-up that is going to appear in Sonoma is probably between John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones, Legacy Motor Club teammates. Nemechek finished 15th and just ahead of Chase Elliott in 16th to advance, while Jones’ 25th-place result was good enough to beat Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

What is more? Both of the LMC drivers are on a phenomenal rise this season. The stats readily prove their improvement.

Paving the path to success

Just a year ago, NASCAR fans had no hope for Jimmie Johnson’s race team. After switching from Chevrolet to Toyota, Legacy Motor Club went through the ‘baptism of fire’ in 2024. DNFs reigned in their fate, and top tens were far out of sight. Erik Jones finished the season 28th, while John Hunter Nemechek finished 32nd. Yet lo and behold, both of them are stunning people in 2025!

Currently, LMC is the second-best-performing Toyota team after Joe Gibbs Racing, despite having no alliance with them. Nemechek has clinched 6 top tens and 1 top five, while Jones sits pretty with 3 top tens and 2 top fives. In Chicago, Nemechek dodged the fiery wrecks and climbed from 25th to 15th place, while Jones washed up in 25th place. Nevertheless, the stats show that they are on the path to progress.

LMC went through a disastrous season and crew overhauls in 2024. Brian Campe became the new competition director, and Erik Jones underwent a crew chief change. But John Hunter Nemechek said recently that it was all worth it. “I think that last year was a very big building year. I think there were a lot of things that we didn’t do great as a team last year at Legacy. I think the personnel changes, the hires, the people that are now running competition, that are running the tech side, shop guys, everyone has bought in.”

LMC’s drivers are only some of the trendsetters in the In-Season Tournament. Let us wait and see who grabs the much-coveted $1 Million in the end. Who do you think is the favorite now? Let us know in the comments!