By David Morgan, Associate Editor
HAMPTON, Ga. – As the NASCAR Cup Series regular season enters its final stretch with nine races remaining until the field for the Playoffs is set, another battle is shaping up with NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge kicking off Saturday night at EchoPark Speedway.
Featuring 32 of the top drivers in NASCAR’s premier division, all seeded in head-to-head matchups, the bracket will be whittled down over the next five weeks with a $1 million prize waiting for the winner when the checkered flag drops at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27.
While some drivers are taking a laissez faire attitude into the tournament, others are wholly invested into the week-to-week matchups and the fun that comes with it.
Among those taking the latter approach is Chase Briscoe, who won his first race of the season last weekend at Pocono Raceway to enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed and will be in a matchup with No. 31 seed Noah Gragson.
“It definitely is going to be a unique complexion to the race,” said Briscoe. “I’ve never really been where it is head-to-head with one other guy. In the Playoffs, you are racing only really against 15 or 11 or 7 or 3 other guys, but never head-to-head.
“It will kind of be unique – if you are running 14th and they are running 16th – like that battle is going to be really intense in the mix of the battle of the race itself. It will be kind of hard, having that play out on a superspeedway – just because here, we can really be all right on top of each other, right? You could almost have a battle for the win for 15th with the guy. It is going to be a unique layer to the race. Maybe it could cause chaos at the end.
“I don’t know how desperate people will be in the first round, but if you get knocked out the first round, you can’t move on. I think it will add a very unique element to the race, and I’m looking forward to it. It should be a lot of fun.”
Briscoe added that he’s started to game plan this weekend’s matchup with Gragson, but has also looked ahead further down the line in the tournament to what his future matchups could be if he is able to beat Gragson and advance to the next round.
“I’ve looked – not only at the matchup with Noah (Gragson) – but kind of who I will go up against every round. The team, I don’t think, truthfully, really cares. They are more worried about winning the race, and obviously, if you win the race, you are going to move on anyways.
“…Noah and I trash talked each other for a little bit this week, so it will be fun to kind of have that competition, and certainly, out of all of the tracks, I would say, in this matchup deal, I’m by far the most nervous about this one – especially going up against Noah. This is a place where you can come and run really, really well, so it will be a tough challenge for sure.”
Briscoe continued, explaining that his personal relationship with Gragson off-track adds another layer to their matchup, noting that his son is a big fan of Gragson.
“It will be fun going against Noah (Gragson),” Briscoe said. “He’s probably my best buddy on my entire circuit. We play golf a lot, and he’s actually my son’s favorite driver (laughter), so the pressure is on this weekend.
“Noah (Gragson) is like that uncle that you take your kid too that has Pop-Tarts, ice cream – everything else when he’s with him – every candy that you try not to give your kid. So, yeah, Brooks definitely loves Noah for that reason. Every time he’s around him, he’s getting sugared up like nobody’s business. Brooks definitely likes Noah, and it will be fun to go up against him and all of the trash talk leading into it. It will be a lot of fun.”
Strategy Play
Denny Hamlin, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, explained that while some teams aren’t going to change their strategy specifically to win their matchup in the tournament, he is taking the opposite approach and will be employing his team to make certain strategy plays, especially on the road courses ahead at Chicago and Sonoma the next two weeks following Atlanta.
“If I can make it through this round, make it to a road course, I’m going to want our strategy to revolve around beating whoever I’m up against,” said Hamlin. “Where typically, we are going to get a couple road course stage points and we’re trying to survive the rest of the day and get a decent finish.
“I think I’m going to do whatever I can to beat the other person. Everyone’s motivation is a little bit different there, but I would think the interest would somewhat align, again I think it becomes tougher if you are a bubble team, because you have to chase points, and maybe not chase one person, but I’m in a different position where I’m locked in, we have points – likely not going to win the road courses anyway, so flip it and get the best finishes that we can.”
Stenhouse’s Spy
Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. comes into the tournament as the No. 29 seed, matched up with Christopher Bell for Saturday night’s race.
Stenhouse, always a threat on the superspeedways, will likely be in the mix in his No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet, but joked that he has another ace up his sleeve for this weekend.
Tab Boyd, who served as Stenhouse’s spotter through the race weekend in Mexico City, was announced as the new spotter for Bell at Joe Gibbs Racing starting this weekend.
“Well, I kind of implanted a spy with, his spotter. Bell doesn’t know that, but he’s gonna sabotage him for me,” Stenhouse said with a laugh.
“No, I’m just kidding. I don’t know. You know, I think Bell and I were battling in the top five there for the win. he got the win, obviously in the first race at Atlanta. But I feel like we had a better car and always feel like we have one of the best cars handling wise here in Atlanta, especially on the long run. So, I like our chances.”
Well aware of Stenhouse’s superspeedway prowess, Bell explained it will be a tough matchup between the two drivers on Saturday night to avoid an upset.
“I would love to be paired up with Ricky anywhere except for here,” Bell said. “But yeah, the in-season tournament deal, I think it’s a great addition to our schedule and yeah, Ricky’s gonna be tough this week for sure. So, gonna have to make sure that we perform well and run well to to outduel him.”
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