By David Morgan, Associate Editor
SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Two drivers, one race, $1 million prize on the line.
The inaugural NASCAR In-Season Challenge has reached its finale after a five-week stretch, with Ty Dillon and Ty Gibbs making it through the gauntlet as the two drivers set to face off in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the ultimate prize when the checkered flag falls.
Dillon comes into Sunday’s race as the definite underdog, having started the tournament as the No. 32 seed, but in true Cinderella story fashion has repeatedly bucked the odds and beat each driver he has been matched up against in his storied run thus far.
First it was Denny Hamlin at Atlanta, then Brad Keselowski in Chicago, Alex Bowman at Sonoma, and John Hunter Nemechek last week at Dover. Now it comes down to a battle between himself and Gibbs to see who walks away with the big check at the end of the day.
Dillon noted on Saturday that while the prize money would be nice for himself and the team at Kaulig Racing, the unity that this tournament has brought to the team over the course of the last five weeks has been the bigger picture for the No. 10 team.
And he has been around the block long enough to know that moments like these don’t always come around and he’s learned to cherish them when they do.
“For me, it’s bigger than the money. Money doesn’t change your happiness, it just makes you available to do some more fun things,” said Dillon.
“But my true happiness resides and just having fun with my kids, sharing moments with them, but also sharing moments with the race team and the moments that we’ve been provided through this in-season tournament has been bigger than anything I’ve been a part of. And the smiles and the hugs after the race and the good times that are rolling.
“This sport can pass you by and you can realize you never had fun because you were so worried sick about your next opportunity or the next race or being the best and you can look back and not remember anything.
“And I’ve been lucky enough to stick around where there’s been years that you look back and you’re like, I don’t remember one highlight from that year because I was so in my own head and so worried about everything going on.
“I guess growing older, being around a lot longer, I feel like coming into this thing I’ve already won and we’re on house money just because the moments and memories that we shared, the growth that we’ve had as a team, the confidence that we’re all building in each other and the future that’s right in front of us.
“The money will be great. The trophy would be awesome to show around and have some more one-liners for everybody if we do this thing first. But the things that it’s already provided for our race team, for our sponsors, have been enough and hopefully this is just the beginning of it.”
Turning toward the matchup with Gibbs himself, Dillon explained that the team has not specifically focused on the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the preparation leading up to Sunday, instead doing their best to be as prepared as they can and let the performance on track do their talking for them.
Gibbs will have the upper hand when the green flag drops, qualifying fifth for the 160-lap race (2:00 pm ET on TNT), with Dillon having some work to do from 26th place.
While Gibbs may have the outright speed, but the underdog mentality of Dillon and the team at Kaulig is not to be underestimated.
“The conversation about him has been very minimal for us and that’s been the process week and week out for us,” said Dillon. “It’s been about, we truly believe as a race team and that’s why we’ve built so much confidence if we execute our race and do the best to our abilities, no mistakes 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 them and as they say about pressure, it creates diamonds, it’ll crack your pipes. So that’s what we want to do to him is 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 be there at the end to take advantage of it.”
But what if it comes down to the closing stages of the race and he and Gibbs are in a neck and neck battle to see who brings home the better finish, how far is he willing to go?
Dillon had a simple answer.
“Ask Alex Bowman,” Dillon quipped regarding his bump and run on the Hendrick Motorsports driver at Sonoma in the third round of the tournament, eliciting laughter from the room.
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