For the first time in 30 years, North Wilkesboro Speedway is hosting a NASCAR Cup Series points race, so it’s only fitting that it also be the site of the In-Season Challenge’s top four survivors.
The top two seeds—Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin—have been eliminated. Reddick, the top seed, was eliminated from the tournament in its first race at Sonoma. Hamlin was sidelined last week at EchoPark Speedway, the same track that eliminated him from the head-to-head competition in 2025.
Alex Bowman, who was the last seed, also fell victim at EchoPark Speedway, which means the lowest seed remaining is Todd Gilliland, who’s in his fifth full-time season in the Cup Series. The 26-year-old Gilliland joins Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, and Christopher Bell to make the average age of the four remaining drivers in the tournament 29.7. Gilliland had not yet been born when the historic speedway closed after its second Cup Series race in 1996, and the other three were no more than 24 months in age.
This week’s drivers possess short-track backgrounds that could prove beneficial on the unique 0.625-mile North Wilkesboro speedway whose front stretch goes downhill and backstretch travels uphill.
Gilliland had not yet been born when the historic speedway closed after its second Cup Series race in 1996
Gilliland, Elliott and Blaney raced Legends Cars as youngsters before transitioning to Late Models. Blaney won the 2010 Champion Racing Association Southern Six-Pack Championship and the 2011 PASS South Super Late Model title. Elliott was the 2009 Georgia Asphalt Pro Late Model Series champion and the 2011 CRA National Super Late Model title holder. He’s also won the Snowball Derby twice, 2011 and 2015.
Gilliland never chased a Late Model title; however, he did claim back-to-back NASCAR K&N Pro Series West championships in 2016 and 2017.
Bell’s background is in dirt racing where he won numerous national Midget championships as well as the prestigious Chili Bowl Nationals. All three manufacturers are represented this weekend with Chevrolet and Toyota having one entry each, while Ford has two.
Now, let’s look at this weekend’s matchups.
Todd Gilliland vs. Chase Elliott
Elliott is my pick in this week’s head-to-head matchup. At age 14, the Georgia native won a Super Late Model Pro All Stars Series race at North Wilkesboro and he’s returning to his Late Model roots this weekend. Elliott is competing in the zMAX CARS Tour Late Model event as well as the NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Cup series races. His extensive track time will pay off in the Cup event.
Chistopher Bell vs. Ryan Blaney
This is a tough one. Bell won last year’s All-Star race at North Wilkesboro, and he’s competing in NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series race the day before the Cup event this season. He currently has two consecutive runner-up finishes and collected his fifth this season last weekend at EchoPark Speedway. At the Atlanta track, he wore a cast on his broken left wrist only on race day. He hopes he can race without his cast at North Wilkesboro.
Blaney is on a roll with eight consecutive top-10 finishes. He has nine top 10s out of the last 10 events. He also is responsible for Ford’s last six victories. Even though Toyota is outperforming the other two manufacturers this season, I have to go with Blaney in this matchup.
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.