Outside of the very intense NASCAR battle to make the Chase, there is another competition to keep an eye on this summer, and this one has no actual impact on the championship … but it does award a $1 million prize to the winner and any fortunate fans with a perfect bracket.<\/p>\n
The In-Season Challenge got underway at Sonoma Raceway for Round 1 of 5 as part of TNT’s summer stretch of Cup races, and the No. 1 seeded Tyler Reddick<\/a> is already eliminated.<\/p>\n However, Reddick was just one of three unfortunate drivers who failed to advance against lower-seeded opponents.<\/p>\n No. 32 seed Alex Bowman<\/a> was the lowest-ranked driver in the entire competition, and yet, he dethroned Reddick with a tenth-place finish. A power steering issue saw Reddick finish 36th (last) at Sonoma.<\/p>\n No. 25 seed Todd Gilliland<\/a> was another underdog advancement, besting No. 8 seed Daniel Suarez<\/a>. This was a bit closer, as Gilliland finished 29th at Sonoma, and Suarez was 31st.<\/p>\n Finally, No. 20 seed Michael McDowell<\/a> eliminated No. 13 seed Bubba Wallace<\/a>. McDowell finished ninth, while Wallace faced multiple setbacks during the race weekend, and finished 22nd.<\/p>\n