{"id":11533,"date":"2025-07-15T11:41:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T11:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/11533\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T11:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T11:41:09","slug":"cup-series-winner-in-season-challenge-final-4-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/11533\/","title":{"rendered":"Cup Series Winner, In-Season Challenge Final 4 Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NASCAR schedule<\/a> this weekend takes us to Dover Motor Speedway, delivering the Round of 4 in the NASCAR In-Season Challenge and a pivotal points race as the regular season winds down. With the Cup Series headed back to an oval course, a sense of normalcy should return to the track this weekend.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dive into our NASCAR predictions for Sunday\u2019s Cup Series race at Dover Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n

Challenge Round of 4: Ty Dillon over John Hunter Nemechek<\/p>\n

\"NASCARCredit: Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Ty Dillon feels inevitable at this point. No one expected the lowest-seeded driver to make it out of Round 1, but a wreck took out Denny Hamlin. In Round 2, a crash at the Chicago Street Race took out Brad Keselowski and allowed Dillon to automatically advance. Then at Sonoma, Dillon bumped Alex Bowman to slip past his competitor to punch his ticket to the Round of 4. We\u2019re not betting against fate at this point. John Hunter Nemechek hasn\u2019t been particularly great at Dover anyway, so both the numbers and destiny suggest that Dillon\u2019s cinderella story continues.<\/p>\n

Related: NASCAR entry list for Dover Motor Speedway<\/a><\/p>\n

Challenge Round of 4: Ty GIbbs takes out Tyler Reddick<\/p>\n

\"NASCARCredit: Matthew O\u2019Haren-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

This is\u00a0much more the\u00a0caliber of matchup\u00a0people expected\u00a0when the NASCAR\u00a0In-Season Challenge\u00a0seedings were\u00a0revealed. Tyler\u00a0Reddick and Ty\u00a0Gibbs have both\u00a0earned their\u00a0way here, and\u00a0they aren\u2019t just\u00a0battling for\u00a0the $1 million\u00a0prize\u2014there is\u00a0also a playoff\u00a0spot up for grabs. Gibbs is coming\u00a0off consecutive\u00a0top-10 finishes\u00a0and has posted\u00a0the second-best average\u00a0finishing position\u00a0(8.5<\/a>) over the last six races. Notably, Gibbs also boasts a better average finishing position than Reddick (11.5 to 14.5) in the Cup Series at Dover Motor Speedway. Both drivers will finish inside the top 16, but Gibbs (13th) edges out Reddick (15th) to advance.<\/p>\n

Read More: Winners, Losers from Cup Series race at Sonoma<\/a><\/p>\n

Ross Chastain wins a stage<\/p>\n

\"NASCARCredit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Ross Chastain didn\u2019t have the car to win at Sonoma Raceway, so his team played for the Stage 1 win and got a playoff point out of it. While he\u2019ll be more of a factor in the finish on Sunday at Dover, the No. 1 car will still fall well short of reaching victory lane. However, Chastain will deliver his second consecutive week with a stage win, giving him 10 stage points and the all-important playoff point.<\/p>\n

Related:\u00a0NASCAR predictions for final regular-season races, including Dover<\/a><\/p>\n

Shane van Gisbergen finishes outside the top 25<\/p>\n

\"NASCARCredit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

It now feels like there is a portion of NASCAR fans who are waiting for Shane van Gisbergen to fail on ovals. That\u2019s what winning three races in the last five weeks and blowing away the competition on road courses will do to the fan bases of your competitors. SVG has made real strides on ovals this season, more consistently working into the top 20 late in races. However, this is his first trip to Dover Motor Speedway in the Cup Series, and that will come with its own adjustments. He\u2019ll finish outside the top 25, which will be only the second time that\u2019s happened since Talladega.<\/p>\n

Related: Insane Shane van Gisbergen stats from his road course dominance<\/a><\/p>\n

Kyle Larson rebounds from a tough stretch with a top-5 finish<\/p>\n

\"NASCARCredit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a pretty rough summer for Kyle Larson, at least by his standards, and he hasn\u2019t seemed quite right since his attempt at \u201cThe Double\u201d ended in a pair of wrecks. The turnaround is coming on Sunday. Larson is going to turn an outstanding starting position into a stage win, which he will then carry over into his first top-five finish since Michigan. When all is said and done, Larson will walk away with the highest points total from Sunday\u2019s race at Dover.<\/p>\n

Related: NASCAR standings 2025, NASCAR playoff standings<\/a><\/p>\n

Kyle Busch snags a top-10 finish, delivers strong points day<\/p>\n

\"NASCARCredit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The winless streak for Kyle Busch is closing in on 80 starts. Unfortunately for the No. 8 team, we don\u2019t see him snapping it on Sunday. While that means he\u2019ll still be battling for a playoff spot based on points, Sunday\u2019s EchoPark Automotive 400 will get him a little closer. Coming off consecutive top-10 finishes with 76 total points, Busch will make it three consecutive weeks and add 30-plus points to his total, narrowing the gap between him and Bubba Wallace.<\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin wins again at Dover Motor Speedway<\/p>\n

\"NASCARCredit: Matthew O\u2019Haren-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

There might not be a driver happier to be headed to Dover than Denny Hamlin. He won the W\u00fcrth 400 last year, marking his second top-five finish in three races at the track in the Next Gen era. The No. 11 car has also been performing exceptionally well in qualifying on ovals lately, delivering three consecutive top-three starting positions from Nashville through Pocono. Hamlin has always said that a great qualifying effort is usually a strong sign that he has a higher-than-average shot at winning. He\u2019ll be near the top of the starting grid on Sunday, turning it into his fourth win of the season.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\tNFL, MLB & college football writer for Sportsnaut. Graduated from San Diego State University with BA in Journalism, 2019. … More about Matt Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NASCAR schedule this weekend takes us to Dover Motor Speedway, delivering the Round of 4 in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[425,99],"class_list":["post-11533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}