Briscoe’s Chicagoland win reshapes NASCAR Challenge bracket

Chase Briscoe’s victory at Chicagoland Speedway reshaped the NASCAR In-Season Challenge bracket and set up the quarterfinals in Atlanta, where eight drivers remained alive for the $1 million prize. The third round is set for EchoPark Speedway, also called Atlanta Motor Speedway, during Sunday night’s Quaker State 400, with matchups of Alex Bowman against Todd Gilliland, Briscoe against Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin against Christopher Bell and William Byron against Ryan Blaney.

Briscoe won the eero 400 by using an undercut strategy on the final pit cycle to edge Christopher Bell for his first NASCAR Cup Series win of 2026. The result made him the series’ 11th different winner of the season and moved him to eighth in the standings with 538 points. Hamlin remained first in the standings with 764 points, while Tyler Reddick sat second with 720.

The bracket also saw defending champion Ty Gibbs eliminated in the second round at Chicagoland, when Briscoe beat him in their matchup. Kyle Larson was knocked out after a mid-race spin left him behind William Byron, and Carson Hocevar fell to Todd Gilliland in one of the round’s upsets. Bowman advanced as the No. 32 seed after beating Austin Cindric, and one preview of the next round picked Bowman over Gilliland, Briscoe over Elliott, Hamlin over Bell and Blaney over Byron, with the Blaney-Byron matchup carrying Chase seeding implications. The challenge champion is scheduled to be decided July 26 in Indianapolis.