NASCAR In-Season Tournament updated bracket: Round of 16 locked in after Atlanta

The first round of the NASCAR In-Season Tournament has come and gone with all kinds of bracket busters in Atlanta. There is no way there is a perfect bracket left after last night’s chaotic event.

A 23-car wreck completely turned the NASCAR bracket challenge on its head. It means that there are a lot of underdogs still left in the tournament. That could make one of these drivers $1,000,000 richer in a few weeks.

Ty Dillon had the biggest upset, taking down Denny Hamlin. Noah Gragson advanced over Chase Briscoe. What I like seeing is the fact that Carson Hocevar and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are both in the tournament. We need them to meet up in the championship round, imagine the fireworks.

NASCAR In-Season Tournament Bracket:

• 32-seed Ty Dillon vs. 17-seed Brad Keselowski
• 31-seed Noah Gragson vs. 15-seed Ryan Preece
• 8-seed Alex Bowman vs. 9-seed Bubba Wallace
• 26-seed Carson Hocevar vs. 23-seed Tyler Reddick
• 12-seed John Hunter Nemechek vs. 5-seed Chase Elliott
• 22-seed AJ Allmendinger vs. 6-seed Ty Gibbs
• 20-seed Erik Jones vs. 29-seed Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
• 14-seed Zane Smith vs. 3-seed Chris Buescher

Chris Buescher is the top seed left in the NASCAR bracket challenge. The biggest gap between drivers is the 22-seed of Allmendinger taking on the 6-seed of Gibbs. Even with his struggles of a night in Atlanta, Bubba Wallace remains alive. Wallace and Alex Bowman are the closest two seeds in the Round of 16.

The fact that the next two weeks are the Chicago Street Course and Sonoma means anything can happen here. With that said, I have to think Chase Elliott or Ty Gibbs has a great chance to advance. You could also argue that this benefits Buescher the most in the next two weeks.

NASCAR bracket challenge heads to Chicago

Four more races left in the NASCAR In-Season Tournament, and plenty more bracket busters to come. Chicago adds another wrinkle to this whole thing. There is another chance of rain next weekend as it stands right now. Each of the last two years, it has rained, and wet-weather tires have been used.

A lot of the strong road course racers were knocked out in the first round. William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Daniel Suárez, and Michael McDowell were all knocked out in the Atlanta round.

So, 16 drivers knocked out, 16 drivers left to go. When the race at Chicago is over, it will be three more races to determine the NASCAR bracket winner. $1,000,000 is on the line among the remaining drivers.