What many thought was impossible is now reality as Ty Dillon has advanced all the way into the finals for the $1 million in-season bracket challenge. In the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he will face another 'Ty' for the big prize as Ty Gibbs also advanced.
Dillon, who entered the five-week challenge as the bottom seed in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, has since defeated Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, and now John Hunter Nemechek. He ran around Nemechek all day at Dover, passing him on a late-race restart just before a caution that granted him the free pass. At that point, he was out of reach of Nemechek, clearing the path for him to make it all the way to the finals.
"I was like, come on boys, just make it the white (flag)," Dillon told NASCAR on TNT. "It was quite the battle all day ... All respect to John Hunter, he and I ran within a spot of each other all day. It was a grind of a race for both of us, and we just had a good restart there on the #47 [Ricky Stenhouse Jr.], took it three-wide and and then chaos kind of ensued. We were able to get that wave-around, which kind of locked us into a good spot.
"Just grateful to have this opportunity. The ride has been so fun. It's one of the biggest things I've done in my career. Just having fun with Kaulig Racing."
Gibbs, who pilots the the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He had to get through Justin Haley, A.J. Allmendinger, Zane Smith, and Tyler Reddick to get to this point. He was on the same strategy as Reddick at the end, as both drivers chose to pit for fresh right-side tires, but Gibbs was able to pass him on merit in the closing laps.
Neither Dillon or Gibbs have ever won a Cup race before, but both now have a chance at winning $1 million Usd. next week. In last year's Brickyard 400, Dillon finished 19th, while Gibbs finished 23rd.
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