While Sunday’s (June 8) FireKeepers Casino 400 is simply the 15th race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, it’s also the first of three seeding races for NASCAR’s new In-Season Challenge.
The In-Season Challenge itself will take place from the June 28 race at EchoPark Speedway to the July 27 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but the next three races at Michigan International Speedway, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and Pocono Raceway set the bracket.
Thirty-two of the 36 full-time drivers qualified for the In-Season Challenge and will be seeded over the next three weeks. The four drivers that failed to qualify were Shane van Gisbergen, Cody Ware, Cole Custer and Riley Herbst.
As far as seeding the 32 eligible drivers goes, the drivers will be seeded by their best finish in each of the three respective seeding races. Should two drivers end up with the same finishing positions over the next three races, the points standings would be used as a tiebreaker following the June 22 race at Pocono Raceway.
For example, a driver that finishes first, fourth and 11th over the next three races would have a higher seed for the In-Season Challenge than a driver that finished 12th, 22nd and 10th.
Should a pair of drivers both finish the three-race stretch with finishes of 17th, 19th and ninth, for example, the driver higher in the points standings would be granted the higher seed for the In-Season Challenge.
The bracket will then be used for the In-Season Challenge, with the higher finishing driver of each respective matchup moving on. The field will be chopped in half after each race of the Challenge. Sixteen drivers will move on after the opening race at Atlanta. After the Chicago Street Race, eight will move on to Sonoma Raceway. Four will move on to Dover Motor Speedway, and the two remaining drivers will battle for the $1 million prize at the Brickyard 400 on July 27.
NASCAR’s Guide to In-Season Challenge Seeding
The FireKeepers Casino 400 is scheduled for Sunday (June 8) at 2 p.m. ET, with coverage on Prime Video, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.