Who Will Win the Head-To-Head Matchups of This Week’s In-Season Challenge?
The first matchup that needs discussing for this week is Ty Dillon vs. Alex Bowman. Dillon has played the role of the Cinderella team thus far, knocking out Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski in short order. But luck tends to run out for most Cinderellas eventually, and it’s a fairly safe bet that it does this week at Sonoma Raceway, advancing Bowman to the final four.
Legacy teammates John Hunter Nemechek and Erik Jones square off on the same side of the bracket, in what I can only imagine will be Jones’ ticket to the next round. He finished 19th at Sonoma last year, while Nemechek came home 10 spots behind him.
Ryan Preece has his work cut out for him facing off against Tyler Reddick, who finished inside the top 10 at this track just last season. Reddick has the advantage in this matchup at just about any road course, but especially one where he’s seen success. Additionally, the Fords just haven’t been as fast at turning right this season as the Toyotas; advantage, Reddick.
For a guy who said just two weeks ago he didn’t care much about the In-Season Challenge, Ty Gibbs probably cares a whole lot now, considering that he’s just two races away from sniffing that $1 million bonus. Zane Smith, on the other hand, has been more than impressive in his second year in the NASCAR Cup Series. He’s had a pitiful season at road courses, however, finishing 29th at Circuit of the Americas and 35th in Mexico City. A 14th-place finish in Chicago might boost his spirits, but I’ve got Gibbs in this matchup. He’s still hunting that first Cup Series win, and he nearly got it last week in Chicago.
Does NASCAR Have Too Many Road Courses?
Brad Keselowski set the NASCAR social media community ablaze Thursday morning with his thoughts on this exact question.
It wouldn’t be Frontstretch if we didn’t give our two cents, but this is the classic ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ situation. The original tweet came from Pete Pistone, one of the lead reporters from MRN. He’s been around the sport for some time, and it shows, because he’s right.
It may seem like the distant past now with everything that’s occurred or changed since then, but just a few short years ago NASCAR fans were clamoring for more road courses. They were tired of watching the same oval tracks twice a year and wanted to see the drivers tested on a different stage. NASCAR gave them their wish and started implementing more road courses into the schedule. That number grew until the state we’re in now, where just six out of a whopping 36 races see the drivers turn right.
That’s one sixth of the total races — far less than one a month — for those who loathe math as much as I do. Additionally, if there weren’t this many road courses, there are certain staples in the Cup Series garage that have grown the sport who wouldn’t be nearly as popular as they are right now. Would Shane van Gisbergen have even tested his luck in NASCAR if there weren’t as many as there are now? Probably not.
NASCAR does not have a road course problem. And quite frankly, the timing of this whole situation makes it look like the drivers are upset that SVG is simply that good at turning right. There are 30 other races to win during the season, and you even get two tries at a few of the locations. Is that not enough?
Will the Joey Logano and Ross Chastain Beef Persist or Be Buried?
NASCAR’s favorite Connecticuter in Joey Logano and its favorite Watermelon farmer in Ross Chastain shared some tense moments at the Chicago street course, with Logano saying that Chastain deserved to be fined for admitting to the fact that he wrecked him in the closing laps of the race.
It doesn’t take a historian to know that we’ve seen this from both of these drivers before. Truth be told, they’re probably two of the most stubborn on the grid when it comes to giving up space. The actual incident boiled down to just that — one stubborn driver vs. another. However, will Joey look for payback at Sonoma?
In all likelihood, probably not. Logano has a pattern. He’ll be very mad after the race, confront the other driver, go home for the week, watch the tape, then come back the next week with a few quotes about the incident, if that.
That’s precisely what will happen at Sonoma, too. Logano and Chastain will both be asked about the incident, and the former will say, at most, that he thought a fine should be levied. However, NASCAR came through on Tuesday with their answer, and it was a resounding “no.” This beef will be squashed by the exit of turn one on Sunday.
Is Sheldon Creed Getting Closer to His First Xfinity Series Win?
Poor Sheldon Creed. When I was covering the Xfinity Series for Frontstretch, there were seemingly endless opportunities for Creed to capture his first win that slipped through his fingers at the last minute.
When he got out from underneath the Richard Childress Racing umbrella, many thought he would turn the corner with Joe Gibbs Racing and find the success that he had in the Craftsman Truck Series five years ago. And in a way, he has, even if it hasn’t led him to victory lane. After all, he was sixth in the final standings of 2024.
But last year was ultimately a series of unfortunate events when it came to finding victory lane. He finished the season with 16 top 5’s — impressive for anyone, especially someone in the first year with a new team, but unlucky to not find victory lane at least once.
He’s on track to be close to that number again in 2025 too, with five already to his credit. Yet that illustrious win is still just out of reach. Why?
The truth boils down to something simple: horrible luck. Creed is a good driver. He’s aggressive at times, but he’s reigned that in over the course of his career. In fact, one could make the argument that he’s one of the best wheel-to-wheel drivers in Xfinity. I do think he’s getting closer to that win that has eluded him up to this point, and when he does finally find his way to victory lane, Creed could be a real contender for the series championship.
Right now, he sits at eighth in the standings. Only Carson Kvapil (sixth) and Sam Mayer (second) are higher without a win. If he does find his way across the finish line ahead of the pack just once, the season standings would be shaken up in an instant.
Tanner Marlar is a staff writer for Sports Illustrated’s OnSI Network, a contributor for TopSpeed.com, an AP Wire reporter, an award-winning sports columnist and talk show host and master's student at Mississippi State University. Soon, Tanner will be pursuing a PhD. in Mass Media Studies. Tanner began working with Frontstretch as an Xfinity Series columnist in 2022.