Ty vs Ty in NASCAR’s $1 million in-season tournament decider

Indianapolis Motor Speedway will host the battle of Ty versus Ty for the $1 million in-season tournament prize.

Ty Gibbs (main image) and Ty Dillon are the last two standing after four weeks. The finale is Sunday at Indianapolis, where the highest finishing driver of the two will be crowned the winner. Atlanta Motor Speedway (June 28) kicked off the tournament.

Gibbs is the highest seed remaining at No. 6 while Dillon, the Cinderella story, has survived and advanced from the last seed, No. 32. It is as lopsided of a matchup between Joe Gibbs Racing and Kaulig Racing as it is improbable for these two drivers to be the ones competing for the prize.

How they got here

Gibbs:

·      Gibbs comes from the right side of the bracket at the No. 6 seed.

·      Those he defeated were: Justin Haley in the first round (Atlanta), AJ Allmendinger in the second round (Chicago), Zane Smith in the quarterfinals (Sonoma), and Tyler Reddick in the semifinals (Dover).

 

·      In those four races, Gibbs finished 14th, second, seventh, and fifth. 

Dillon: 

·      Dillon started on the left side of the bracket as the No. 32 seed.

·      He knocked out No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin in the first round (Atlanta), Brad Keselowski in the second round (Chicago), Alex Bowman in the quarterfinals (Sonoma), and John Hunter Nemechek in the semifinals (Dover).

 

·      He finished eighth, 20th, 17th, and 20th in his matchups.

Indianapolis statistics

Gibbs:

·      Gibbs has made one start at Indianapolis in the Cup Series, which came in 2024. 

·      He qualified sixth and finished 23rd in the Brickyard 400 in 2024.

Dillon:

·      Dillon has made five starts at Indianapolis in the Cup Series.

·      He qualified 22nd and finished 19th in the Brickyard 400 in 2024.

·      In five starts at Indianapolis, Dillon’s average finish is 17.2. 

What they said

Ty Gibbs: “I was aware (of Tyler Reddick) and I feel like we had great restarts, and after that, I think we were just trying to advance our position as much as we can. My Monster Energy team did a great job.”

Ty Dillon: “It was quite the battle all day. We (he and Nemechek) were within a spot of each other all day. … All in all, just grateful to have this opportunity. This ride has been so fun. It’s one of the biggest things I’ve done in my career, just having fun with Kaulig Racing and Matt Kaulig, Chris Rice.”

 

The Brickyard 400 is Sunday, July 27, at 2 p.m. ET. TNT will broadcast the race. HBO Max, in addition to offering in-car cameras for every driver in the field, will also offer a Multiview option to follow Gibbs and Dillon.