NASCAR is turning up the heat and the visuals as it launches the first-ever NASCAR In-Season Challenge — a bracket-style competition featuring 32 Cup Series drivers going head-to-head over five high-stakes race weekends.
Starting this weekend (Sunday, June 28) in Atlanta, all 32 cars will feature custom tournament branding. As the tournament progresses, the remaining drivers will adopt color-coded headers, creating a live, evolving visual representation of the bracket.
Drivers are seeded Nos. 1 through 32 based on their combined finishes in three recent NASCAR races: Michigan, Mexico City, and Pocono. The format is intended to mirror March Madness, the NCAA’s 64-team college basketball postseason tournament. The No. 1 will face the No. 32, the No. 2 will face the No. 31, and so on. The higher-finishing driver in each matchup advances to the next round.
It’s not a separate race but a race-within-a-race competition, adding a strategic twist to each weekend’s action. Drivers will compete for both the overall race win and bracket win, meaning even mid-pack duels now carry weight. Seems complicated? Do not worry; NASCAR has found a way to help you.
NASCAR Introduces Visuals That Tell the Story Better
NASCAR is heavily leveraging visual storytelling to make the challenge easier for fans to follow. The on-car branding will utilize windshield headers and unique color-based decals to highlight driver matchups during the tournament.
Posting NASCAR’s newly launched visual on-car branding cues, a NASCAR insider wrote on X, “NASCAR will have branding on the cars of the in-season tournament beginning this weekend.”
NASCAR will have branding on the cars of the in-season tournament beginning this weekend: pic.twitter.com/77qem9I7MV
— Kelly Crandall (@KellyCrandall) June 25, 2025
The design evolution goes as follows:
Round 1 (Atlanta): All 32 cars feature a unified black-and-yellow “In-Season Challenge” windshield header.
Rounds 2-4 (Chicago, Sonoma, and Dover): Advancing drivers receive unique, matchup-based colors to help fans track bracket progress at a glance, as drivers go from 16 to eight to four, and finally, the last two.
Champions Round (Indianapolis): The final two drivers battle with special gold/chrome windshield headers.
All eliminated drivers will revert to their standard season branding. NASCAR’s new progressive branding visuals aim to make the tournament instantly recognizable to fans at the track and those watching on TV.
So what is at stake for the drivers? There will be $1 million and major bragging rights as the first NASCAR In-Season Challenge champion. Beyond the prize money, the format also injects new energy into the summer stretch of the season, traditionally a quieter period before the playoff push. Denny Hamlin earned the top seed in the inaugural edition, going up against the No. 32 spot’s Ty Dillon.
As the Challenge kicks off in Atlanta this weekend, all eyes will be on the new-look windshields, the unexpected duel winners, and the pressure-packed pursuit of winning both the Atlanta title and their individual duels.
