NASCAR In-Season Tournament Bracket 2026 Updated Point Standings After Sonoma

The NASCAR In-Season Challenge began on Sunday with a major upset.

Top-seeded Tyler Reddick lost to No. 32 Alex Bowman after dealing with issues with his engine, meaning the points leader coming into the race won't have the chance to win the tournament.

While Reddick is out of contention in the In-Season Challenge, he's still near the top of the points standings for the season.

Updated Points Standings

1. Denny Hamlin - 719
2. Tyler Reddick - 718
3. Ryan Blaney - 615
4. Ty Gibbs - 589
5. Kyle Larson - 571
6. Chase Elliot - 554
7. Chris Buescher - 518
8. Carson Hocevar - 509
9. Daniel Suarez - 484
10. Christopher Bell - 472

Full season standings can be found here.

Full In-Season Challenge bracket can be found here.

Reddick ran into engine trouble early on in Sunday's race, which led to him having a major deficit to overcome.

"I can barely go fast," Reddick told his team over the radio. "I'm trying to understand what's causing this."

The deficit was ultimately too much for Reddick to overcome since he was essentially racing from behind for the majority of the day. With Bowman putting together a solid performance, the points leader coming into the race couldn't catch him, and he'll now miss out on the $1 million prize.

Denny Hamlin was very much in the race heading into the second half, but he spun out on Lap 64, leading to him losing several positions and later dropping towards the bottom of the pack.

His opponent, Ty Dillon, left the door open for Hamlin with 12 laps to go when he lost power steering, and Hamlin took advantage of the window. Hamlin put together some strong driving on the final laps, while Dillon continued to fall.

Hamlin finished in 26th place to avoid an upset against Dillon, who finished 35th.

Other top seeds Ryan Blaney, who finished in 6th place, and Chase Elliot, who finished 17th, managed to avoid upsets in the opening round.

Shane van Gisbergen, the 14th seed who was up against Ryan Preece, came out atop the leaderboards at Sonoma, marking his second win of the season.