Todd Gilliland has done it again with his season-best finish Sunday at North Wilkesboro, advancing into the finals of the In-Season Challenge, where the winner will receive a $1 million prize.
The Front Row Motorsports driver finished eighth, eliminating 2020 NASCAR Cup champion Chase Elliott, who finished 17th after being trapped off the lead lap when an ill-timed caution flew.
Gilliland entered the 32-driver tournament as the No. 25 seed. At Sonoma, he defeated Spire’s Daniel Suarez, and then Spire’s Carson Hocevar at Chicagoland the following week. He barely held off Hendrick’s Alex Bowman at Chicagoland, and has now bested Bowman’s HMS teammate Elliott at North Wilkesboro.
He now moves on to the champion’s round, which takes place in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway — TNT’s final broadcast of the 2026 NASCAR Cup season.
“We definitely caught a big lucky break there at the beginning, but that was strategy,” said Gilliland as he reflected on the race. “We knew there was a risk with short pitting and everybody did, so I was definitely very proud of the strategy and kind of the way we executed the whole race. That was probably about as good as it could have gone. It’s crazy. We’ve got to beat one more guy for a million dollars.”
Ryan Blaney, Team Penske
Photo by: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images
It’s also a guaranteed win for Ford, as he will face 2023 NASCAR Cup champion and No. 3 seed Blaney next weekend. Blaney eliminated Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell on Sunday.
“Yeah, the 12 is pretty good, that’s for sure,” noted Gilliland. “That’s the reason why they’re at this point in the bracket, so I’m excited about it. That’s the crazy thing is that anything can happen. We have to do what’s best for the 34 team and race all the way to the checkered flag because you never really know. We’ll keep grinding away. It’s pretty wild. I’m pretty excited.”
Blaney will be a fierce opponent, but IMS is actually a great track for Gilliland. He finished sixth there in both 2024 and 2025, beating Blaney by one position last year.
“Ford is gonna get it, so that’s good,” said Blaney when asked about the finals matchup. “The Blue Oval is gonna win the In-Season Challenge. It’ll be a good race. That group at FRM does a really good job and Todd is a really talented race car driver, so it’ll be a tough one. Indy, a lot of strategy goes on there and a lot of things can happen, so we’re gonna have to be on top of our game like every week. But it’s nice that a couple of Blue Ovals have a shot at it.”
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