Richard Petty, the legendary “King” of NASCAR, remains the sport’s most iconic figure, even in his late 80s, famously holding seven Cup Series titles and a record 200 wins. Over the decades, his presence has transcended the track, from winning the first Daytona 500 in 1964 to helping shape NASCAR’s legacy, Petty has remained a beloved ambassador. Seeing him with his signature cowboy hat and trademark grin alongside modern legends, talking about the shift from traditional racing to an ever-evolving modern present, has been poignantly seen through his off-track involvement in the sporting community.
NASCAR’s brand-new In-Season Challenge has been a bold experiment, with 32 of the Cup’s top drivers locked into a bracket-style, single-elimination showdown across five races for a staggering $1 million prize, and while the current drivers have shown both enthusiasm and confusion on the new format, so have veterans like Petty. The format has been borrowed loosely from NCAA March Madness, before the knockout rounds began in Atlanta, continuing till the Brickyard 400. But after the wreck fest that ensued during the Quaker State 400, Petty wasn’t sure how he would judge the challenge or navigate through it.
Richard Petty watching NASCAR’s $1 million bracket from the sidelines
In his podcast Petty Race Recap on the Petty Family Racing YouTube channel, he was answering a fan question, asking, “What is your In-Season Tournament bracket like after Atlanta on Sunday?” While many have been betting on the big prize at the end of the tournament, even veterans may be trying their luck on it. But Petty’s response had been more inclined towards joking about Team Penske’s driving mishap in Atlanta.
“After the million dollar bracket deal or whatever they call it, it is really confusing because, the 42 wound up beating the 12 car and both of them didn’t even finish the race,” said Petty. “So, that’s going to be a scramble all the way through to me.” This indeed must have been the opinion of many fans and viewers after the race at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta. Roger Penske’s powerhouse squad entered the inaugural In-Season Challenge with high hopes. But they were mired in the Big One sparked by Denny Hamlin, which took out 23 race cars.
The #42 of John Hunter Nemechek and the #12 of Ryan Blaney. The #42 was credited with 26th place after completing just 241 of 260 laps, while the #12 limped in 40th, retiring after 56 laps. “Got caught up in a wreck, been usual this year, getting into someone else’s mess,” Blaney said after the stage 1 wreck. But the gut punch was that the entire Team Penske lineup joined him. Stage 1 winner, Austin Cindirc, followed by Joey Logano and Josh Berry, were all caught up the wreck and none of them could advance to the next round of the In-season challenge.
Under bracket rules, Nemechek beat Blaney simply by lasting more laps, even without finishing. With ten cautions over 68 laps, EchoPark’s race was frantic and a stark test for NASCAR’s tournament format. Chase Elliott won it all with a last-lap Nissan-style push, but the spotlight lingered on bracket upsets. Even William Byron, Chase Briscoe, and Christopher Bell didn’t make the cut, thus leading to a massive shuffle and allowing the underdogs to compete for the $1 million price.
While Richard Petty joked about his confusion over that Challenge, his co-host and veteran crew chief, Dale Inman, confirmed that he was not even participating in the bracket, jokingly saying, “I don’t think I was in on the bracket thing.” Petty found the outcome comedic, proving that even a living legend sees the upside in the unpredictability. His amusement underscores a deeper truth: that this format, while confusing, injects fresh excitement into NASCAR’s mid-season chaos.
Denny Hamlin left confused over the scoring system in Atlanta
Ideally, in a crash, NASCAR scores the finish of the race cars based on their current position on the track when the yellow comes out. But something strange happened in Atlanta. The veteran JGR driver was ready to remove his helmet and hop out of his #11 Camry until he was made aware of the situation. His team spent two hours in the garage using the DVP rule and got back on track 109 laps down.
Sharing his take on the confusion while speaking on his podcast, Hamlin explained, “I’m in the garage and they said hey you can pass the #24 and the #22 and I’m like, I was ahead of them when we all crashed. So how are they scored ahead of me? It’s why we spent, by the way, two hours fixing our cars to beat the cars that we were already ahead of crash. Usually, when you crash, if none of you crossed the finish line again, it’s wherever you we scored before the crash.”
Not only Richard Petty, but even Denny Hamlin wasn’t able to process the madness and chaos that ensued from the Atlanta race. As the NASCAR circus heads to Chicago next, this In-season challenge is likely to throw more curveballs at the racing community.
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