After a wild opening round that saw the top two seeds eliminated, along with a few other favorites, the In-Season Challenge heads to Chicago for the second round.
The 32-team field has been cut to 16 for Sunday’s street race. The third round (eight remaining drivers) is at Sonoma. The fourth round (four remaining drivers) is at Dover. The final round (two remaining drivers) is at Indianapolis.
The winner will collect $1 million.
Here is a look, with the help of Racing Insights, at the second-round pairings for Sunday’s race:
No. 3 Chris Buescher vs. No. 14 Zane Smith
At the front: Chris Buescher has the best average finish on road courses in the Next Gen car at 8.8.
On a roll: Buescher has scored four consecutive top-10 finishes. Zane Smith has finished seventh twice in the last four races.
Winner ... advances to meet winner of AJ Allmendinger - Ty Gibbs matchup.
No. 5 Chase Elliott vs. No. 12 John Hunter Nemechek
Streaking: Atlanta winner Chase Elliott has scored three consecutive top-five finishes entering this weekend.
Road trip: Elliott has finished in the top five in both road course events this year, finishing third in Mexico and fourth at Circuit of the Americas. Nemechek finished sixth at Mexico for his best road course finish in Cup.
Winner ... advances to meet winner of Erik Jones - Ricky Stenhouse Jr. matchup.
No. 6 Ty Gibbs vs. No. 22 AJ Allmendinger
Top dog: Ty Gibbs has the best average finish on the streets of the Chicago at 6.0 in two races, placing third last year and ninth in the inaugural event.
Three of a kind: All three of AJ Allmendinger’s Cup victories have come on road courses: Watkins Glen, Indianapolis Road Course and Charlotte Roval.
Winner ... advances to meet winner of Zane Smith - Chris Buescher matchup.
No. 8 Alex Bowman vs. No. 9 Bubba Wallace
Spicy history: NASCAR fined Bubba Wallace $50,000 for his retaliatory actions after Alex Bowman won last year’s Chicago Street Race. Wallace was upset with Bowman for contact during the race that turned him. Wallace door-slammed Bowman’s car on the cool-down lap and sent it into the wall.
Two-for-two: Alex Bowman has top-10 finishes in both road course events this season, placing fourth in Mexico and ninth at COTA.
Winner ... advances to meet winner of Brad Keselowski - Ty Dillon matchup.
No. 15 Ryan Preece vs. No. 31 Noah Gragson
I know you: Matchup of former Stewart-Haas Racing teammates.
Opposite directions: Noah Gragson has five consecutive finishes outside the top 20. Ryan Preece has four top-20 finishes in the last five races.
Winner ... advances to meet winner of Carson Hocevar - Tyler Reddick matchup.
No. 17 Brad Keselowski vs. No. 32 Ty Dillon
By the numbers: Brad Keselowski’s average finish on road courses in the Next Gen car is 20.6 with one top-10 finish. Ty Dillon’s average finish on road courses in the Next Gen car is 27.7 with no finish better than 16th.
Back-to-back: Keselowski has finished in the top 10 in each of the past two races this season.
Winner ... advances to meet winner of Alex Bowman - Bubba Wallace matchup.
No. 20 Erik Jones vs. No. 29 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Mirror image: Erik Jones’ average finish this season is 18.4. Stenhouse’s average finish this season is 18.9. Both drivers have three top-10 finishes this year.
Turning the corner: Jones has finished in the top 15 in five of the last six races.
Winner ... advances to meet winner of Chase Elliott - John Hunter Nemechek matchup.
No. 23 Tyler Reddick vs. No. 26 Carson Hocevar
Familiar ground: Tyler Reddick finished second in last year’s race on the streets of Chicago.
Tough matchup: Carson Hocevar has finished ahead of Reddick on a road course just once in seven Cup races.
Winner ... advances to meet winner of Noah Gragson - Ryan Preece matchup.
