Ryan Preece Eliminated In Third Round Of NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge

Ryan Preece’s run through the brackets of the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge came to an end in wine country Sunday.

Preece faced a third round matchup against Tyler Reddick in the In-Season Challenge tournament Sunday at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Reddick finished sixth and Preece was 12th.

Preece was the No. 15 seeed in the tournanement. Reddick was seeded 23rd.

The inaugural In-Season Challenge is a five-race single-elimination tournament featuring 32 drivers with their seeding based on the last three NASCAR Cup Series events before the first round at Echo Park Speedway on June 28. The driver that wins the head-to-head matchup (has a better finish) in each round advances to the next round in the bracket format.

The tournament culminates with a championship event taking place on July 27 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The winner of the tournament earns $1 million. 

Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Ty Dillon and John Hunter Nemechek advanced to the semifinals Sunday. Reddick matches up against Gibbs and Dillon goes up against Nemechek in the semifinal matchups. 

Preece topped William Byron in the first round of the tournament and then eliminated Noah Gragson at the Chicago Street Course on July 6.

The fourth round is at Dover Motor Speedway on July 20 leading to the championship deciding event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.