NASCAR to launch in-season bracket tournament for $1 million prize

Something immensely popular in the NBA, NASCAR star Denny Hamlin created his own version of it last year after floating the idea of introducing a mid-season bracket tournament to the stock car racing world.

NASCAR has now taken steps to create their own tournament, which will span across five races during the summer months of the 2025 season, aligning with the events broadcasted by TNT Sports. 

“With the launch of our new media rights partnerships in 2025, we were excited to partner with Prime Video and TNT Sports to collaborate on fan engagement concepts that drive storylines in our sport and innovation from a production perspective,” said Brian Herbst, NASCAR SVP, Media and Productions. “The idea of an in-season tournament has been discussed within the NASCAR industry and as we started to focus on adding promotional elements that drive interest throughout the season, we were excited by the opportunity to leverage the marketing weight of Amazon and TNT Sports to bring this concept to life.

“Having head-to-head driver matchups for each one of TNT’s NASCAR Cup Series races will add a compelling fan engagement element across media platforms like TNT, Bleacher Report, House of Highlights, and NASCAR digital platforms.”

The winner will receive $1 million in prize money. Seeding of the 32-driver tournament will be established by finishing position in the three previous races, which will be aired by Amazon Prime. Tiebreakers will be determined by the next-best finish, followed by regular season points position.

Drivers will then compete head-to-head with the higher finisher advancing into the next round. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was recently announced as part of the broadcast for TNT/Amazon, so he will be in the booth for these races.

“It’s never been a better time to be a fan of motorsports, and this new first-ever in-season tournament will bring a new competitive dynamic to NASCAR’s summer race weekends,” said Craig Barry, Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer, TNT Sports. “TNT Sports has always been at the forefront of creativity and innovation, and NASCAR is a perfect partner to bring this vision to life across our networks and platforms.”

“We’re excited to be part of NASCAR’s first in-season tournament next season,” said Charlie Neiman, Head of Sports Partnerships, Prime Video. “This tournament will showcase the league’s ability to drive innovation and engage fans with increased competition during a key part of the NASCAR schedule.”