The in-season tournament craze that found major success in the NBA this season is coming to the raceway next: NASCAR announced Monday that it will introduce an in-season, bracket-style head-to-head tournament in 2025. The winner will receive a $1 million prize.
The announcement comes just a few months after NASCAR came to a massive new media rights deal with with four broadcast partners -- Fox Sports, Amazon Prime, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBC Sports -- from 2025 to 2031.
"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 story lines in our sport and innovation from a production perspective," Brian Herbst, NASCAR senior vice president of media and productions, said in a press release. "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."
All Cup Series drivers are eligible for the three seeding races -- run directly before the tournament begins. The top 32 from those races will qualify for the in-season tournament, with seeding determined by best finish in those races. Tiebreakers are next-best finish, followed by season points position.
The specific races for the in-season tournament are not yet known.
Once the bracket is set, the tournament will feature five rounds of head-to-head racing, with the higher-finishing driver advancing until a winner and the accompanying $1 million are rewarded.
