Ty Dillon and Ty Gibbs will be competing for the chance to call themselves the winner of NASCAR’s inaugural In-Season Challenge.

Dillon, the Kaulig Racing star, upset a handful of NASCAR stars on the way to the challenge championship race at Indianapolis. On the other side, Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) was seeded higher than Dillon and had an objectively easier route to the In-Season Challenge final race. 

Before the tournament, the Kaulig Racing driver was set to take on JGR’s Denny Hamlin, with many predicting that the latter would easily take down Dillon. However, a nasty wreck at Atlanta saw Hamlin finish 31st, giving Dillon the easy pass to the next round in Chicago against Brad Keselowski.

On Lap 4 during the Chicago Street Race, Keselowski was among those caught in Carson Hocevar’s wreck, knocking out the NASCAR veteran and giving Dillon yet another easy advancement. In the next round at Sonoma, Dillon barely beat out Alex Bowman, with the former finishing in 17th and the latter in 19th.

Finally, Dover was Dillon’s most challenging track, battling with the No. 12 seed in John Hunter Nemechek throughout. However, the Kaulig star pulled it out at the last moment, finishing 20th to Nemechek’s 21st.

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On the other side of the bracket, Gibbs started as the No. 6 seed, defeating the No. 27 seed Justin Haley easily. In the next round, Gibbs faced off against A.J. Allmendinger, with the two battling closely before the JGR star pulled away with the second-place finish at Chicago.

At Sonoma, Gibbs cruised to a victory over No. 14 seed Zane Smith, with the latter finishing 20 spots below the JGR driver. In the final race before the final, Gibbs took down 23XI Racing star Tyler Reddick after he finished fifth to Reddick’s 12th.

Now, at Indianapolis, it will be Dillon and Gibbs facing off for the title of winner of the In-Season Challenge. That said, while the two will be competing for the top prize, they will not be the recipient of the $1 million cash prize that was initially marketed by NASCAR.

In the days leading up to the final at Indianapolis, it was reported by FOX Sports that either JGR or Kaulig Racing would receive the money, with owners dividing up the prize as they saw fit.

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Still, Dillon, widely considered the underdog for how he was able to withstand facing off some of the biggest names in the sport, explained how important it is for him to finish strong, especially considering the chance to win a massive prize, all things considered.

“This in-season tournament…you see what it’s done for our team and myself… It’s been just a dream run,” he said. “It’s hard to even put it together. I’m a little bit shook by how it all shook out, but yeah. We did it.”

On the other hand, Gibbs added: “Yeah, we had a good day and put together a good finish. We got around the 45 there on the restart, so it just worked in our way. Yeah, I think most important is to win the race and then we can win the million bucks with it.”