Denny's Tournament idea

[Labonte18]

Now.. You all know how I love to figure crap like this out.. So.. I'll work this all our for at least the past 2 years.. How it might have played out.

But.. too late to get into the meat and bones of this tonight. But, doing a little research. Fox will have the first 14 races, ending after the Coke 600. Then it's 5 for Amazon, with the last three being seeding races


Last year, the seeding races were Nashville, Chicago and Atlanta. Which, I think is a really good mix of tracks. Problem is. Chicago. We know what kind of problems it presents. If weather plays a part, race may not run. that's the downside.

In 2022, it would be the same, but Road America in place of Chicago

The 2022 'knockout' races would be New Hampshire, Pocono, Indy, Michigan and Richmond. Eh.



2023 would be the same races, just in a different order. And.. indy was.. Road course both years. They go back to the oval this year I think.

This year, seeding races would be Iowa, New Hampshire and Pocono. Meh. I dunno. Iowa and New Hampshire are very different. Iowa's a lot like Richmond.

Chicago, Pocono, Indy, Richmond and Michigan. Again.. Different. though, Indy and Pocono.. And to an extent, Michigan.. Much the same.

[Labonte18]

So.. 2023.. Here would be the seeding. Based on the rules that top finish, followed by second best finish, followed by third best. Basically, it's the same as the championship tiebreakers. Byron and Chastain won races, but Byron gets first because his second best finish was 6th, while Chastain's 2nd best finish was 22nd.



1) William Byron
2) Ross Chastain
3) Justin Haley
4) Daniel Suarez
5) Martin Truex
6) Chase Elliott
7) AJ Allmendinger
8) Denny Hamlin
9) Kyle Larson
10) Michael McDowell
11) Kyle Busch
12) Brad Keselowski
13) Austin Cindric
14) Christopher Bell
15) Erik Jones
16) Joey Logano
17) Ty Gibbs
18) Ryan Blaney
19) Chris Buescher
20) Ricky Stenhouse
21) Aric Almirola
22) Austin Dillon
23) Corey Lajoie
24) Ryan Preece
25) Bubba Wallace
26) Todd Gilliland
27) Alex Bowman
28) Ty Dillon
29) Chase Briscoe
30) Harrison Burton
31) Kevin Harvick
32) Noah Gragson


DNQ - Tyler Reddick.. He finished 30th, 28th and 27th in the three races. Gragson wasn't much better, but with a best finish of 25th, edges him out. That's kinda shocking, huh?

Also DNQ for not running all the races. Shane Van Ginsburg, JJ Yeley, Brennan Poole, Josh Bilicki, Jensen Burton, Andy Lally, BJ McLeod, Cole Custer and Austin Hill

Now, i'm playing this as.. We don't know what would happen. We know that Noah Gragson was out of the 42 after Richmond, I haven't gone forward to see if he was eliminated prior, but.. We wouldn't have that hindsight advantage to replace him, so, if he's still in after that, his opponent would just get a bye.


The first round matchups. A few interesting ones. Kyle Busch vs Austin Dillon and Bowman vs Elliott, teammates going head to head in the first round. Bubba vs Denny, owner vs driver.

Our biggest upset, lowest ranked driver to make it through and highest to be knocked out.. All the same. And.. Makes sense.. Harvick over Chastain with a 4th place finish vs a 23rd, No other BIG surprises, and even that isn't really a big surprise. Harvick had a bad stretch of 3 races for seeding. Dillon knocks out Busch. I'd say Haley advancing is surprising, but, not really, he was against Harrison Burton.

In round 2.. The heartbreaker and upset go to Harvick knocking out Erik Jones. Jones had a good, solid 9th place run, but Harvick finished 4th. Denny Hamlin with the win knocks out Kyle Larson. I'd say the underdog at this point is likely Ricky Stenhouse who has made it to round 3. Though.. By seeding, it's certainly still #31 seed Kevin Harvick making it through to round 3.


In round 3.. Buescher gets the win at Richmond, which knocks out Chase Elliott. Harvick just keeps on trucking through, knocking out Allmendinger.

Round 4.. Wow.. Buescher wins again, which knocks out the 9th place finishing Harvick.. And Truex finishes 2nd, knocking out 3rd place Denny Hamlin.. Which sets up our finale to be

Martin Truex vs Chris Buescher for $1M at the Indy road course


Buescher put up a good fight, but with an 11th place finish, he loses out to Martin Truex, Jr who finishes in 7th.

Gragson was eliminated in round 1, so, his being pulled from the 42 had no effect.


I think there might have been more excitement here.. Was Pocono the race where Denny wrecked Larson? Which led to Denny knocking out Larson in the tourney. I can't remember all the details of all the races.. But.. certainly adds some intrigue to the middle of the summer races. Leaving the 2 races until the playoffs to focus on that storyline.

I'll try to run the numbers on 2022 as well.

[Labonte18]

For 2022.. reminder here that Kurt Busch's wreck at Pocono ended his career, but.. No hindsight.



1) Chase Elliott
2) Tyler Reddick
3) Ross Chastain
4) Kurt Busch
5) Kyle Larson
6) Ryan Blaney
7) Austin Cindric
8) Erik Jones
9) Daniel Suarez
10) Denny Hamlin
11) Chris Buescher
12) Justin Haley
13) Michael McDowell
14) Aric Almirola
15) Christopher Bell
16) Cole Custer
17) Joey Logano
18) Kevin Harvick
19) Harrison Burton
20) Martin Truex
21) Bubba Wallace
22) Alex Bowman
23) Chase Briscoe
24) Austin Dillon
25) Ricky Stenhouse
26) William Byron
27) Todd Gilliland
28) Brad Keselowski
29) Kyle Busch
30) Corey LaJoie
31) Ty Dillon
32) Cody Ware

DNQ - None, other than those who didn't compete in all races, which are.. AJ Allmendinger (He didn't run Atlanta), JJ Yeley, BJ McLeod, Josh Bilicki, Joey Hand, Kyle Tilley, Loris Hezemans, Landon Cassill, Garrett Smithley and Noah Gragson.

In round 1.. our biggest upset, by seeding, was Brad Keselowski knocking out Kyle Larson. From a heartbreak standpoint. Harvick gets eliminated by Bell due to Bell winning and Harvick finishing 5th. Interesting matchup of the round.. #4 Kurt Busch knocks out #29 Kyle Busch with a 10th vs 12th place finish. Which.. as I recall.. means that Martin Truex gets a bye in Round 2.

Round 2.. Interesting as well, yes, Truex gets a bye, but.. Even if you put Truex up against Ty Gibbs, who replaced Kurt Busch, Truex still advances.

Some heartbreakers here. Tyler Reddick advances over Christopher Bell with a 2nd vs a 4th. Suarez over Jones 3rd to 9th.

The biggest shock.. 19 seed Harrison Burton advances to round 3, with finishes of 26th and 23rd.

The final 4.. Wow.. Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Harrison Burton and Tyler Reddick

Wallace knocks off Elliott with a 2nd to 11th place finish and the trash bracket.. Harrison Burton goes down with a 32nd place finish to Tyler Reddick's 29th

Which leads to the finals at Richmond.. Bubba Wallace vs Tyler Reddick. Not teammates this year.

And, with a 13th place finish.. Bubba Wallace wins the $1M knockout tourney.

Finishes of 3rd, 8th, 5th, 2nd and 13th.

[m1a1mg]

The best ideas are coming from podcasts, not NASCAR HQ.

[USNRET04]

Originally Posted by m1a1mg

The best ideas are coming from podcasts, not NASCAR HQ.

It's so frustrating that NASCAR seems to intentionally ignore their star drivers. It's like they are saying, we know more about racing than you every will. Maybe in some ways, but guys like Denny are more in tune with what the fans want.

[Labonte18]

I forgot to post the actual brackets..



https://brackethq.com/b/upg2b/ - 2022


https://brackethq.com/b/zjg2b/ - 2023