Ty Dillon aims to upset Denny Hamlin in first round In-Season Tourney rematch
· Yahoo Sports
In an ironic turn of events, the biggest upset of the first round of the NASCAR In-Season Tournament last year will get an immediate first round match-up on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway.
No. 2 Denny Hamlin v. No. 31 Ty Dillon
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There is a caveat in that Dillon bested Hamlin last year in a first-round match-up that took place at highly combustible Echopark Speedway (née Atlanta) where the favorite was collected in an early 22-car melee.
While that result was (arguably) a matter of luck, Dillon carried that momentum into an incredible four-week string of upsets to the final round where he eventually lost out on a million dollars to Ty Gibbs.
But last summer was very rewarding for a driver and team that hovers around 30th in the championship standings to get a tremendous amount of media attention and television time. It was good for business.
“I was happy for our whole race team and our sponsors,” Dillon said. “We put in a lot of effort each week and our story doesn’t always get told but that is the beauty of the In-Season Challenge. It’s a five-week stretch where it’s not always focused on the top-five in points but teams like us who are out there grinding.
“Most weeks, we beat one, two or three of the mega teams, and that’s pretty solid for us. The you take us to a unique race track like a road course or superspeedway and that’s an opportunity.”
To which Hamlin, who shared press conference time with Dillon this week at Sonoma, offered a humour quip.
“They just refuse to do this fist round on a standard oval,” Hamlin said with a laugh.
And that’s just it: Hamlin was gracious in defeat last year and gave Dillon a lot of credit for what he did the next four weeks in trying to upset the entire industry for a million dollars. The second week saw Dillon punt Alex Bowman at Sonoma on the final corner to advance to the third round.
It was a gutsy drive, even if he didn’t run the gamut.
And remember, this is the Hamlin’s conceptual brain child, who came up with this idea unofficially for content around his Actions Detrimental podcast. He wanted to see an upset, even if he wishes that he wasn’t the one that got bounced in the first round.
It gave the industry something to talk about.
“I think there will be battles for 16th that matter,” Hamlin said. “I mean, normally, no one would care about that. That’s the beauty of the bracket system, head-to-head, right? You’re creating the storylines and match-ups.”
Even though Hamlin’s sole remaining weakness as a driver is road courses, Dillon still doesn’t expect to eliminate him again, but is going into this year with a similar mentality.
“I mean, what has this guy done this year,” Dillon said of the driver second in points. “He won three in a row and they're kicking butt. If they put together a perfect weekend, it's going to be a challenge for us to keep up, but our goal is to be the best version of us and that means execute every single phase. If they make one mistake, be there to attack.
“That’s how we’re approaching this weekend, just trying to do our best and be there when the opportunity comes. And maybe outside of a superspeedway, this track gives us our best shot to do that, so it’s going to be fun.
“I don’t want to do anything dumb during a race and it doesn’t take talent to wipe someone out to get to the next round, but if it comes down to the last lap, I will do my best to get that one spot.”
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