Eight still standing in NASCAR's in-season tournament

NASCAR’s inaugural in-season tournament is down to the elite eight.

And what an eight it is. There are two Legacy Motor Club drivers still in the hunt, and at least one will be in the final four as they are matched up against each other this weekend at Sonoma Raceway (Sunday, 3:30 p.m. ET, TNT). There are two drivers left from the ‘big three’ organizations (Hendrick, Gibbs, or Penske), and that is Alex Bowman and Ty Gibbs.

In other words, the tournament has been as unpredictable as expected, especially after eliminating many of the contenders in the first week. On Sunday, in Chicago, others, such as Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, and Chris Buescher, fell by the wayside.

Ty Dillon, on the other hand, is still alive as the ultimate bracket-buster. Dillon (main image) defeated No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin in the first week and then No. 17 seed Keselowski in Chicago.

Here are the third-round matchups:

(No. 6) Ty Gibbs vs (No. 14) Zane Smith

(No. 8) Alex Bowman vs (No. 32) Ty Dillon

(No. 12) John Hunter Nemechek vs (No. 20) Erik Jones

(No. 15) Ryan Preece vs (No. 23) Tyler Reddick

Sonoma Raceway will cut the field to the final four as the series gets closer to the $1 million payout at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.