By Jerry Jordan, Editor
CHICAGO – The NASCAR in-season bracket challenge is having its intended effect, even if it’s with drivers who weren’t expected to advance past the first round, like Ty Dillon.
This past week, Dillon, who was the No. 32 seed in the rankings, knocked out No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin. That would be somewhat similar to Mississippi State Bulldogs beating the Auburn Tigers in this year’s NCAA Championships. Although Hamlin’s elimination from the bracket came after he was involved in a multi-car crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the outcome propelled Dillon to the next round, facing off this week on the Chicago Street Course against Brad Keselowski.
During his post-race interviews, Dillon chided Hamlin’s fans with, “I beat your favorite driver.” It’s a phrase that Hamlin routinely uses after he wins a race, embracing his “bad guy” role in the sport.
“Yeah, you know, obviously we’re quite overlooked going into that race, probably rightfully so coming in as a 32 seed against a one seed,” Dillon told members of the media during his driver appearance in Chicago. “We’ve been getting a lot of comments, calls, and even walking around here in Chicago, I feel like the fan enthusiasm. I usually get a couple, hey, Ty, but like some more enthusiastic fan interaction already. So that’s been fun. You know, I think a lot of credit goes to Denny as well. He’s leaned into the Denny versus the world thing the last year or so and built up a bit of a villain role, and it’s been fun. And when drivers kind of lean into some kind of entertainment part of our roles, it opens up doors for us, other guys to show some of our personality. And I think without Denny opening up to his fans a little bit or opening up to the sport a little bit, there’s not that opportunity for people to see me when we excel in a situation. And NASCAR also adding to it, doing the bracket challenge to add something interesting throughout the year that gives us a little chance to talk trash and go at each other a little bit and in a good fun (way). So, it was just a good moment.”
To his credit, rather than rally his fans against Dillon, Hamlin went on his podcast, Actions Detrimental, and told everyone to give Dillon his due, as he had earned the right to engage in a little trash-talking.
“I see people giving Ty Dillon a lot of flak,” Hamlin said on the show. “Give him his moment, people. He beat me.”
When asked about it on Saturday, Hamlin said, “I think that’s one of the things that the In-Season Tournament was meant to do, right? To create a rivalry that maybe you wouldn’t think of. While that rivalry may only last one week, the social media content will live on for forever for it.”
Dillon confessed he had planned his response once he knew that Hamlin was officially knocked out of the race, adding that the banter is good for the sport.
“I said, ‘Hey, give me a second after this interview, I got something to say,’” Dillon said. “So, somewhat spontaneous, I guess you could call it that, but it was there. It was always there, and I just wanted to lean into it a little bit.”
Afterward, he said he texted Hamlin, who had no issues with his comments.
“Yeah, I sent him a text afterward and just said, hey, man, just having fun with your friends,” Dillon said. “I hate that you got taken out. We didn’t get to race straight up as much as we probably wanted to, but he was like, ‘man, I loved it.’ That was cool. And Denny gets it, you know, and I think that’s something for our drivers to continue to grow. Denny’s grown, I think, in his comfort level of who he is in the race car and around the track to where he’s leaning into that little, bit of a villain role, and I think we should all see that a little bit.
“I think we get so focused, as drivers on our own performance, and we beat ourselves up, but we don’t lean into the fact that so much of what we do isn’t just about us. It’s about the entertainment level that we provide to our fans, and Denny has done a great job of that, like I said, and given me also the opportunity when I excel, playing off of him to show some of my personality. I like trash-talking. When I play sports, it’s kind of the fun thing that I do. Like, I don’t mean anything by it, but I like to see where people’s minds are inside the game, and so that was just a fun moment. He gets it, which is cool, and there’s a level of people that kind of understand there’s another level to this whole game once you’ve been around long enough that really matters as far as leaning into the fan side of this thing.”
Dillon’s match-up this week may be somewhat easier than last week but his bracket opponent won’t be cutting him any slack, saying there’s definitely going to be a battle to advance to the next round.
“I haven’t paid a lot of attention to it, Ty is a really good road course driver in the rain, specifically so it should be an epic battle,” Keselowski said