Remembering Ty-sanity: Ty Dillon and the #10’s Incredible in Season Run
When the in-season tournament began, nobody picked Ty Dillon to go past the first round. Yet there he was in the final, rich kid Ty vs. rich kid Ty. Ty Dillon vs. Ty Gibbs, but how did that happen, and how did a driver nobody cared for become a fan favorite for a moment?
Before The In-Season Tournament
Ty Dillon’s reputation beforehand was pretty bad, all things considered. It’s been over a decade since fans saw him win at any level. The last time was the 2014 Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis. This remains his only win in the series.
A few years after back-to-back-to-back top 5 point finishes in the Nationwide series. He began his mediocre cup career. Always going on the midpack RCR affiliate team and doing nothing much. With Ty Dillon having only 8 top tens in his 281 Cup starts so far.
His only notable moment before this was his back-to-back stage wins in 2018. Which fans didn’t celebrate but went, “Wow, that was random!”After a disappointing season in the truck with midpack Rackley W.A.R., Ty Dillon returned to Cup with a Kaulig team that was going downhill.
On paper, his season was nothing special. Only had one top-10 all year, and he finished 33rd in points.But what he did in the middle of the season captured the attention and hearts of millions of NASCAR fans in 2025!
Ty Dillon’s Underdog Start
To start the in-season tournament, he had as hard a matchup as possible. By nature, as the last seed (#32), he’d start off facing the #1 seed, the founder of the tournament, Denny Hamlin.
Not only was this whole thing his idea, but with the 1st track being Atlanta, a plate track, there aren’t many better plate-track racers he could go up against, given Hamlin’s three Daytona 500 wins and excellent plate-racing pedigree.
But plate tracks are also known for their massive wrecks and underdogs getting their moment in the sun. And that would all happen to Ty Dillon on that night in Georgia. In the middle of the race, a 23-car wreck would stop the race.
A wreck in which both Hamlin and Dillon would be involved. But Hamlin got the much worse end of it, and his race was ruined by it. He finished 31st, while Ty Dillon, who only had minor damage, limped to an 8th-place finish.
While it wasn’t skill that saw Ty Dillon beat Hamlin, fans were still endeared to him further when he turned around Hamlin’s famous quote on him, saying, “For all you Denny fans out there, I just knocked your favorite driver out.”
Ty Dillon’s Miracle Run
Some brushed off his victory against Hamlin as a one-off; fans soon found out that it was anything but. As in Chicago, he’d face 2012 Cup Champion Brad Keselowski again; Brad was favored.
And while Ty Dillon didn’t have a good race, Brad would only last 3 turns. As he was collected in lap 1, a big one was started by Hocevar. Ensuring Ty Dillon would move on to the next round.
There he’d be up against Alex Bowman in the Hendrick #48, and it would go down to the final lap. As Bowman was only ahead of Ty Dillon by a few car lengths, that’s when Ty Dillon first tried to move him out of the way but failed.
Then, into Sonoma’s famous U-turn, he went full send and hit Bowman as hard as he could. Bowman tried to come back and hit him back, but it was too late, and Ty Dillon moved on to the next round.
And fans fell in love with him even more when he called out Hendrick’s Twitter account, which had posted that the glass slipper no longer fit him. Ty Dillon said, “I do have to give a shout-out to Hendrick’s PR department and let them know the glass slipper fit one last time.”
Where he’d face JHN in the semi-final at Dover, which would also come down to the final lap, but this time it’d be Ty Dillon being chased by JHN. He successfully held off the Toyota driver and made his way into the final, finishing 20th, and JHN finished 21st.
The Disappointing Finale
Heading into Indy, the story was the final of the In-Season Challenge, and it was Ty vs. Ty, Ty Gibbs vs. Ty Dillon. Ty Gibbs still isn’t a very popular driver due to his antics during his 2022 Xfinity title season and his lack of wins in Cup since then.
So fans were all but ready to root for Ty Dillon, but alas, the glass slipper finally slipped. The tournament ended with a whimper as Ty Gibbs finished the race 21st, seven spots ahead of Ty Dillon in 28th, winning the in-season challenge.
Final Thoughts
The man who meant everything to finish 2nd, and the winner looking like he’s disappointed his 1st Cup Series trophy wasn’t for winning a race. But despite losing, the effort he showed and the memories he left us were far more substantial than winning it would have been. Nobody will talk about Ty Gibbs winning it, only Ty Dillon’s run. Thanks a bunch for reading!
