NASCAR's In-Season Challenge comes down to two Ford drivers and one very different set of expectations on Sunday, when Ryan Blaney and Todd Gilliland settle the $1 million bracket at the Brickyard 400. The final of the mid-season knockout tournament runs alongside the points race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports).
On paper it is a mismatch. Blaney, the No. 12 Team Penske driver and a former Cup Series champion, arrives as the No. 3 seed, third in the standings and — this weekend — making his 400th career Cup start. Gilliland, in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford, came in as the 25th seed, is winless in Cup and sits 23rd in points. "Gillie for a Milli" has knocked out Spire Motorsports' Daniel Suarez and Carson Hocevar and Hendrick's Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott to get here.
Gilliland is leaning into the underdog billing. "Put the house on us," he said. "We made it this far, why not us? It's only one person standing between us and winning this thing, so I'm excited about it." Asked to address the David-versus-Goliath framing, he didn't argue it away — he added a jab, promising Blaney would "be calling me the Toddfather this weekend, when we wax him, hopefully."
Blaney is refusing to treat it as a formality, and pointed to Gilliland's record at the 2.5-mile oval, where the Cup Series' Indianapolis stop returned two years ago. Blaney's average finish there is fifth; Gilliland's is sixth, from two starts.
"Todd is a great driver, and they have a really good team over there, so it's gonna be tough," Blaney said. "I'm not going into this weekend thinking that it's going to be a layup because it's not. It's gonna be incredibly difficult, and we have to be on top of our game to try to not only compete for the win, but also race that 34 car too."
What the two share is a surname on the entry list going back generations. Both are third-generation drivers: Blaney's father Dave made 473 Cup starts and grandfather Lou was a sprint-car and dirt-modified great; Gilliland's father David made 333 Cup starts and grandfather Butch won the 1997 Winston West title. There is no inherited feud.
"We're very fortunate that we get to do what our family did and what our fathers did," Blaney said. "My dad and David raced together for a long time, so there are some good memories there. I don't think there's a rivalry there that has stemmed down like a Hatfield-McCoy situation. It's just two kids trying to win their teams a bunch of money."
The good-natured tone traces to a Ford team-building trip at Pursell Farms in Alabama, the story both men reach for first. A half-dozen drivers piled onto a golf cart in the dark. "It's pitch black, we can't see anything and we hit a ditch," Gilliland said. "Blaney flew off the back and we're like, 'Oh, no. We just killed Ryan Blaney.' But, luckily, everyone survived."
For all the ribbing, Gilliland made clear what the prize would mean to a smaller team that has not celebrated in a while. A win, he said, would lift the whole No. 34 crew: "It's been a while since we've won anything, so that would be nice."
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/blaney-and-gilliland-duel-for-nascars-1m-in-season-crown). Visit for full coverage.*