Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger get into it, sell fight on stage during NASCAR driver intro at Atlanta

The first-ever NASCAR Bracket Challenge is here, and Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger are already in the spirit. The two drivers took things to another level during intros, and pretended that they were actually fighting on the stage.

Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger are both very similar drivers. Experience in open-wheel back in their early days. Then they made their way to NASCAR and have made a name for themselves with their road course racing ability.

But these two have another way to get wins, drafting races. McDowell and Allmendinger will both be looking to steal a win and a spot in the playoffs tonight. First, they have to race each other as part of the in-season tournament. These two would LOVE to win $1,000,000 in five weeks.

Watch these two sell the fight with one another. Of course, the AEW Championship belt was between them. Nothing like getting in the mood and selling the show, right folks?

THERE’S A FIGHT IN DRIVER INTROS‼️ pic.twitter.com/1Y4AIIFXav

— Spire Motorsports (@SpireMotorsport) June 28, 2025

The in-season challenge is a big deal. Drivers can win $1,000,000 for being the last one standing. Tonight is kind of a thinning-out process. Let 16 drivers get eliminated and then I guarantee these drivers start to take things more seriously.

For Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger, advancing past this weekend is major. Chicago Street and Sonoma are next up on the schedule. Those are two races that these drivers might not just advance in the tournament, but they could find themselves winning.

Neither driver is all that great at Dover. So, it will be very difficult to advance through that race and move on to Indianapolis for the finale. But it can be done. First, they have to get the job done at Atlanta. Only one of these two will advance after tonight.

AJ Allmendinger willing to fight for playoffs

While AJ Allmendinger joked around in driver intros, I bet he would fight another driver for a chance to get into the NASCAR Playoffs. That is all this Kaulig Racing team is focused on as the regular season starts to come to a close.

Bad news, only nine races left to get it done. Good news, five of those races are wildcards. Atlanta and Daytona are two superspeedway tracks that can produce a winner at random. At Chicago and Sonoma, we really only expect a group of five, maybe up to 10 drivers in the rain, to be able to win those races. Allmendinger is definitely one of those drivers.

Atlanta isn’t a likely win for Allmendinger, but it isn’t out of the question. You never know what can happen with a late race restart and about five laps to go. If a driver is in one of those first two or three rows at that point in the race, they have a very good chance of winning.

Michael McDowell vs. AJ Allmendinger tonight in Atlanta. And there are a lot of other one-on-one matchups to keep up with as well. It is all on TNT tonight as NASCAR returns to the broadcaster. It should be a ton of fun.