While the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is one race into its playoff race and the Camping World Truck Series has competed in a pair of playoff events, the championship season for the Xfinity Series begins this week at Richmond Raceway.
A field of 12 drivers will begin their quest for the crown beginning in Friday night’s Go Bowling 250 and culminating in Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Justin Allgaier won the regular season championship and after he locked it up last Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the JR Motorsports driver is ready to take a shot at his first career title.
“Obviously, for us, you have to feel good about where we’re at,” Allgaier said. “We’ve had a lot of momentum on our side, we’ve had great finishes, great race cars. But on the flip side, it’s the playoffs. We know how this goes. If you watched the Cup race on Sunday, you saw guys that you’d say, ‘Man, they’re a lock to make it to the next round, and they have plenty of points to bank’—and they don’t have that anymore.”
Allgaier is the number one seed among the dozen drivers who have qualified for the playoffs:
2018 Xfinity Series Playoff Drivers
1) #7-Justin Allgaier, 2039
2) #20-Christopher Bell, 2032
3) #1-Elliott Sadler, 2011
4) #00-Cole Custer, 2011
5) #9-Tyler Reddick, 2010
6) #4/42-Ross Chastain, 2010
7) #21-Daniel Hemric, 2010
8) #19-Brandon Jones, 2006
9) #2-Matt Tifft, 2003
10) #9-Ryan Truex, 2003
11) #12/22/60-Austin Cindric, 2001
12) #16-Ryan Reed, 2000
Like the Cup Series there are some new wrinkles to the schedule of races that make up the rounds leading to Miami. But without further adieu here’s how the “Road to the Championship” will play out:
Round One
Richmond Raceway, Charlotte (Road Course), Dover Int’l Speedway
Things kick off on a short track at Richmond, move to the complete unknown Charlotte road course and then wrap up at the “Monster Mile,” which produced an exciting race back in May. It’s hard to gauge what Charlotte will bring but the four that will have their chances “Over in Dover” will be Reed, Cindric, Truex and Tifft.
Round Two
Kansas Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, ISM Raceway (Phoenix)
There are some gaps in the schedule with weeks off in between but this round is untouched from previous playoff seasons. The pair of 1.5-mile tracks in Kansas and Texas to start the round will favor those drivers that have had speed all year long while the reconfigured ISM Raceway might offer a chance at an upset. But the four “Finished in Phoenix” will wind up being Jones, Chastain, Reddick and Sadler.
Championship 4 – Homestead Miami-Speedway
Allgaier, Bell, Custer and Hemric are the drivers that will battle it out for the title with JR Motorsports prevailing again. This time it will be Allgaier celebrating in south Florida.
The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Motor Racing Network.
