The Xfinity Series is ready to crown their champion for what was a wild season for the “Series Where Names are Made.” It took a lot of drama to set the field for the championship race and I doubt the race Saturday at Phoenix will lack even more drama. COLE CUSTER, JUSTIN ALLGAIER, AJ ALLMENDINGER and AUSTIN HILL are all looking to win the championship Saturday. It would be nice to see Allgaier finally win his first Xfinity Series Championship, but it would also be cool to see Custer or Allmendinger win a championship before they leave for the Cup Series in 2025. What will happen between Chandler Smith and Cole Custer? Is this feud over, or will it continue at Phoenix. This could easily be the best race of the weekend. The Xfinity Series Championship can be seen Saturday at 7 p.m. on CW Network.
XFINITY SERIES PLAYOFF STANDINGS
PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING AT PHOENIX
This is championship weekend for NASCAR, so that means we need a championship schedule at Phoenix Raceway. The Xfinity Series had a 50-minute practice session Friday night to dial in their cars for Saturday’s race. The teams were able to make adjustments before they lined up for qualifying Saturday afternoon.
I was expecting to learn a lot from practice but oil was put down by Brennan Poole and it caused Justin Allgaier, Aric Almirola, Brandon Jones and Parker Kligerman to hit the wall and go to backup cars. I expected those cars to be really good, but it is tough to compare their backup cars to the cars that did not crash in practice.
Here are the lap times from the practice Friday’s practice at Phoenix…
STATS TO USE FOR PHOENIX
The Xfinity Series last raced at Phoenix in March. A lot has happened since that race, but we still need to focus our picks on the date from the race. We can also use the data from the races at Iowa, New Hampshire, Nashville and Richmond to handicap the race Saturday. The drivers who consistently ran up front at these tracks should be the drivers who run up front this weekend.
Here are the average DraftKings Points from the last four short, flat track races this year…
STRATEGY FOR PHOENIX
There is a good chance that one of the championship four drivers will dominate the race Saturday and earn a spot in Victory Lane. Here is how the stats look for four drivers racing for the championship.
COLE CUSTER: Custer won this race last year. He then returned to Phoenix in March and won the pole, led 61 laps and finished 5th. Custer also led 114 laps and finished 3rd at New Hampshire. Custer has the best Driver Ranking, led the most laps and he has the best average finishing position of all the playoff drivers on the short, flat tracks in 2024. It is going to be tough to beat the No. 00 car Saturday.
JUSTIN ALLGAIER: Allgaier has turned into the Denny Hamlin of the Xfinity Series. He is clearly one of the best drivers in the Xfinity Series, but he still has not won the championship. Will this be the year “Little Gator” gets his championship? Allgaiers average finishing position in the spring at Phoenix is 4th in his last three races. His average finishing position in the Championship Race is 25th. The No. 7 team is in a hole since they will start the race in a backup car and they will start from the back tonight. I would not bet against Allgaier winning this race Saturday.
AJ ALLMENDINGER: Allmendinger may have an uphill battle trying to win the championship Saturday. His average finishing position in his last three races at Phoenix is 10th. He is going to need to do a lot better than that if he wants to beat Cole Custer or Justin Allgaier. Allmendinger also finished 18th at Phoenix in March, 14th at Richmond, 11th at New Hampshire and 37th at Iowa. His only top-10 finish on a short, flat track this year happened at Nashville when he finished 7th. The stats are against Allmendinger winning the championship Saturday at Phoenix.
AUSTIN HILL: Hill is the surprise pick in the championship four. He got off to a hot start this year, cooled down over the summer and then won the race at Homestead to advance to the championship four. Hill has not been very good on the short, flat tracks this year. He finished 8th at Richmond, 29th at Iowa and 24th at New Hampshire. Hill did finish 4th at Phoenix in March and 4th at Nashville in June. He has not led a lap on a short track this year, so it may be tough for the No. 21 car to find Victory Lane Saturday. Hill should have a decent race. I am just not sure he can out-run the No. 00 and the No. 7 cars, unless they have problems in the race.
The drivers with the best chance to score dominator points Saturday includes Chandler Smith, Sheldon Creed, Cole Custer, William Silwalich and Justin Allgaier
The drivers with the best chance to score place differential points Aric Almirola, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Parker Kligerman, Sammy Smith, Ryan Sieg, Connor Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen
DRIVER RANKINGS FOR PHOENIX
DRAFTKINGS CASH CONTEST LINEUP
DRAFTKINGS TOURNAMENT CONTEST LINEUP
DRIVER GROUP GAME PICKS
Good Luck This Weekend!
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