NASCAR Xfinity Series News & Notes Las Vegas Motor Speedway

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NASCAR Xfinity Series

Next Race: Ambetter Health 302

The Place: Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Track Type: 1.5 Mile Asphalt Oval

The Date: Saturday, October 19

The Time: 7:30 p.m. ET

The Purse: $1,409,745

TV: CW, 7 p.m. ET

Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)

Distance: 301.5 miles (201 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 45),

Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 201)

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Unleashing the Xfinity Series Playoffs‘ Round of 8 on Las Vegas

After wrapping up the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs‘ Round of 12 last weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course and eliminating four drivers from the postseason — Shane van Gisbergen, Sheldon Creed, Riley Herbst and Parker Kligerman – it‘s time to unleash the eight contenders that advanced on Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Ambetter Health 302, this Saturday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. ET on the CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, the fourth event of the seven-race Playoffs and the first of the Round of 8.

Heading into this weekend at Las Vegas, JR Motorsport‘s driver Justin Allgaier ranks first in the Playoff standings, up +18 points on the Championship 4 Round cutoff. In Allgaier‘s tire tracks are Stewart-Haas Racing‘s Cole Custer in second, up +11 points on the next round‘s cut line, Richard Childress Racing‘s Austin Hill in third, up +9 on the cutline and Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Chandler Smith is fourth, up eight points on the cutoff.

The four drivers just below the Championship 4 Round cut line in the Xfinity Playoff standings are JR Motorsports‘ Sam Mayer in fourth, back eight points from the cutoff, Richard Childress Racing‘s Jesse Love is ranked sixth, -12 points behind the Championship 4 cutoff, Kaulig Racing‘s A.J. Allmendinger is seventh, -18 points back from the cutline and JR Motorsports‘ Sammy Smith is in the eighth and final spot, just 19 points behind Chandler Smith in the final transfer spot to the Championship 4 Round.

Interestingly, seven of the eight contenders in the Playoffs have advanced to the Round of 8 previously in their careers, the lone exception is rookie Jesse Love.

Of the eight contenders, JR Motorsports‘ Justin Allgaier has the most experience navigating this round, as this is his ninth appearance in the Round of 8 (series-most) – 2024, ’23, ’22, ’21, ’20, ’19, ’18, ’17, ’16.

Worth noting, four of the current eight Xfinity Playoff contenders in the Round of 8 have advanced to the Championship 4 Round in their careers previously — Justin Allgaier (2023, ’22, ’20, ’19, ’17, ’16), Cole Custer (2023, ’19, ’18), A.J. Allmendinger (2021) and Sam Mayer (2023).

Clinch Scenarios: Las Vegas Motor Speedway

This weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, marks the first of three chances (Las Vegas, Homestead, Martinsville) for the Round of 8 drivers to earn their spot in the Championship 4 Round, and compete for the title in Phoenix. Here are this weekend‘s clinch scenarios in the Xfinity Series Playoffs.

Already Clinched

No drivers have clinched a spot in the 4-driver field of the next round.

Can Clinch Via Win

The following drivers would clinch on their win alone: Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer, Jesse Love, AJ Allmendinger, Sammy Smith

Vegas is shining bright for the Xfinity Series this weekend

The 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway has hosted 34 NASCAR Xfinity Series races, producing 25 different race winners and 20 different pole winners. Six races have been won from the pole or first starting position, most recently by Chase Briscoe in 2020.

JR Motorsports‘ Justin Allgaier, who is a Round of 8 contender, has gotten pretty lucky at the Las Vegas track, having posted the most top fives (10), top 10s (17), lead lap finishes (18) and laps completed (3,930).

Three previous winners are entered in this weekend‘s Ambetter Health 302 — Riley Herbst (2023) and Playoff contenders A.J. Allmendinger (2021) and Austin Hill (2023).

This will be the third time (2022, 2023, 2024) that Las Vegas Motor Speedway kicks off the Round of 8 in the Xfinity Series Playoffs. In the 2020 and 2021 seasons, the track was the first race in the post season — Chase Briscoe won in 2020, and Josh Berry won in 2021. The Las Vegas, Nevada track was not a postseason track from 2016-2019.

The Xfinity Series will kick off the weekend with practice on Friday, October 18 at 6:35 p.m. ET followed by qualifying at 7:05 p.m. ET on the USA Network and the NBC Sports App.

Déjà vu for JR Motorsports‘ Sam Mayer

In the last two seasons JR Motorsports‘ Sam Mayer has found himself in a must-win situation heading into the Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, and in back-to-back years he has managed to pull off the unthinkable and win his way into the next round of the postseason.

Mayer now heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to kick off the Playoffs Round of 8 — his third time making it to the second round of the Playoffs — looking to keep his momentum going. Last season, Mayer was able to earn a spot in Championship 4 Round, a feat he hopes to accomplish again this season.

Mayer has made six Xfinity Series starts at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway posting one top-five and three top-10 finishes. Mayer will be looking to rebound from his 38th-place finish at Las Vegas earlier this season.

Field Is Set: All bets are off on this Round of 8

The competition just tightened up for the race to the championship as four drivers were eliminated last weekend — Shane van Gisbergen, Sheldon Creed, Parker Kligerman and Riley Herbst — leaving eight drivers in the hunt for the 2024 title.

These eight drivers — Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer, Jesse Love, A.J. Allmendinger and Sammy Smith — now head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to kick off the Round of 8.

Let‘s take a look at how they have performed at the 1.5-mile track:

Justin Allgaier: 20 starts, 10 top fives, 17 top 10s, 288 laps led

Cole Custer: Eight starts, four top fives, six top 10s, 116 laps led

Austin Hill: Six starts, one win (2023), two top fives, four top 10s, 40 laps led

Chandler Smith: Three starts, three top fives, 215 laps led

Sam Mayer: Six starts, one top five, three top 10s, 26 laps led

Jesse Love: One start (2024), 17th-place finish

A.J. Allmendinger: Five starts, one win (2021), one top five, four top 10s, 103 laps led

Sammy Smith: Three starts, one top 10

NASCAR Xfinity Series, Etc.

Bubba Pollard to run at Martinsville — Sam Hunt Racing announced that Andrew "Bubba" Pollard will make his second career NASCAR Xfinity Series start on Saturday, Nov. 2, competing in the National Debt Relief 250 at Martinsville Speedway.

The 37-year-old Senoia, Georgia, native made his Xfinity Series debut earlier this season at Richmond Raceway where he finished sixth after starting at the tail of the field. Pollard has over 100 late model wins and has collected 15 championship trophies from various late model championships.

"I‘m thrilled to have the opportunity to race at Martinsville with SANY and SHR," Pollard said. "I really enjoyed the experience racing at Richmond earlier this season. Thanks to SANY, I‘m excited to be back in an Xfinity car and can‘t wait to hit the track again."

NASCAR Xfinity Series Milestones to watch for — Below are some milestones to take note of in the NASCAR Xfinity Series:

Starts

• Sheldon Creed will make his 100th NASCAR Xfinity Series career start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, becoming the 169th different driver to reach 100 or more starts in the series.
• Brandon Jones will attempt to make his 300th NASCAR Xfinity Series career start at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
• Cole Custer will attempt to make his 175th NASCAR Xfinity Series career start at Martinsville Speedway.

Driver Wins (5 or more – series regulars)

Justin Allgaier leads all active drivers in career wins with 25 victories, followed by A.J. Allmendinger (17), Cole Custer (15), Austin Hill (9), Sam Mayer (7) and Brandon Jones (5).

— NASCAR —