By David Morgan, Associate Editor
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Day two at Phoenix Raceway will be highlighted by NASCAR’s second highest division, as the NASCAR Xfinity Series wraps up its 2024 campaign by crowning its newest champion – three of which would be a first-time series champion.
Twelve championship hopefuls started the six-week march to the Valley of the Sun, with only four drivers left standing to duel it out in the Arizona desert on Saturday night.
It all comes down to a battle between JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger, Richard Childress Racing star Austin Hill, and the defending series champion in Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer.
By the Numbers
What: NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship, Race No. 33 of 33
Where: Phoenix Raceway – Avondale, Arizona
When: Saturday, November 9
TV/Radio: The CW Network, 6:00 pm ET / MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90
Track Size: 1.0-mile oval
Banking: Eight to nine degrees in Turns 1-2, 10 to 11 degrees in Turns 3-4 and frontstretch dogleg
Race Length: 200 laps, 200 miles
Stage Lengths: Stage One/Two – 45 laps each, Final stage – 110 laps
March 2024 Race Winner: Chandler Smith – No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Started second, 88 laps led)
November 2023 Race Winner: Cole Custer – No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford (Started seventh, 96 laps led)
Tale of the Tape – How the Championship 4 Stacks Up:
Justin Allgaier – No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet
2024 Stats: Two wins (Darlington, Michigan), nine top-five finishes, 19 top-10 finishes, 705 laps led, 13.9 average finish
Phoenix Specific Stats: 28 starts, two wins (2017, 2019), 10 top-five finishes, 18 top-10 finishes, 596 laps led, 10.0 average finish
How He Got Here: With two wins and a host of top-five and top-10’s in the regular season, Allgaier appeared to be destined for the regular season championship until a rough outing in the regular season finale at Bristol dropped him out of contention for that title and the bonus points that come with it.
The tough luck for the No. 7 team continued through the first round of the Playoffs as Allgaier just barely snuck into the next round by four points.
They returned to form in the Round of 8, with no finishes worse than eighth, banking enough points to get himself into the Championship 4 for the seventh time in his career as he looks to finally capture the Xfinity Series title that has eluded him all these years.
What the Driver Says: “I feel like in years past, I’ve kind of carried it on my back of like, we have to go here, we have to do this. We have to lead every lap and win the race and qualify on the pole. And you get caught up in that mentality.
“I mean, last year here, I spun out on lap five or whatever just trying to get in front of the other Playoff cars because I just wanted to prove a point that my car was fast enough to get in front of the other Playoff cars. That’s not what we needed to do.
“This year in 2024, we’ve had more raw speed as a group than we’ve ever had. Won more stages, led more laps, done all those things that, you know, I think are important.
“I feel like in years past, we’ve not had that. We’ve not had the confidence that we’ve had the raw speed to come in here and compete for the win. We had to almost get one. Right? And this year, there is no doubt in my mind that we can’t go out and outpace the other three.
“And if you can do that, then obviously it makes the road to the championship a lot easier. So, I think that’s given me some peace just looking at this a lot differently than I have in years past.”
A.J. Allmendinger – No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
2024 Stats: One win (Las Vegas), seven top-five finishes, 17 top-10 finishes, 258 laps led, 13.5 average finish
Phoenix Specific Stats: Seven starts, two top-five finishes, three top-10 finishes, 10.6 average finish
How He Got Here: After a year away from the Xfinity Series, Allmendinger returned in 2024, but with mixed results this time around.
Usually a lock for a win or two in the regular season, Allmendinger went winless until the opening race of the regular season where he went out and won at Las Vegas to clinch his place in the championship finale.
With additional time for Allmendinger and Kaulig Racing to prepare for Phoenix, the No. 16 team is eyeing Saturday’s big prize before Allmendinger heads back to the Cup Series in 2025.
What the Driver Says: “This year, I mean, hell, there was a time in the middle of the summer where Chris and I started looking at each other. I’m like, we might just have to do something to make the Playoffs, let alone worry about trying to go through each round. So, it’s definitely been just an up and down year.
“I mean, I kind of laughed about last week. I’m like, yeah, that seems about right. We should finish last before we go to the championship race. Like, I mean, why not for the way the year’s gone? But yeah, I think that’s why I want to win this championship.
“You know, for me personally, it’s something that you add to a resume. Like I said that a lot of people that don’t get the opportunity, but does it change my life whether I’m standing in Victory Lane with a championship on Saturday, it doesn’t change my life. I know what I’m doing next year. I know that Matt and Chris have made the commitment to me that I can be here for as long as I want to be. But the satisfaction might change other people’s lives inside the race team.
“And that’s where the determination and the intensity this weekend will come from is trying to bring a championship to Matt and Chris and all the men and women because I’ve seen the hard work and I feel like at times this year I’ve let ’em down. It means more to me for them than it would ever for me.”
Cole Custer – No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
2024 Stats: Two wins (Pocono, Bristol), 14 top-five finishes, 22 top-10 finishes, five poles, 772 laps led, 10.6 average finish
Phoenix Specific Stats: Nine starts, one win (2023), four top-five finishes, seven top-10 finishes, 201 laps led, 7.6 average finish
How He Got Here: Custer scored his first career Xfinity title in this race a year ago and is back at Phoenix looking to make it two in a row before Stewart-Haas Racing closes up shop at season’s end.
Piloting his No. 00 Ford to two wins in the regular season, including in the regular season finale, Custer was true to form in the Playoffs through both the first and second rounds en route to another appearance in the championship race.
Though feathers may have been ruffled with Chandler Smith in the last race at Martinsville, Custer looks to put all of that behind him to give SHR a walk-off win on Saturday night.
What the Driver Says: “I think we have done a great job executing all year and the process that we take throughout the week of checking all the boxes has worked really well for us and we just have to go out there and do it one more time. We know that we are a team that when we do things right we are going to be towards the front.
“It would mean so much to everybody in that building, but at the same time I think it would be so cool to see Tony and Gene go out on top in a series in NASCAR. We are going to give everything we’ve got to try to do that and end this thing strong.”
Austin Hill – No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
2024 Stats: Four wins (Daytona, Atlanta 1, Atlanta 2, Homestead), 11 top-five finishes, 19 top-10 finishes, two poles, 240 laps led, 11.7 average finish
Phoenix Specific Stats: Five starts, one top-five finish, four top-10 finishes, 43 laps led, 8.8 average finish
How He Got Here: Hill, the superspeedway ace, banked three of his four wins on drafting tracks in the regular season with wins in the season opener at Daytona, along with a sweep of the races at his home track in Atlanta to earn his place in the Playoffs.
He would finish the first round of the postseason in fourth-place and when the series rolled into Homestead two weeks later, he was able to score his fourth win of the season to secure his spot in the season finale.
Making his first appearance in the championship race, Hill is looking to silence the naysayers and deliver Richard Childress Racing another title.
What the Driver Says: “You know, it seems like every time, every year we go into a new season, there’s a lot of people that doubt me, but we’re here this weekend for a reason. We can win a championship just as good as any of these three guys can, so we’re gonna make the most of it.
“I feel really good. I’ve been telling the race team all week that the hard part’s done, going from the Round of 12 to the Round of 8 and then making it out of the Round of 8 to the round of 4, that’s the hard part. Trying to make it to the final four is what’s really hard. Now that we are in the final four, we just have to go beat three guys.
“Easier said than done, I know. But, these three guys, they’re very fierce competitors. They’re really good at this racetrack. They have really good race teams behind them, but now that we’re here, now that we’ve made it, that final four, our opportunity is just as good as anyone else and I think we can get the job done.”
Connect with Us
To RSS Feed
Followers
Likes