DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to action at Daytona’s big track following back-to-back weeks of high-drama road course style racing. The Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola takes center stage at the Daytona International Speedway on Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET on the USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
There are still three races remaining to set the 12-driver 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff field – but much to the pleasure of race fans, these drivers have been competing as if each race was a cut-off event.
Sam Mayer claimed last week’s win at the Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International road course with a full-contact overtime re-start knocking the day’s most dominant driver and defending series champion Ty Gibbs from the lead. Mayer took the lead position from Gibbs after the contact and held off Sheldon Creed to claim his second career victory in the series in only the last four races.
It’s worth noting, Gibbs, a fulltime Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender in the NASCAR Cup Series, will not be back in the Xfinity Series this week at Daytona, rather in his stead will be 2011 Daytona 500 winner, Trevor Bayne, driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Last week’s race was as impactful for the top of the championship standings as it was for those drivers competing for the last Playoff position. Austin Hill – who won the series’ February season-opener at Daytona – holds a slim nine-point lead over John Hunter Nemechek for the regular season title and all-important 15-point Playoff bonus. Both drivers had action-packed days on the Watkins Glen road course with Hill being collected in the final restart and finishing 14th and Nemechek taking a hard-earned sixth-place finish.
Jeremy Clements is the defending summertime race winner at Daytona; however, Hill has won two of the last three Xfinity Series events there – both February races in 2022 and 2023. They are the only two current fulltime drivers with a past Daytona trophy. NASCAR Cup Series regular Justin Haley – who has a pair of Daytona Xfinity Series wins – is the only other former winner who will be competing in Friday night’s race.
Should Hill, driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, win Friday night he would be only the second driver ever to sweep both Daytona races in a season. NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. is currently the only one to accomplish the feat (2003).
Eight drivers have already clinched a position in the Playoffs with victories, including Nemechek – who boasts a series best four wins – plus Hill, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Mayer, Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Jeb Burton.
Josh Berry, Creed, 2021 series champion Daniel Hemric and Riley Herbst are currently inside the Playoff points cutoff. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver Herbst, however, holds only a slim three-point advantage over Big Machine Racing’s Parker Kligerman. Herbst was sixth in the Daytona season-opener, Kligerman was 23rd.
This marks a rare race weekend when the series will not have practice but instead qualify right away. Qualifying is set for 3 p.m. ET on Friday and the session will air at 4 p.m. on the USA Network.
Source: Holly Cain / NASCAR Wire Service
