Eight drivers begin the three-race, NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs Round of 8 in this Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The series returns to Playoff action after an off-week and will compete at a unique venue in that the past two years, the Kansas Speedway race has been won by a non-Playoff driver. Current championship leader Christopher Bell won this race in 2017 when making only a handful of starts. And current series rookie John Hunter Nemechek won this race last year as part of a limited Xfinity schedule. The two join Nemechek’s father, veteran Joe Nemechek, as the only three previous Kansas winners entered this week.
The eight drivers who advanced to this round – in order of their points positions – are Bell, fellow seven-race winner Cole Custer, defending series champion Tyler Reddick, two-race winner Austin Cindric, veteran Justin Allgaier, rookie Chase Briscoe, veteran Michael Annett and rookie Noah Gragson. Bell holds a 12-point edge over Custer. Defending champ Reddick is third, 18 points back.
Gragson is last in the standings, but trails fourth-place Austin Cindric by only 12 points; only four drivers advance to the Homestead-Miami Speedway championship race.
Of those, only Bell and Gragson have hoisted trophies in Kansas Victory Lane. Bell won the 2017 Xfinity race and Gragson won last year’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race from the pole position.
Bell would certainly like to regain that 2017 winning form. He suffered the first of two consecutive Playoff DNFs at Kansas last year, completing only two laps on the Kansas 1.5-mile high banks. Bell arrives at the track with an admirable 2019 Playoff track record already, however. Of the eight Playoff drivers, he has easily led the more laps (257) in the previous Playoff races than any of his current competitors. Next on the list is the rookie Briscoe, who has led 92 laps.
Defending series champion Reddick boasts the best average finish at the track – 3.5 in two starts, followed by Allgaier who has averaged an 11.6 finish in eight Kansas starts. Among the eight Playoff drivers Reddick also has the best average finish (5.0) on 1.5-mile tracks like Kansas this season. Gragson (6.7), Annett (7.0) and Custer (10.7). Bell’s average finish on 1.5 milers this season is 12.9, ahead of only Allgaier (13.1) among the Playoff eligible.
“Kansas is such a fun track to race on,” said the 21-year old Gragson, driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. “We were able to get the win there last year in the Truck Series after winning the pole and I feel really confident that we will unload with that same kind of speed this weekend.
“We’ve kept this momentum on our side through the first round of the Playoffs and hopefully we can keep that going on Saturday and put ourselves in a really good position as the Final Four gets closer.”
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
