DAYTONA BEACH, FL. – With four races remaining to set the 12-driver 2022 Playoff field, the NASCAR Xfinity Series shows up at Daytona International Raceway for Friday night’s Wawa 250 powered by Coca-Cola (7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) expecting a dramatic chapter in the 2022 championship story.
Two-time defending race winner Justin Haley will be making his first Xfinity Series start of 2022 in a fourth Kaulig Racing Chevrolet this week. His presence as a race favorite will certainly step up the intensity in a field still hotly contesting that regular season championship.
Going to Daytona, three-time race winner A.J. Allmendinger now carries a hefty 61-point lead on rookie, five-race winner Ty Gibbs, who will do double duty – also driving Kurt Busch’s No. 45 Toyota in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.
The duo atop the points finished runner-up (Allmendinger) and 27th (Gibbs) at Watkins Glen, N.Y. last week, but neither of them has won on the 2.5-mile Daytona oval. Allmendinger was runner-up in the last two Daytona races, finishing a slight .023-seconds behind Haley in this race last year.
Three are four former winners entered this weekend – Haley, JR Motorsports driver Noah Gragson (2020, Spring) and the most recent winner Austin Hill, who took the trophy in the February season-opener. Joe Nemechek, who won this race in 1998 and 2002 will be teaming with his son, John Hunter Nemechek in a pair of Chevrolets fielded by Sam Hunt Racing.
Former NASCAR Cup Series Daytona race winner Ricky Stenhouse will be competing in the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet in a weekend double.
There is no denying the intensifying competition in the series. The top six drivers in the standings are all multi-time race winners. Beyond Gibbs’ five victories, Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier and Noah Gragson all boast three wins. Josh Berry and the most recent Daytona winner Hill have a pair of wins and Brandon Jones has one trophy.
Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, 2021 Xfinity Series champion Daniel Hemric, Landon Cassill and Ryan Sieg are currently safely inside the Playoff cutoff.
Currently Sieg holds a 39-point advantage on Sheldon Creed for the that final transfer position. Sieg has three top-five finishes at Daytona including third-place showings in 2013 and 2016. Creed, the 2020 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, finished sixth this February in only his second NASCAR Xfinity Series start at the track. He has two top-10 finishes in three Truck Series starts at Daytona.
The Xfinity Series qualifying at Daytona is set for 3:05 p.m. ET on Friday and will be televised on USA Network. There are 43 drivers vying for 38 starting positions.
Source: Holly Cain/NASCAR Wire Service
