Examining the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Contenders

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

AVONDALE, Ariz. — One champion crowned, two to go.

Next up on the championship docket at Phoenix Raceway will be NASCAR’s second tier series – the NASCAR Xfinity Series, in what will be the swan song for Xfinity as the title sponsor of the series after an 11-year stint atop the series branding.

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 three JR Motorsports Chevrolets, including defending champion Justin Allgaier, hotshoe Connor Zilisch, and newcomer Carson Kvapil. Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love joins the fray as the lone non-JRM car in the mix for the championship.

Allgaier is the lone driver among the four to not only win a championship, but also participate in the Championship 4, with Zilisch, Kvapil, and Love all making their first appearance in the title race.

By the Numbers

What: NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship, Race No. 33 of 33

Where: Phoenix Raceway – Avondale, Arizona

When: Saturday, November 1

TV/Radio: The CW Network, 7:30 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 2025 Race Winner: Aric Almirola – No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Started eighth, 25 laps led)

November 2024 Race Winner: Riley Herbst – No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford (Started third, 167 laps led)

Tale of the Tape – How the Championship 4 Stacks Up:

Justin Allgaier – No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo: Stephen A. Arce/ASP, Inc.

2025 Stats: Three wins (Las Vegas, Homestead, Nashville), 14 top-five finishes, 19 top-10 finishes, two poles, 973 laps led, 12.5 average finish

Phoenix Specific Stats: 30 starts, two wins (2017, 2019), 12 top-five finishes, 20 top-10 finishes, one pole, 730 laps led, 9.6 average finish

How He Got Here: Justin Allgaier has been steady as a rock in his Xfinity Series career and 2025 was no different as he came into the season as the defending series champion, having fought from behind to finally capture that elusive title.

Behind his younger counterpart in the JRM stable in Zilisch, Allgaier has definitely been 1B to Zilisch’s 1A this season and found himself in position to score more than the three wins he did only to miss out on them for various reasons.

Allgaier clinched his spot in the championship race midway through the Round of 8 and has had his sights set firmly on the season finale since then.

Returning to Phoenix, Allgaier certainly has the resume on the one-mile oval to claim back-to-back championships, but has been here before and knows just how tough this winner-take-all format can be.

Nonetheless, look for Allgaier to be a challenger once again on Saturday.

What the Driver Says: “I don’t know that there is a favorite or an underdog this week, right? I think that when you look at the season, when you look at the speed all four of us have had, when you look at the teams. I mean, look, I’m racing against two teammates, right?

“I said at the beginning of the year that I thought we could have all four of our JR Motorsports Chevys in the final four and it got really close. There was a moment in Martinsville where that was a possibility.

“I think that for all of us, we all have different strengths, we all have different weaknesses and I think the conditions, how the race plays out, what that kind of looks like could be all the difference in the world of whether one of the four of us is sitting in the championship role. So, I’m excited for this weekend.”

Allgaier added that being the elder statesman of the garage area and especially among his championship rivals could certainly be an added advantage for him and the No. 7 team on Saturday.

“The only advantage that I probably have over the other three is that I’ve at least been in this scenario and I’ve dealt with the stresses and the processes and all of the things that go with it. But on the other side of it, you never really know how you’re going to react in a game seven moment, until you’ve lived it, right?

“And these guys are going to find things out about themselves that they probably didn’t even know existed and they might unlock something in their own journey through this that makes them better. So, I’m here for it. Like I said, I think winning one last year has allowed me to be a lot more free and this year, and I’m not as nervous, actually, it’s funny, I’m coming in this weekend with no stress at all. I’m just pumped on this weekend and I’m excited to see it kind of cap off.”

Connor Zilisch – No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo: Luis Torres/Motorsports Tribune

2025 Stats: 10 wins (Austin, Pocono, Sonoma, Dover, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen, Daytona – Kligerman substitution, Portland, Gateway, Charlotte), 19 top-five finishes, 22 top-10 finishes, eight poles, 986 laps led, 8.2 average finish

Phoenix Specific Stats: Two starts, one top-five finish, one top-10 finish, two laps led, 10.0 average finish

How He Got Here: After lighting the world on fire in his series debut at the end of the 2024 season, Zilisch hit the ground running in 2025 and hasn’t looked back since.

Along the way, Zilisch has found his way to capture 10 wins (one of which was finished out by Parker Kligerman at Daytona) and built a commanding lead in the standings to cement his place as the driver to beat for the championship.

Though he has been injury prone along the way, with a back injury at Talladega that kept him out of the car at Texas and suffering a broken collarbone while celebrating his win at Watkins Glen, Zilisch has bounced back with authority and will look to finish out his tenure in the Xfinity Series with a championship before moving up to the Cup Series in 2026.

All expectations are that Zilisch will be a force to be reckoned with on Saturday for the title, but should that not come to fruition, the 19-year-old is not going to let the outcome define what has been an amazing season thus far.

What the Driver Says: “I don’t feel any extra pressure to win the championship,” said Zilisch. “I feel like everybody who’s watched this year knows what I’ve done and I don’t think anybody, if I finish second this weekend and lose a championship, I don’t think anybody’s going to say, man, that kid just doesn’t have it.

“I feel like I’ve proved what I feel like I need to prove for myself and I feel like I’m pretty satisfied with how the year’s gone and I’ve told all my team that no matter what happens on Saturday night, that I’m really proud of us and what we’ve done this year and no matter what this year is a success.

“…If I woke up Monday as a champion versus not a champion, hell yeah, I’m going to be happier if I’m a champion, but that’s not going to change my outlook on the season.”

Carson Kvapil – No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo: Will McDermitt/Motorsports Tribune

2025 Stats: No wins, seven top-five finishes, 14 top-10 finishes, 104 laps led, 13.8 average finish

Phoenix Specific Stats: One start, no top-five or top-10 finishes, one lap led, 26.0 average finish

How He Got Here: Kvapil is certainly the driver among the four that not many, if any, expected to make it to the title race in his first full-time season in the Xfinity Series, but still, he’s here and has just as good a chance to pull off the championship as any of them.

Despite not having a win to this point in the season, Kvapil has put in a consistent run and outlasted the chaos at Martinsville last weekend to earn his place in the championship race by four points over Brandon Jones.

Now it’s all about strapping in and getting the job done when the green flag flies out in the Arizona desert.

What the Driver Says: “I’m happy. I mean I feel super grateful to be in this opportunity,” said Kvapil. “Obviously my background not I guess having the blank check to get here and to work for it and have Dale Jr. And Kelley and LW behind me to get me to this point solely at their mercy. I’m super grateful for that and I just can’t wait to go out here.

“We have expectations. We’re expecting to go win the championship on our end, but we don’t really have expectations to the outside world and we haven’t been the flashy 10 wins of the year and we’ve just been consistent and we’ve finished the most races, I think, and stuff like that.

“So, I’m really excited to, I guess unzip the collar and then kind of go for it. And I feel like all season I’ve kind of played nice guy and I’ve get cut people breaks and I haven’t backed someone in the wall every week and I’ve just tried to make allies all year and hopefully all that was worth it throughout the season to maybe give up spot or two here and there to keep those relationships to all to go into this one and to attack Phoenix.”

Jesse Love – No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Photo: Luis Torres/Motorsports Tribune

2025 Stats: One win (Daytona), eight top-five finishes, 21 top-10 finishes, 262 laps led, four poles, 11.4 average finish

Phoenix Specific Stats: Three starts, one top-five finish, three top-10 finishes, six laps led, 5.7 average finish

How He Got Here: Love earned his spot in the Playoffs with a win in the season opener at Daytona and padded his resume along the way with consistent finishes inside the top-10, setting himself up to make a deep run in the postseason with the aim of making it to Phoenix with a shot at the title.

However, that all nearly came off the rails last weekend in Martinsville when he almost threw away a 40-point lead over the cut-off line with a dismal day on the half-mile bullring. Despite a 23^rd place finish, he was able to escape with a spot in the Championship 4.

As the only non-JRM driver in the championship field, Love will be looking to spoil the party by going out and taking the championship for himself to add his name to the list of drivers that have been able to call themselves a champion of the Xfinity Series.

What the Driver Says: “I know what’s at stake. I know the pressure,” said Love. “I know all of the stuff that I am most likely going to feel, and no matter what it doesn’t change my approach to the weekend. I’m going to show up and be the best Jesse Love that I can be. I’m going to try to have the best performance that I’ve ever had, and if I can do that, then I know I have a shot at winning the championship.

“Phoenix Raceway is one of my best racetracks, statistically. It’s a place where I’ve raced for the win at on multiple occasions. I think I’ve finished third or fourth there in the NASCAR Truck Series. I ran seventh there in my first race with RCR. We were a couple hundred feet from winning last year there in the fall.

“We weren’t in the position to win the championship, but I know I can put myself in that same spot again this weekend. We went a different route in the spring. We still got a top-10 finish, but we weren’t contenders for the win.

“We have a really good understanding of what I need in the car going into this weekend. Specifically, when the sun goes down and the lights turn on, we have a really good plan.”