\u201cAt the end of the day, guys don’t care whether they’re deserving or not (because) all they care about is whether or not they’re in the championship,\u201d Zilisch said on Saturday during a press conference at Martinsville. \u201cSo yeah, it’s very tough but it\u2019s just the format that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allgaier couldn\u2019t resist the quip.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the beauty of being locked in here, trust me,\u201d he said with a quip.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Watch: Austin Hill makes inside maneuver, wins chaotic overtime Martinsville finish<\/p>\n
Not that Zilisch, a rookie who set all kinds of full season records, knew what it was like to ever face a must-win at least until next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know, I know,\u201d he said with a laugh. \u201cI\u2019ve never been on the other side of it, but it\u2019s nice to be on this side of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who is sweating it out on Saturday night, are their JR Motorsports<\/a> teammates, Carson Kvapil<\/a> and Sammy Smith<\/a>, on each of the elimination cutline.<\/p>\n Provisional Playoff Grid<\/p>\n Connor Zilisch Adv. What must be done<\/p>\n So there are two ways to look at the state of play.<\/p>\n With a winner from below the cutline, Saturday night is a straight-up points battle through two stages between Kvapil and Smith and scoring points even at the expense of track position come the start of the final stage is their main priority.<\/p>\n “For us, we each have our own goals for our team … we’re going to try our hardest to knock the other one out,” Kvapil said of Smith. “If the other three don’t win, it’s going to be me or him, so yeah, he’s going to do his job to try to score stage points and to try to win at the end and we’re going to do the same thing.<\/p>\n “We would love to have all four cars in the final but right now, that looks hard to do. We have to run our own races, and try to keep it clean, and stay out of trouble.”<\/p>\n To his point, it would take Love having an issue in the first stage, scoring no stage points and finishing well outside of the top-30 to give JRM a chance at a sweep. Thus, Smith has to just race it out with Kvapil and hope that Sheldon Creed, Sam Mayer or Brandon Jones do not win.<\/p>\n If that happens, and Love gets in on points, both Kvapil and Smith are out.<\/p>\n “I second what Carson said — that it is going to be hard to get all four JRM cars in — even if that would be the end goal for everyone,” Smith said. “That would be great. But with (Love’s) situation, that will be pretty tough. Like Carson said, it’s about both of us running our race. They are going to be tough. We’re going to be tough. It’s going to be tough for everyone and hopefully someone below us doesn’t win and knock us both out.”<\/p>\n Kvapil needs to make up 29 points on Love to advance if there is a winner below them. Of course, if Zilisch or Allgaier win, that also makes it easier for both of their teammates to find a way to get in should Love have an issue.<\/p>\n Read Also:<\/p>\n Principal’s Office<\/p>\n NASCAR Xfinity Series managing director Eric Peterson is going to have a brief meeting with his drivers before the race on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Jusin Allgaier Adv.
Jesse Love<\/a> +40
Carson Kvapil +11
—
Sammy Smith -11
Brandon Jones<\/a> -20
Sam Mayer<\/a> -22
Sheldon Creed<\/a> -41<\/p>\n