{"id":99985,"date":"2025-08-21T18:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T18:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/99985\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T18:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T18:40:09","slug":"daytona-set-to-shake-up-xfinity-playoff-picture-with-three-to-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/99985\/","title":{"rendered":"Daytona Set to Shake Up Xfinity Playoff Picture with Three to Go"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Three more NASCAR Xfinity Series races remain to settle which 12 drivers will advance to this year\u2019s Playoffs and Friday night\u2019s Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola (730 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) has traditionally proven to be anyone\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

To that point, current championship leader and season\u2019s winningest driver (six victories) Connor Zilisch is still expected to qualify and start the race. How many laps he does afterward depends on his recovery after breaking his collarbone in a frightening fall off his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet celebrating his victory in the series\u2019 last race at Watkins Glen, N.Y. two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Zilisch, his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier and Haas Factory Team\u2019s Sam Mayer are separated by only 34 points in the competition for the regular season title. Zilisch and Allgaier by only nine points out front.<\/p>\n

Part-time Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ryan Truex is the defending Daytona race winner, however, he is not entered this weekend. A strong group of notable championship contenders join him in celebrating most recently at the big track \u2013 from Richard Childress Racing\u2019s Jesse Love, who won here in February to his teammate Austin Hill, who had won the three previous season-openers and is the series\u2019 all-time drafting track champion (eight wins). Reigning series champ Allgaier won the Fall Daytona race in 2023.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Considering the circumstances \u2013 and the history track in general \u2013 a new winner at Daytona would not surprise. Last year\u2019s Daytona NASCAR Cup Series summer race winner, Harrison Burton, is certainly eyeing a return to Victory Lane. That victory proved as much to himself as others that he can win when much on the line.<\/p>\n

Going into the weekend, eight drivers have secured Playoff positions via a win. JR Motorsports\u2019 Carson Kvapil (-112), Haas Factory Team\u2019s Sheldon Creed (-77), Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Taylor Gray (-76) and Burton (-30) claim the points positions beyond the winners list. And Creed, Kvapil and Gray finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, at Daytona in February.<\/p>\n

Just below the cutoff line is Harrison Burton\u2019s cousin Jeb Burton, who has a pair of wins on the sport\u2019s other big track, Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Owner-driver Ryan Sieg is only 38 points out of a transfer position and raced to a fifth-place finish in this race last year.<\/p>\n

Of note, Chevrolet has won 14 of the last 16 races at Daytona and already this year has won 20 of the 23 races on the schedule \u2013 a record for the series.<\/p>\n

Former Daytona NASCAR Cup Series race winners, Justin Haley (No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevy) and Aric Almirola (No. 19 JGR Toyota) will be competing Friday night as well.<\/p>\n

There is no practice this weekend. Kennametal Pole Qualifying takes place at 3 p.m. ET on Friday (The CW App). Current NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoff driver Chandler Smith won the pole position for this race last year and finished second.<\/p>\n

Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service<\/p>\n

\"\"2025 NXS Wawa 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway \u2013 Race #24 Entry List \u2013 Preliminary\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Three more NASCAR Xfinity Series races remain to settle which 12 drivers will advance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[425,99],"class_list":["post-99985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}