Daytona provides unique challenge to Xfinity’s Big 3

The championship situation in the NASCAR Xfinity Series continues to be an intense game of one-upmanship among three of the brightest young racing stars. Friday night’s Circle K Firecracker 250 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) may be a good opportunity for a new driver to celebrate in Victory Lane and earn a shot at this year’s title. RELATED: Full Daytona schedule | Series standings Entering the race, three drivers – Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer and Christopher Bell – have combined to win 11 of the season’s 15 races, including Custer’s win at Chicagoland Speedway just last week. A member of this trio has hoisted trophies in the last nine consecutive races. But Daytona International Speedway always presents a unique challenge and opportunity. Only one time in the last decade has an Xfinity Series regular won this summer Daytona race – William Byron in his 2017 Xfinity championship season. Last year, Cup star Kyle Larson held off Xfinity title contender Elliott Sadler by a mere .005-second in the closest July race finish in history. Ironically, Reddick’s win in February 2018 – also over Sadler – marked the closest finish in NASCAR national series history: a .0004-second photo finish. The driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet is the only one of this year’s Triumphant Trio who has won an Xfinity race previously at Daytona. He has a pair of top-10 finishes in five starts there. Bell, who drives the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, has two top-10 finishes in three Daytona starts, and his team is undoubtedly eager to rebound from a disqualification last week at Chicago that dropped him from second to third in the title standings. Custer, the driver of the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, has yet to earn a top-10 in five starts at Daytona. His best showing is 14th, and he has done that twice – in February 2018 and 2019. Five other drivers scored their best result of the season at Daytona earlier this year, including Justin Allgaier – a five-time race winner in 2018 – who is still looking for his first victory of the year. He finished runner-up this February.