NASCAR Playoffs recap: Round of 12, Xfinity Series

Editor’s note: With Champion’s Week in Nashville ongoing, NASCAR.com will look back at every playoff round of the 2022 season in all three national series. Race 1: At Texas Motor Speedway, Sept. 24 [caption id="attachment_368351" align="alignright" width="300"]Tim Heitman | Getty Images[/caption] Key highlights: Noah Gragson took the checkered flag in a fourth consecutive race, matching Sam Ard's record from 1983. A handful of playoff drivers were involved in multi-car crashes in the final stage, including regular-season champion AJ Allmendinger. Winner: Noah Gragson Full race recap: Gragson wins fourth straight race to open Xfinity playoffs At-track photos: 2022 Texas playoff weekend [caption id="attachment_368862" align="alignleft" width="313"]Sean Gardner | Getty Images[/caption]

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Race 2: At Talladega Superspeedway, Oct. 1 Key highlights: Allmendinger finally overcame his superspeedway woes to nab his first career win at the track type with his playoff win at Talladega. Noah Gragson and Austin Hill's aggression up front ended up being their downfall as they shuffled themselves to the back of the lead pack in the closing laps. Winner: AJ Allmendinger Full race recap: Allmendinger wins first superspeedway race in photo finish At-track photos: 2022 Talladega playoff weekend [caption id="attachment_369213" align="alignright" width="300"]Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images[/caption]

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Race 3: At Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, Oct. 8 Key highlights: The Round of 12 cutoff race was the Ty Gibbs and Allmendinger show as both battled for the win in the late restarts. Meanwhile, chaos unfolded in the battle for the final Round of 8 spots as Riley Herbst was involved in late-race incidents that eliminated him from championship contention. Winner: AJ Allmendinger Full race recap: Allmendinger fends off Gibbs in overtime finish At-track photos: 2022 Charlotte playoff weekend Drivers eliminated: Ryan Sieg, Daniel Hemric, Riley Herbst, Jeremy Clements