It’s crunch time at Charlotte for NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs drivers

Justin Allgaier and John Hunter Nemechek already have qualified for the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs thanks to their respective victories at Bristol and Texas. Cole Custer has also secured his spot in the next round on points.

Regular-Season champion Austin Hill, and Chandler Smith enjoy relatively comfortable margins above the current cut line—44 points and 32 points, respectively.

Jeb Burton, Josh Berry and Sam Mayer likely need to win Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course—the elimination race for the Round of 12 (3 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

With the agendas of the above drivers well-established, the suspense shifts to the battle around the bubble involving eighth-place Daniel Hemric and ninth-place Parker Kligerman. Hemric, the 2021 series champion, holds a one-point lead over his closest pursuer.

Both drivers are accomplished road racers, but where Hemric has a pair of third-place finishes at the Charlotte Roval, Kligerman has never raced there in an Xfinity Series car. In his lone outing at the track—in a Cup Series car fielded by Gaunt Brothers—Kligerman started 40th and finished 26th.

In his last three road-course starts this season, however, Kligerman has finished second, seventh and third. Hence, there’s no lack of confidence on the part of the Big Machine Racing driver.

“I’m sure we can go score points in both stages and be in contention to win the race again,” said Kligerman, who gained ground with a second-place finish Sept. 23 at Texas. “I think we’re in a great spot—we’ve got a ton of momentum.”

Though there’s no former Charlotte Roval winner in the field for Saturday’s race, Hemric drives for the team—Kaulig Racing—that has won the last four races there with AJ Allmendinger.

As a full-time Cup driver this season, Allmendinger isn’t eligible to compete in an Xfinity playoff race, but Kaulig has enlisted sports car standout Jordan Taylor to make his second start of the season for the organization. Taylor started sixth and finished 27th at Portland earlier this year.