HOMESTEAD, Fla. — For the sixth time in his career, Joey Logano will be vying for a NASCAR Cup Series title. Being the first playoff driver locked into the Championship 4 via winning the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Logano finds himself in a familiar spot — being the favorite.
“I don’t see why we wouldn’t [be the favorite],” said Logano. “I always feel like we can win the race no matter what, and we figured out a way last week even when we weren’t the fastest car — we were the best team that figured out how to win that race. That’s where I feel like we have such an advantage over the other teams. We were very well-rounded and I think that’s what gives us a lot of opportunity to capitalize when no one expects it. Now you’re going to give us more time to focus on one track; that’s what we needed.”
The No. 22’s win last week already disrupted and changed the trajectory of this year’s playoffs and now the crew has a two-week headstart over whoever else locks into the final four. The team has been keen on wasting no time on what could be Logano’s third Cup Series title and cap a Team Penske three-peat of driver’s champions.
“We went over Vegas for a little bit, just like we typically would after any race. We did an overview of Miami, you know, just the details that we’re looking for here and then we started talking about Phoenix and pretty much just stayed there the entire time. The fact that we earned an advantage by being able to focus on Phoenix before anyone else, we need to take advantage of that opportunity.”
It’s a chance for Logano to repeat history as he captured his first two championships by winning the first Round of 8 race and again having a leg up on the competition in the finale. Even for a multi-time champ like Logano, the chance to add more to the resume isn’t something he’s taking lightly, fully embracing the pressure surrounding the chance to stand on the sport’s mountaintop again.
“I laugh all the time because so many drivers in all three series, a lot of their answers are, ‘We just treat it as another race, it’s just another race,’ B.S it’s not another race, it’s not even close,” Logano added. “It’s the championship. It’s the biggest race you’ll ever be a part of.
Everybody’s different, and everybody handles things in different ways. Some people get excited in those do-or-die situations and they want the ball as the clock winds down and they want to take the shot, and there’s other people that are like ‘I don’t know, I don’t want to be the guy that misses the shot’ I don’t think that way — I want to be the guy that makes the shot.”
NASCAR.com’s 36 for 36 continues at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
With 36 races and 36 full-time Charter cars, our players select one car per race, but there’s a simple twist: once they’ve made the pick, they can’t choose that car again for the rest of the 36-race season. Yes, that means every car will be selected exactly once … a survivor pool, by another name.
Follow along weekly as our panel of pickers — Dustin Albino from Jayski, along with Steve Luvender and Cameron Richardson from NASCAR.com — embarks on a season-long journey to think like strategists and prove their picking prowess.
We’ll also feature a fourth “community” 36 for 36 pick each week, as decided by fan vote on the r/NASCAR subreddit. Can the collective vote topple our trio of full-timers?
Current Standings:
Steve Luvender: 853
r/NASCAR Community: -109
Cameron Richardson: -113
Dustin Albino: -117
Race 34 of 36: Miami
Hot afternoons last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway made for an impossibly close contest heading into this weekend. Dustin Albino entered the week in second place with a modest cushion over third but exited in last place following a day gone upside down from his pick, Tyler Reddick. Points leader Steve Luvender earned 27 points from Kyle Larson, while the big winners were the NASCAR subreddit — their Martin Truex Jr. pick brought home 48 points, his best day since Dover Motor Speedway in April — and Cameron Richardson’s 54-point race from Christopher Bell. Second through fourth are now separated by just eight points, with three picks remaining.
Homestead-Miami Speedway awaits our pickers next. It’s the fastest track left on the schedule, with just Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway ahead. Let’s see how our pickers handle this one.
Jayski’s Dustin Albino: No. 5, Kyle Larson
Dustin’s pick last week: No. 45, Tyler Reddick (12 points)
Total season points: 736 (fourth place, -2 since last week)
Dustin: It’s become wildly apparent that I’ve cursed plenty of drivers throughout the year while choosing them in this space. Last week, Reddick won the opening stage at Las Vegas before tumbling down the frontstretch. So, I’m going to apologize in advance to Larson this weekend. This choice this weekend is easy, though, as very few drivers in NASCAR history have been better at running an inch off the wall, the preferred line at Homestead. Larson tends to lead plenty of laps at Homestead and not get the win — aside from 2021 — so maybe I’ll break that curse with three races remaining in the 2024 season.
NASCAR.com’s Steve Luvender: No. 45, Tyler Reddick
Steve’s pick last week: No. 5, Kyle Larson (27 points)
Total season points: 853 (first place)
Steve: Tyler Reddick has earned three top fives in his four Cup races at Homestead, and it’s no secret he knows how to work the track’s high line — also as evidenced by his two Xfinity Series championship-winning races at the track in 2018 and 2019. After his early exit at Las Vegas, he needs a strong afternoon to remain in championship contention, and I think he’ll deliver.
NASCAR.com’s Cameron Richardson: No. 54, Ty Gibbs
Cameron’s pick last week: No. 20, Christopher Bell (54 points)
Total season points: 740 (third place, +1 from last week)
Cameron: With just three races left, I’m taking a cautious approach and stashing Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson for the final two races. Homestead can be a tricky and nerve-wracking one for the playoff drivers fighting for the remaining three Championship 4 spots, so I’m rolling with the No. 54 driver. I do have confidence in Gibbs, though, as he finished seventh at Homestead last year. With a second full Cup season almost complete for the young driver, he can potentially improve upon that on Sunday.
r/NASCAR Community: No. 45, Tyler Reddick
r/NASCAR’s pick last week: No. 19, Martin Truex Jr. (48 points)
Total season points: 744 (second place, +1 from last week)
The r/NASCAR subreddit selected Tyler Reddick for Sunday’s race. Here’s what Redditors had to say about their choice this week in the voting thread:
u/Dont_hate_the_8: “Time to reap rewards from Reddick ripping the really high line!”
u/Extreme-Bite-9123: “Definitely Reddick here. Really the only guy who has a chance of beating Larson”
u/NoahGragsonsBarfBag (good username): “Of these three I think the 45 team will put the most into this weekend. Not the say Penske won’t for the 12, but I think Toyota has the edge over Ford for this one.”
u/Joey_Logano (no relation): “Reddick and Homestead go together like Bananas and Mayonnaise aka a match made in heaven.”
Check back next week to see how our pickers fared as the season-long 36 for 36 journey continues.
And, if you’ve got a competitive itch beyond meticulously managing your Fantasy Live lineup each week, feel free to save or print your own 36 for 36 sheet and see if you can beat our pickers and the Reddit community!
Throughout the 2024 NASCAR season, Ken Martin, director of historical content for the sanctioning body, will offer his suggestions on which historical races fans should watch from the NASCAR Classics library in preparation for each upcoming race weekend.
Martin has worked exclusively for NASCAR since 2008 but has been involved with the sport since 1982, overseeing various projects. He has worked in the broadcast booth for hundreds of races, assisting the broadcast team with different tasks. This includes calculating the “points as they run” for the historic 1992 finale, the Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The following suggestions are Ken’s picks to watch before this Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
The 2004 NASCAR Cup Series season saw a playoff system implemented, pushing away the long-tenured season-long points format to decide a champion.
The new format saw drivers chase a playoff berth through the first 26 races of the season before the points reset for the playoff drivers. The drivers were separated by new five-point increments, which set up the season finale at Homestead to be one to remember.
Homestead saw five drivers eligible to potentially capture the Cup Series title, highlighted by points leader Kurt Busch.
Busch held an 18-point advantage over Jimmie Johnson, who was three points ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin were both within reach of their first championship as well.
The weekend couldn’t have got off to a better start for Busch, as he put his No. 97 car on the pole for the race. Most of the other contenders were not as lucky.
Gordon and Martin both qualified inside the first six rows, while Earnhardt Jr. started 16th. Johnson had the toughest time, if he wanted to capture his first title, he’d have to do it from the 39th starting position.
As much as it seemed Busch had full control of the driver’s seat, it all looked like it disappeared just as fast. He lost the right-front wheel of his car early on and barely missed destroying his car in the process.
He managed to stay on the lead lap and eventually made his way back up front before coming home with a fifth-place finish.
The rest of the field needed to rely on the others in front of them having trouble but a strong run from Johnson set up a late-race battle for the title between Busch and himself.
Busch’s fifth-place finish allowed him to keep an eight-point gap on Johnson and secure him the championship.
Gordon came home third, Martin was 11th and Earnhardt Jr. was 23rd, making them third, fourth and fifth in the final standings respectively.
As for the race itself, second-year driver Greg Biffle, a former Craftsman Truck Series and Xfinity Series champion, broke through for the third win of his career. This capped off a memorable day for Jack Roush, as Biffle was a teammate to the newly crowned champion.
Lightning struck at the start of the 2011 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and sparked a magical run for Tony Stewart.
Stewart, in his third season driving for his own Cup Series organization, struggled mightily throughout the first half of the season.
He sat 12th in the season standings with zero wins following the 17th race of the season.
The next few weeks saw Stewart slightly turn a corner, despite still not contending for wins like his usual self. He racked up a second-place finish at New Hampshire, a sixth at Indianapolis and ended the regular season with back-to-back top-10 finishes.
Where there is smoke, there usually are flames and that was just the case when it came to Stewart in the playoffs.
He won the playoff opener at Chicago and backed that up with a victory at New Hampshire. Stewart went on to win at Martinsville and Texas while finishing third at Phoenix. This set Stewart up to battle for the title in the season finale at Homestead.
While Stewart turned on the dominance, Carl Edwards was Mr. Consistent. He led the points for 21 races throughout the season but only picked up one victory, which came in the third race of the season at Las Vegas.
Edwards put together a streak of 11 top-10 finishes over the final 12 races before Homestead. His only finish outside of the top-10 was an 11th at Talladega.
This left Edwards with a three-point advantage over Stewart heading into the finale.
The race went down as an instant classic, slightly resembling the iconic championship battle at Atlanta in 1992 that saw Alan Kulwicki capture the title over Bill Elliott.
Edwards did just about everything he could to win himself his first title. The points leader won the pole, led the most laps and finished second.
Unfortunately for Edwards, the two drivers seemed to be magnets throughout the event. They each took turns leading the field throughout the night, while the other driver lay closely behind.
When the checkered flag waved, it was Stewart taking the checkered flag and Edwards coming in second. This left both drivers with 2403 points but Stewart’s five victories served as a tiebreaker handing the title to Stewart yet again.
The 2016 championship-deciding race at Homestead looked like it was shaping up to be one to remember and that is exactly what it was.
Four drivers chased a dream of hoisting the NASCAR Cup Series championship trophy. Defending series champion Kyle Busch, six-time champion Jimmie Johnson and a pair of drivers Joey Logano and Carl Edwards, who were looking for their first.
The other underlying storyline of the race was the final start of a three-time champion, Tony Stewart, who was hanging up his helmet following the race.
Kevin Harvick, who was not a part of the Championship 4 since its inception in 2014, put his No. 4 car on the pole for the race. The title contenders found themselves deeper in the field. Busch and Edwards started alongside of each other in ninth and tenth, while Logano and Johnson started next to each other two rows back.
As day turned to night, the action on the track picked up. The fourth caution flag of the day came out with more than 60 laps remaining, resetting the field. It came out again with 15 laps left, as all of the drivers eyed the title.
It didn’t take long for the caution to come out again, which set up a restart that would change the course of the record books forever.
Logano got a run on the restart but Edwards dipped low to attempt to hold the advantage but the two made heavy contact, kicking off a multi-car incident, relegating Edwards to a 34th-place finish.
Johnson passed Kyle Larson on the final restart to capture his record-tying seventh Cup Series championship, joining the ranks of Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty as seven-time champions.
Logano managed to finish fourth despite the contact with Edwards, while Busch finished sixth.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Corey Heim made Saturday’s strongest bid to be the next locked-in championship contender in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs, doing nearly everything short of posting his series-best seventh victory of the year.
Instead, the 22-year-old Tricon Garage driver settled for an outcome that put him that much closer to his season-long aspirations.
Heim finished fourth in Saturday’s Baptist Health 200, leading a race-high 68 of the 134 laps until a late shift in strategies flipped the event’s complexion. Heim rallied after his last pit stop split the final stage, but Grant Enfinger conserved his fuel for the final 55-lap run to the checkered flag, notching his second consecutive Truck Series win.
Heim’s yield was the day’s second-best points tally — 52 to Enfinger’s 55 — and a better sense of comfort heading to the Round of 8’s final race next weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
“It was pretty drama-free on my side, just kind of internal battles as far as the truck handling on late-race runs,” Heim said, “But you can’t be mad about a top-three truck all day, and we had a great points day, and that’s what we came here to do. Would have been great to win and make Martinsville easy and just focus on Phoenix, but we’re in a great points position going into next week, so nothing to hang our heads about.”
Heim set the tone by winning the pole position in Friday’s qualifying session, and he kept his No. 11 Toyota out front for 54 of the first 60 laps in the opening two stages. Heim won the first stage and was runner-up to Enfinger in the second, adding 19 points to his running tally.
When a caution flag flew for Matt Mills’ hard crash on Lap 76, Enfinger and a group of others stopped for fuel and tires. No. 11 crew chief Scott Zipadelli opted against it, keeping Heim out until Lap 101 for his final trip to pit road.
“I feel like we had a winning truck, a top-two truck,” Zipadelli told NASCAR.com. “When they pitted early, for me, I felt like it was definitely too early to take that risk. But for them, those guys that pitted then, they didn’t really have a truck that could win, so that was a pretty good option for them. If it did go green like it did, it’d work out, right, but statistically, we usually have a caution here.”
No more yellow flags came out, and Enfinger — who stopped one lap later than the rest of the opportunistic early group — was able to nurse his No. 9 Chevrolet to the end. Heim picked up a handful of spots on the final lap as the fuel tanks for Nick Sanchez and others sputtered dry, just short of the finish.
Thanks to his stage-points bonanza and his 13th top-five finish of the year, Heim enters the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville next Friday (6 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a sizable 49-point advantage over the elimination line. Enfinger is the only driver officially clinched for the Championship 4 battle in the Nov. 8 finale at Phoenix Raceway; his Oct. 4 victory at Talladega Superspeedway sealed that title shot, and his triumph Saturday actually provided Heim with a backhanded benefit — blocking other playoff contenders from clinching.
“With the 9 winning, for sure it certainly makes it easier that there’s only one winner. If there was another one, it would have been a lot tighter to the cutline,” Heim said. “So, we can still point our way out of it if we have a bad day, so you can’t just take a deep breath and cruise through that race by any means. But the goal still remains the same to win every race, and that’s what we’re gonna do next week.”
With only a few weeks until Election Day, veterans and military family members attending this past weekend’s NASCAR playoff races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway were encouraged to once again serve their country — this time as election poll workers.
In August, NASCAR partnered with Vet the Vote to support the non-partisan coalition’s national campaign, established to address the critical shortage of election workers in the U.S.
NASCAR fans from Nevada and beyond joined the cause and registered in the fan zone at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers Garrett Smithley and Brennan Poole interacted with fans before Saturday’s race in support of Vet the Vote.
“NASCAR has a long history of supporting our military community and is proud of the incredible service that so many of our fans have given to our nation,” said Eric Nyquist, Chief Impact Officer, NASCAR. “The need for veteran assistance at the polls is clear, and as part of the Vet the Vote coalition, we’re encouraging our veteran and military family fans to help fill that gap.”
America will need approximately 1,000,000 poll workers to effectively run elections in all states during this presidential election. In recent years, declining election volunteer rates have led to reduced number of polling stations, longer lines at the polls, increased stress on volunteers, and ultimately, more difficulty voting.
Through all its outreach efforts to date, including partnerships with NASCAR and Alpha Prime Racing, Vet the Vote has registered more than 162,000 veterans and military family members across the country — roughly 16% of the number needed to run election sites.
Smithley and his Alpha Prime Racing No. 45 Chevrolet Camaro were in full support of Vet the Vote on Saturday, running a special Vet the Vote paint scheme during the Ambetter Health 302. Smithley, the grandson of two veterans, had previously represented Vet the Vote at the Focused Health 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Courtesy of Alpha Prime Racing
On Saturday, Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar joined Vet the Vote at the Xfinity Series race, cheering Smithley and his pit crew on from pit road.
In the coming weeks, the Vet the Vote initiative hopes to raise the number of registered veterans and military family members even higher.
“Throughout the season, NASCAR has been a terrific partner in helping us address this critical need,” said Ben Keiser, Co-Founder of Vet the Vote. “As a true nonpartisan organization, our goal is to call on these patriotic Americans who have already served our nation to help support this critical mission at a time when we need them most.”
Over the summer, NASCAR through its NASCAR IMPACT platform joined a cohort of 38 national businesses and organizations, including the NFL, NBA, and Microsoft, in support of Vet the Vote.
To learn more about Vet the Vote and its efforts to recruit veterans and military family members as poll workers, visit Vet the Vote.
Joey Logano is no stranger to being at the center of the action.
The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion has made a whole career out of driving hard, pushing the limits, refusing to back down and, most importantly, winning. In turn, those qualities have seen Logano be cast as the main character of multiple NASCAR seasons — with this year serving as just the latest example. It would not be an understatement to say that Logano’s win at Las Vegas last Sunday changed the entire complexionof the 2024 season, and that victory came in the face of long odds and even a bit of luck to get this far.
So let’s unpack Logano’s improbable climb to the precipice of yet another championship, and the ripple effects his Championship 4-clinching victory will have this weekend at Homestead-Miami and beyond.
Logano himself would tell you that the 2024 campaign hasn’t been the easiest of his career. While the No. 22 car had its moments of speed early in the year, starting on pole three times in the first 16 races of the season, he was also running with an average finish of 17.9 — his worst mark since 2011 — and a near-career-low Adjusted Points+ index of just 104 (or 4% better than average, which is always set to 100) before winning his way into the playoffs at Nashville on June 30.
From there, things didn’t exactly get a lot better. Logano had five finishes of 19th or worse (and three outside the top 30) in his final seven tune-ups heading into the playoffs. Little in the data suggested that he was poised to make a ton of noise in the postseason — or even advance more than a round or so before being eliminated.
But as has often been the case in his career, Logano saved his clutch driving for the races that mattered the most. He immediately punched his ticket out of the Round of 16 with a win at his quasi-home track of Atlanta in the opening race of the playoffs. Then he closed out the Round of 12 with a solid eighth-place run at the Charlotte Roval, in a race where he knew everyone on the track was gunning for him.
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR.com
Still, that didn’t appear to be quite enough to advance as the checkered flag waved and he was below the elimination line. But a shocking post-race inspection failure by the No. 48 team dropped Alex Bowman below Logano in the standings and gave the No. 22 new life. His odds to make the Championship 4 remained low, however — our forecast model set them at just 18 percent — because of his deficit in the playoff points, and diminished performance during the season relative to his Round of 8 rivals.
But you can never count Logano out at Las Vegas. He had already won at the track three times going into this past weekend, and he added a fourth trophy on Sunday to clinch his sixth career berth in the Championship 4.
And now, the rest of the playoff field needs to be very afraid of his championship potential.
Just like he did down the stretch of his title-winning 2022 season, Logano is coming on strong at the perfect point in the schedule. The rolling average of his Adjusted Points+ index from the past eight races, a span that encompasses the whole playoffs to date, plus his top 10 at Darlington to close the regular season, is 171. Not only is that number far better than his 123 mark from the 2024 season as a whole, but it represents the best eight-race stretch of his entire season. It’s also verging on the rate Logano hit (186) in the final races of the 2022 campaign as he drove his way to the championship:
Neil Paine | For NASCAR.com
The forecast model still considers him an underdog to win the championship, as compared with favorites Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and William Byron. But Logano’s career record at Phoenix (with three wins, eight top 5s, 16 top 10s and an average finish of 13.5) can stand up next to anybody in the sport today, and that makes him a very real championship threat.
The other way in which Logano has become the main character of the 2024 season is in how his Vegas win shook up everyone else’s odds. Here are the biggest changes in the forecast model’s probabilities to make the Championship 4 — and to win the title — from before the South Point 400 to afterward:
Neil Paine | For NASCAR.com
By leapfrogging seven drivers who’d been below him in the odds and taking away a guaranteed spot in the Championship 4, Logano did some big damage to most of the other title contenders. While Bell and Byron gained ground with top-four finishes of their own, and Larson remains in decent shape because of his cushion in the playoff points (and strong performance projections), everyone else took a beating in the odds last Sunday.
Some of that was due to circumstances aside from Logano’s victory — the mid-race accident that took out Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Tyler Reddick immediately put all three star drivers in must-win mode to advance. But Denny Hamlin is a prime example of how much Logano’s surprise win threw a wrench into the playoffs. He ran fairly well at Vegas, leading laps and ultimately finishing eighth in a race where he was under a great deal of pressure to perform. And yet, Hamlin’s odds to advance dropped by more than 20 percentage points, dragging his probability of winning his first career title down by five points as well. When Logano seemed like a longshot to advance, Hamlin was in coin-flip territory to make the Championship 4. Now, with only three slots remaining open, he trails the talented trio of Bell, Larson and Byron by 27 points, and his odds of advancing are just 25%.
In other words, for Hamlin and everyone else below the elimination line, Logano’s win helped make their margins for error practically nonexistent going forward. That’s why, whether he wins the championship or not, Logano will end up being one of the central figures of the 2024 season when we look back on it. He was never “supposed” to make it this far — literally so, before Bowman’s car failed inspection at Charlotte — but here he is, creating chaos for his fellow drivers as he looks to add yet another title to his collection.
Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) will be the second of three Round of 8 races in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, and for seven title hopefuls, a chance to clinch one of three remaining Championship 4 bids at Phoenix Raceway. After Joey Logano’s Championship 4-clinching victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend, Homestead-Miami will be the next battleground for those vying to lock in a berth.
The following driver has clinched a spot in the four-driver field of the next round: Joey Logano.
Can Clinch Via Points
If there is a repeat winner or a win by a driver who cannot advance to the next round, the following drivers could clinch by being 56 points above the 3rd winless driver in the standings. The same point requirements listed below would hold true if a new win comes from among Christopher Bell or Kyle Larson.
Christopher Bell: Could only clinch with help.
Kyle Larson: Could only clinch with help.
If there is a new winner from William Byron or another winless driver lower in the standings but still eligible to advance to the next round, the following drivers could clinch by being 56 points above the 2nd winless driver in the standings.
Christopher Bell: Could only clinch with help.
Can Clinch Via Win
The following drivers would clinch on their win alone: Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott.
Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger proved to be a man of fine timing, scoring his first win of the season in last week’s playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to earn an automatic bid into the championship finale on Nov. 9 at Phoenix Raceway.
The last two seasons, playoff drivers have similarly celebrated their ticket to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the NASCAR Xfinity Series Credit One NASCAR Amex Credit Card 300 is the second half of a Saturday doubleheader (4 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Two of the eight playoff drivers have victories at Homestead, including defending race winner Sam Mayer and 2017 race winner Cole Custer. A win for either would be well-timed with only two races — Homestead and Martinsville next week — to decide which four drivers are championship-eligible for the Phoenix race.
JR Motorsports veteran Justin Allgaier currently leads the points standings with a healthy 32-point advantage atop the four-driver elimination line. The defending series champion Custer is next, 16 points to the good and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith holds that final transfer position by a slim eight points over Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill.
Hill’s RCR rookie teammate Jesse Love is 13 points below Chandler Smith. JR Motorsports’ teammates Mayer and Sammy Smith are 23 and 53 points back, respectively.
Of note, Allgaier’s points position now may prove especially helpful for the perennial championship contender considering he has only three top-10 finishes in 15 starts at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami oval. His best career finish is sixth back in 2016. His only top 10 since then was a 10th place in 2022.
On the flip side, Hill has a perfect two-for-two top-10 showing at Homestead-Miami, including fourth place last year. Mayer is the defending winner and Sammy Smith started fifth and finished 10th last year in his only previous start at the track. This will be the 19-year-old rookie Love’s first Homestead race.
Practice for the race is at 4:35 p.m. ET on Friday with qualifying following at 5:10 p.m. ET — both sessions available to watch on the NBC Sports App.
After two weeks off, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to playoff competition this weekend as the opening race of a Saturday doubleheader in South Florida with the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Noon ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Veteran Grant Enfinger became the first driver to earn a position in the Nov. 8 Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway — capturing the win at Talladega Superspeedway on Oct. 4.
This weekend’s race on the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami track will go a long way to deciding who will join the driver of the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet to race for the big trophy. The season’s winningest driver, Tricon Garage’s Corey Heim, holds a healthy 30-point advantage over the Championship 4 elimination line heading into the green flag, with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes 29 points to the good and ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski five points up in that final transfer position over Spire Motorsports’ Rajah Caruth.
Tricon Garage’s Taylor Gray is 13 points out of the top four, followed by Rev Racing’s Nick Sanchez (minus-20) and McAnally-Hilgemann’s Tyler Ankrum in eighth place, 23 points down.
It’s actually the tightest playoff battle among NASCAR’s three premier series — both how close — a five-point margin — it is from that pivotal fourth-place position to be out of the title chase in fifth and also the relatively tight gap (23 points) from eighth place to fourth.
Last year was a “Playoff Day” in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami with Carson Hocevar leading a quartet of championship-eligible drivers that swept the top four finishing positions. The only former winner in the field this weekend is Majeski, who claimed the trophy in 2022.
The Wisconsin native and two-time winner this season is three-for-three in top 10s at Homestead-Miami and led a race-best 67 laps en route to his win there two years ago.
Heim is another driver to watch, scoring top-five finishes in both his Homestead-Miami starts, including a best of third last year and fifth place in 2022. Enfinger has the most starts (seven) at the track among the playoff eight with a best showing of runner-up in 2018.
Practice for the race is Friday afternoon at 2:35 p.m. ET, followed by qualifying at 3:05 p.m.
