Xfinity Playoffs opener did not entirely follow the script

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs are underway and some expected fringe contenders have immediately fallen below the cutline due to their various misfortunes on Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

For one, Richard Childress Racing had a dreadful night with both Austin Hill and Jesse Love having non-competitive speed and the latter needing to pit for a loose wheel. Meanwhile, JR Motorsports contender Sammy Smith suffered some kind of engine failure almost immediately into the race and joins Nick Sanchez as all behind the elimination cutline.  

Hill and Love finished 19th and 25th. 

“Yeah, obviously it was a terrible night at one of our best tracks, I feel like as a team with the No. 2 car,” Love told Motorsport.com after the race. “I have no idea why. I feel like we tried everything we did in the spring but literally nothing went our way.

“It can always be worse but tonight was pretty bad so obviously, we’re below the cut, but nothing we can’t dig ourselves out of.  Not a good night but could always be worse.”

For Hill, it is worse because he already entered the playoffs with no playoff points due to his suspension stemming from an intentional wrecking of Aric Almirola at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. No one leaves Bristol facing must-win odds but Hill needs to rebound in a big way in two weeks at Kansas. 

And Love relishes the off-week to clear his head.

 “No, I’m ready for a little bit of a break,” Love said. “Just more time to prepare for Kansas, kind of reset and shake tonight off. It’s not like we’re going to Bristol again in two weeks. It’s a completely different race track and our intermediate stuff has been really good. … But yeah, this is a bad night.”

Updated playoff grid 

Connor Zilisch +85
Justin Allgaier +53
Sam Mayer +35
Carson Kvapil +16
Harrison Burton +9
Brandon Jones +8
Sheldon Creed +7
Taylor Gray +3
Nick Sanchez -3
Jesse Love -3
Austin Hill -16
Sammy Smith -24

Off to a good start

Sheldon Creed, Haas Factory Team Ford

Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

On the other end of the spectrum was Haas Factory Team’s Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer, who finished second and third behind part-time Joe Gibbs Racing driver Aric Almirola on Friday night.

Both Mayer and Creed have enjoyed moderately successful seasons but they haven’t routinely been in the mix with the JR Motorsports aces throughout the summer.

“Yeah, I knew I wasn’t gonna get there but I figured I’d ship it in there and see how close I could get,” Creed said. “I had to lift at the very end to like not hit him. It wouldn’t have felt right if I just blasted them so happy to run second for the 15th time, get a weekend off, and go to one of my favorites in Kansas.”

Also having an underxpected-ish positive playoff opener was Harrison Burton in the resource limited AM Racing car – which is a satellite program to Haas Factory Team.  

Burton finished third in the first stage and 10th in the second stage, earning nine overall stage points, all before closing out with a seventh-place result.

“I think we just have to stay aggressive, honestly, and it’s so hard, this series is so hard,” Burton said. “The moment you kind of let your foot off the gas, you’re going to get beat, and I would love to get as many points as I can early in these races and I intend to be aggressive if we’re fast at Kansas.

“I think it’s a do or die race for us.”

House money

Connor Zilisch, JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

Meanwhile, championship favorites 1a and 1b in Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier were playing with house money in the sense that they are already locked into the second round. But this round does have a degree of consequence in that each win or stage win adds to their advantage in the penultimate round.

Both contended for the win and were both bit by when they pit but, again, it’s largely inconsequential in the big picture.

Their teammate, Carson Kvapil, is still seeking his first career win but also put himself in a really good spot to advance with his fourth-place finish and stage points.

“It’s definitely not what we wanted,” Kvapil said. “We finished second last last time here in the spring to Kyle Larson. That’s basically a win, right? You come back and he’s not racing and you kind of expect the same but like I said, we had a little something a little different and it wasn’t quite as good but I mean still it was good enough to go from 25th to 5th or 6th there in the last stage, so it was a really good piece, just burned ourselves up there.”

And now, he’s a good bit above the cutline.

“We just need to keep knocking out good finishes and these guys keep bringing us fast cars and go do my job and everyone else needs to go do theirs.”

The other championship

Once again, Aric Almirola opened the Xfinity Series playoffs by winning a race that placed a spotlight on the owner’s championship.

For the second consecutive season, Almirola placed the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 into the owners championship with a win. Last season, he ended up running the entire playoffs and advanced all the way to the final four, making two separate championships to follow all autumn.

He’s not going to be in the car every race this fall but it does sound like Almirola may once again be leaned on to try to deliver that title home to Gibbs.

“Stay tuned,” he said. “We need to work through that. We obviously put a full out effort into that last year. I ran all the playoff races. The way it worked out this year, we were kind of unsure how the schedule was going to lay out (because) there was a couple other opportunities where people were bringing money.

“I was only going to run a handful of races and then some of those deals fell through and our schedule kept expanding. I’m not running all the playoff races. Justin Bonsignore is running Kansas but I don’t know how it’s all going to work out.

“But I do know how important it is to coach and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing.”

And yes, being the guy that gets the call to drive and win races for Gibbs when those circumstances play out are ‘as good as it gets’ for the Cup Series veteran. It’s especially rewarding to be able to win so many races with a young family to share it with too.

“If you ask ‘does it get any better than this,’ then the answer is ‘no,’ and I told you guys at Phoenix that last year too,” Almirola said. “I am loving what I am doing. I love it. I am off the next two weeks.

“I am not going to Loudin. I might go to Kansas just to hang out with our Cup guys but I don’t have to and I’m loving life right now.”