NASCAR Xfinity Series
Next Race: United Rentals 250
The Place: Talladega Superspeedway
Track Length: 2.66 Mile Asphalt Oval
The Date: Saturday, October 18
The Time: 4 p.m. ET
The Purse: $1,651,939
TV: CW, 3:30 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)
Distance: 250.04 miles (94 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 25),
Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 50), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 94)
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Talladega Superspeedway Storylines and Insights:
- This weekend marks the 38th running of a NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
- Talladega was on the Xfinity Series schedule every year since inaugural race in 1992.
- Talladega hosted four Playoff races, in 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2024.
- All four previous Talladega Playoff races were in Round of 12.
- Round of 8 races are Las Vegas, Talladega and Martinsville.
- The lowest four drivers in points will be eliminated after Martinsville.
- No drivers clinched into Championship 4 at Las Vegas.
- Any win in the Round of 8 by a Playoff driver will advance them to Championship 4.
- At least two drivers will advance to Championship 4 on points.
- Any driver who leaves Talladega 57 points above 4th place will clinch a spot in the Championship 4 on points.
- Connor Zilisch enters Talladega 74 points above 4th place after runner-up finish at Las Vegas.
- Justin Allgaier enters Talladega 36 points above 4th place after third-place finish at Las Vegas.
- Sam Mayer in 4th and Brandon Jones in 5th are separated by eight points, all other drivers are at least 20 points above or below the Playoff cutoff.
- Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer are the only remaining Playoff drivers to make Championship 4.
- Two rookies remain in the Playoffs: Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil.
- No driver has won race #2 in Round of 8 and gone on to win championship.
- No driver has won the Talladega Playoff race and gone on to win championship.
- Four teams are represented in driver’s Round of 8: JR Motorsports (4), Haas Factory Team (2), Joe Gibbs Racing (1) and Richard Childress Racing (1).
- Joe Gibbs Racing #19 advanced to owner’s Championship 4 with Aric Almirola’s Las Vegas win; Almirola will be in #19 for remainder of season.
- Joe Gibbs Racing’s #19 and Richard Childress Racing’s #21 are still alive in owner’s Playoffs, while JR Motorsports #1 and #8 were eliminated after Round of 12.
- Aric Almirola’s Las Vegas win was his third of 2025, matching his win total from last year.
- Aric Almirola won four of last eleven Playoff races as non-Playoff drivers.
- Joe Gibbs Racing won three of four Playoff races after only winning two races in regular season.
- Talladega is the sixth and final drafting track race this season.
- Austin Hill won at Talladega in April, his series record ninth career drafting track win, but first at Talladega.
- Austin Hill is the only driver in series history to win at all three drafting tracks: Atlanta (5), Daytona (3) and Talladega (1).
- The last seven Talladega races were won by seven different drivers.
- Sheldon Creed and Jeb Burton each finished Top 10 in last four Talladega races, one away from tying the Talladega record.
- Two of eight Playoff drivers finished in Top 10 at Talladega in April: Love 3rd, Allgaier 4th & Creed 9th.
- Richard Childress Racing won three of five drafting track races this season.
- Three of last five Talladega races had a last-lap pass for the win.
- Fifteen Talladega races had last-lap passes for the win; Daytona has the most with 16.
- Three of last six drafting track races featured a last-lap pass for the win.
- Five active drivers won in the Xfinity Series at Talladega, led by Jeb Burton with two wins.
- Austin Hill and Jesse Love combined to lead 340 laps on drafting tracks this season; 49 other drivers combined to lead 329.
- Richard Childress Racing won 11 of last 22 drafting track races.
- Connor Zilisch returns to the track where he broke his back in a last-lap crash in April.
- Connor Zilisch got his tenth win of season at the Charlotte Roval. He is the sixth driver in series history to win ten races in a season and the first since Kyle Busch in 2016.
- After winning the Charlotte Roval, Connor Zilisch holds the track record as the youngest winner on 10 different tracks.
- Connor Zilisch’s ten wins this season is the record for most wins by a rookie.
- Connor Zilisch extended his all-time top-5 finish record streak to 18 after runner-up finish at Las Vegas.
- Connor Zilisch’s 2.1 average finish in last 18 races is the best in series history in an 18-race span.
- Connor Zilisch finished first or second in half of the 30 races this season.
- Connor Zilisch won eight of last 12 races this season, the most in any 12-race span in series history.
- Connor Zilisch won 33% of his starts, the best win percentage all-time.
- Connor Zilisch led in his last 19 NXS starts, the record for most consecutive starts leading is 22 by Brad Keselowski.
- Randall Burnett was announced as Connor Zilisch’s crew chief next season when he moves to Trackhouse Racing in the Cup Series.
- JR Motorsports won 17 races this season with a series-record six different drivers (does not include Parker Kligerman who won in relief role at Daytona).
- JR Motorsports had at least one car finish Top 5 in a record 32 straight races.
- Justin Allgaier earned his 300th career Top 10 at Las Vegas, the first driver in series history to reach 300 Top 10s.
- Connor Zilisch leads the series with 10 wins, 19 Top 5s, 21 Top 10s, 985 laps led, a 7.7 average finish and eight poles this season.
- Connor Zilisch won Fastest Lap Award seven times this season, Justin Allgaier is second with five.
- Justin Allgaier leads the series with 13 stage wins this season.
- Justin Allgaier’s 28 career wins are 9th on the all-time wins list and one away from tying Matt Kenseth.
- Chevrolet led 3,583 of 4,770 laps this season (77%).
- Chevrolet won 24 of 30 races, tied for the most all time by a manufacturer through 30 races in series history.
- Five crew chiefs got their first NXS win in 2025: Chad Haney at Atlanta, Sam McAulay at Darlington, Adam Wall at Bristol, Cory Shea at Mexico City & Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Pocono.
- Five races this year ended with a last lap pass.
NXS Clinch Scenarios for Talladega Superspeedway (Playoff Race #5)
Already Clinched
- No drivers have clinched a spot in the 4-driver field of the next round.
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 57 points above the 4th winless driver in the standings. The same point requirements listed below would hold true if a new win comes from among Connor Zilisch, Justin Allgaier or Jesse Love.
- Connor Zilisch: Would clinch with 39 points
- Justin Allgaier: Could only clinch with help
- Jesse Love: Could only clinch with help
- If there is a new winner from Sam Mayer or another winless driver lower in the standings but still eligible to advance to the next round, the following drivers could clinch by being 57 points above the 3rd winless driver in the standings.
- Connor Zilisch: Would clinch with 51 points
- Justin Allgaier: Could only clinch with help
Can Clinch Via Win
- The following drivers would clinch on their win alone: Connor Zilisch, Justin Allgaier, Jesse Love, Sam Mayer, Brandon Jones, Sheldon Creed, Carson Kvapil, Sammy Smith
— NASCAR —