The NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season ended with one of the most exciting finishes in history at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday night. AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric, who were both fighting for the Regular Season Championship, wrecked on the final lap and Allmendinger won the race while spinning and crossing the finish line. Allmendinger was crowned the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Champion and Cindric finished second – Allmendinger is the fifth different driver to claim the award.
As the regular season concluded at Bristol, the series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to begin the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. The 12-driver postseason field includes: Allmendinger, Cindric, Justin Allgaier, Justin Haley, Jeb Burton, Daniel Hemric, Harrison Burton, Myatt Snider, Jeremy Clements, Riley Herbst, Noah Gragson, and Brandon Jones.
The Alsco Uniforms 302 will take place on Saturday night, September 25th at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. This weekend’s starting lineup was decided by Metric Qualifying and as a result Austin Cindric will lead the field to the green flag with AJ Allmendinger joining him on the front row.
The race will be 302 miles (201 laps) and will be broken up into three stages. The first will end on Lap 45 and the second stage will end on Lap 90.
Scouting the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff Driver Field
Now that the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season is officially over, we can take a deep dive into the 12 drivers that will be competing for the 2021 championship title.
Austin Cindric
Hometown: Mooresville, NC
Date of Birth: September 2, 1998
Age: 22
No. 22 Team Penske Ford
Crew Chief: Brian Wilson
2021
This season, Cindric has 26 starts, five wins, 16 top fives and 19 top 10s. He led 723 laps and has an average start of 5.0 and an average finish of 9.5. He enters the Playoffs with 44 Playoff points and 2,044 points. He is seeded first in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings.
Career Playoff Highlights
- Enters the 2021 Playoff standings as the No. 1 seed and is currently tied in points with AJ Allmendinger. Cindric owns the tiebreaker with the most wins during the regular season with five.
- He won the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship and Regular Season Championship.
- Has posted one win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs (Phoenix 2020) and has appeared in the Championship 4 once (2020).
- The 2021 season marks the fourth time he has competed in the Playoffs (2018-21).
- Made the Championship 3 and won the title by winning the championship race at Phoenix.
- Finished the 2019 season sixth in the Playoff standings after being eliminated in the Round of 8.
- Finished his rookie season (2018) eighth in the Playoff standings after being eliminated in the Round of 8.
AJ Allmendinger
Hometown: Los Gatos, CA
Date of Birth: December 16, 1981
Age: 39
No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Crew Chief: Jason Trinchere
2021
This season, AJ Allmendinger has made 26 starts and tallied four wins, 16 top fives, 17 top 10s and one pole award. He led 355 laps and has an average start of 6.7 and an average finish of 8.7. He heads into the Playoffs with 44 Playoff points and 2,044 points. He is seeded second in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings.
Career Playoff Highlights
- Enters the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings at the No. 2 seed and the 2021 Regular Season Champion with 2,044 points. He is currently tied with Austin Cindric, but Cindric owns the tiebreaker of most wins during the regular season with five.
- The 2021 season marks the first time he has competed in the Xfinity Series Playoffs.
- He competed part-time in the Xfinity Series in 2020 (11 races) and finished the season 24th in the standings.
- He competed part-time in the series in 2019 (five races) and finished 39th in the standings.
- Only competed in one Xfinity Series race in 2018 and was not declared to Xfinity points.
Justin Allgaier
Hometown: Riverton, IL
Date of Birth: June 6, 1986
Age: 35
No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Crew Chief: Jason Burdett
2021
This season, Justin Allgaier has two wins in 26 starts with 12 top fives and 17 top 10s. He had led 37 laps and has an average start of 9.3 and an average finish of 10.5. He heads into the Playoffs with 20 Playoff points and 2,020 points. He is seeded third in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings.
Career Playoff Highlights
- Enters the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs standings as the No. 3 seed with 2,020 points.
- The 2021 season marks the sixth time he has competed in the Playoffs (series-most). He is the only driver in the series to compete in all six Xfinity Series Playoffs (2016-21).
- Has finished a career-best second in the Playoffs in 2020.
- Has posted one win in the Playoffs and has appeared in the Championship 4 a series-leading four times.
- Finished the 2020 season a career-best second after making the Championship 4 for the fourth time.
- Finished the 2019 season fourth in the standings after making the Championship 4 round for the third time in his career.
- Finished the 2018 season seventh in the standings after being eliminated in the Round of 8.
- Finished the 2017 season third in the standings after making the Championship 4 for the second time in his career.
- Finished the 2016 season third in the inaugural Playoffs after making the Championship 4 for the first time in his career.
Noah Gragson
Hometown: Las Vegas, NV
Date of Birth: July 15, 1998
Age: 23
No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet
Crew Chief: David Elenz
2021
This season, Noah Gragson has two wins in 26 starts with 10 top fives and 16 top 10s. He has led 188 laps and had an average start of 12.9 and an average finish of 13.5. He enters the Playoffs with 17 Playoff points and 2,017 points. He is seeded fourth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings.
Career Playoffs Highlights
- Enters the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoff standings as the No. 4 seed with 2,017 points.
- The 2021 season marks the third time he has competed in the Playoffs (2019-21).
- Finished the 2020 season a career-best fifth in the standings after being eliminated in the Round of 8.
- Finished the 2019 season eight in the standings after also being eliminated in the Round of 8.
- Competed part-time in 2018 (three races).
Justin Haley
Hometown: Winamac, IN
Date of Birth: April 28, 1999
Age: 22
No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Crew Chief: Alex Yontz
2021
Justin Haley has one win in 26 starts this season with six top fives and 18 top 10s. He has led 57 laps and has an average start of 7.4 and an average finish of 11.0. He enters the Playoffs with 15 Playoff points and 2,015 points. He is seeded fifth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings.
Career Playoff Highlights
- Enters the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings as the No. 5 seed with 2,015 points.
- The 2021 season marks the third-time he has competed in the Playoffs (2019-‘21).
- He has finished a career-best third in the 2020 Xfinity Series Playoffs.
- He has posted one win in the Playoffs and has appeared in the Championship 4 Round once last season.
- He finished the 2020 season third in the Playoffs after making the Championship 4 Round for the first time in his career.
- Finished the 2019 season 12th in the Playoff standings after being eliminated in the Round of 12.
- Competed part-time in the Xfinity Series in 2018 (three races).
Daniel Hemric
Hometown: Kannapolis, NC
Date of Birth: January 27, 1991
Age: 30
No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Crew Chief: Dave Rogers
2021
In 26 starts, Daniel Hemric doesn’t have a win so far this season but locked himself into the Playoffs on points. He has nine top fives and 15 top 10s so far this season. He has led 510 laps and had an average start of 7.0 and an average finish of 12.4. He enters the Playoffs with 14 Playoff points and 2,014 points. He is seeded sixth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings.
Career Playoff Highlights
- Enters the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoff standings as the No. 6 seed with 2,014 points.
- The 2021 season marks the third time he has competed in the Playoffs (2017, 2018, 2021).
- He has finished a career-best second in the 2018 Xfinity Series Playoffs.
- Has appeared in the Championship 4 twice (2017, 2018).
- Competed part-time in the Xfinity Series in 2020 (21 races) and ultimately finished the season 17th in the final standings.
- He did not compete in the Xfinity Series in 2019, he competed full-time in the Cup Series.
- Finished the 2018 season third in the Playoffs after making the Championship 4 for the second time in his career.
- Finished his rookie season in 2017 fourth in the Playoffs after making the Championship 4 for the first time of his career.
Jeb Burton
Hometown: Halifax, VA
Date of Birth: August 6, 1992
Age: 28
No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
Crew Chief: Bruce Schlicker
2021
Jeb Burton has one win in 26 starts this season with seven top fives and 15 top 10s. He got his first career Xfinity Series victory earlier this season at Talladega Superspeedway. He has led 77 laps and has an average start of 7.8 and an average finish of 11.9. He enters the Playoffs with nine Playoff points and 2,009 points. He is seeded seventh in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings.
Career Playoff Highlights
- Enters the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoff standings as the No. 7 seed with 2,009 points.
- The 2021 season marks the first time he has competed in the Xfinity Series Playoffs.
- The 2021 season also marks his first full-time season in the Xfinity Series.
- Competed part-time in 2020 (11 races) and finished the season 28th in the final standings.
- Competed part-time in 2019 (7 races) and finished the season 29th in the final standings.
- Competed part-time in 2018 (3 races) and finished the season 47th in the final standings.
- Competed part-time in 2017 (6 races) and finished the season 38th in the final standings.
- Competed part-time in 2016 (14 races) and finished the season 24th in the final standings.
Harrison Burton
Hometown: Huntersville, NC
Date of Birth: October 9, 2000
Age: 20
No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Crew Chief: Jason Ratcliff
2021
In 26 starts this season, Harrison Burton hasn’t posted a win yet but made his way into the Playoffs based on points. He has nine top fives and 19 top 10s so far this season. He has led 174 laps and has an average start of 6.9 and an average finish of 11.7. He enters the Playoffs with eight Playoff points and 2,008 points. He is seeded eighth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings.
Career Playoff Highlights
- Enters the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoff standings as the No. 8 seed with 2,008 points.
- Th 2021 season marks the second time he has competed in the Xfinity Series Playoffs (2020-21).
- He has won two Xfinity Series Playoff races – Texas and Martinsville – in his rookie season last year.
- Finished the 2020 season eighth in the Playoff standings after being eliminated in the Round of 12.
- Competed part-time in the series in 2019 (9 races).
Myatt Snider
Hometown: Charlotte, NC
Date of Birth: December 30, 1994
Age: 26
No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Crew Chief: Andy Street
2021
In 26 starts, Myatt Snider has one win, one top five and nine top 10s to this name. He got his first Xfinity Series career win at Homestead-Miami Speedway earlier this season. He has led eight total laps and has an average start of 12.7 and an average finish of 17. 0. He enters the Playoffs with five Playoff points and 2,005 points. He is seeded ninth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings.
Career Playoff Highlights
- Enters the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoff standings as the No. 9 seed with 2,005 points.
- The 2021 season marks the first time he has competed in the Xfinity Series Playoffs.
- Failed to make the Playoffs in his rookie season last year, finished 16th in the final championship standings.
Brandon Jones
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Date of Birth: February 18, 1997
Age: 24
No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Crew Chief: Jeff Meendering
2021
Brandon Jones has made all 26 starts so far this season but hasn’t posted a win. He locked himself into the Playoffs on points and has nine top-five and 13 top-10 finishes this season. He has led 76 laps and has an average start of 13.7 and an average finish of 18.5. He enters the Playoffs with three Playoff points and 2,003 points. He is seeded 10th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings.
Career Playoff Highlights
- Enters the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoff standings as the No. 10 seed with 2,003 points.
- The 2021 season marks the fifth time he has competed in the Playoffs. He ranks second in the Xfinity Series Playoff appearances all-time; behind only Justin Allgaier with six.
- Finished a career-best sixth in the 2020 Xfinity Series Playoffs.
- Has posted one win in the Playoffs (Kansas, 2019).
- Finished the 2020 season a career-best sixth in the standings after being eliminated in the Round of 8.
- Finished the 2019 season 10th in the standings after being eliminated in the Round of 12.
- Finished the 2018 season ninth in the standings after being eliminated in the Round of 12.
- Failed to make the Xfinity Playoffs in 2017, finished 16h in the final championship standings.
- Finished his rookie year in 2016 in 10th in the standings after being eliminated in the Round of 12.
Riley Herbst
Hometown: Las Vegas, NV
Date of Birth: February 24, 1999
Age: 22
No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Crew Chief: Richard Boswell
2021
In 26 starts, Riley Herbst has four top fives and 11 top 10s with one pole award. He made the Playoffs based on points. He has led 31 laps and has an average start of 13.5. and an average finish of 16.5. He enters the Playoffs with one Playoff point and 2,001 points. He is seeded 11th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings.
Career Playoff Highlights
- Enters the Xfinity Series Playoff standings as the No. 11 seed with 2,001 points.
- The 2021 season marks the second time he has competed in the Playoffs (2020-‘21).
- Has finished a career-best 12th in the 2020 Playoffs.
- Finished the 2020 season 12th in the standings after being eliminated in the Round of 12; his first fulltime season in the series.
- Competed part-time in the series in 2019 making nine starts but elected to run for a championship in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
- Made his Xfinity Series debut running just one race in 2018 at Iowa Speedway.
Jeremy Clements
Hometown: Spartanburg, SC
Date of Birth: January 16, 1985
Age: 36
No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet
Crew Chief: Mark Setzer / Tony Clements
2021
In 26 starts, Jeremy Clements has put up seven top 10s. He has led five laps this season and has an average start of 13.1 and an average finished of 15.1. He enters the Playoffs with no Playoff points and 2,000 points. He is seeded 12th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings.
Career Playoff Highlights
- Enters the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoff standings as the No. 12 seed with 2,000 points.
- The 2021 season marks the second time he has competed in the Playoffs (2007, 2021).
- Finished a career-best 12th in the 2017 Playoffs.
- Failed to make the Playoffs in 2020 (finished 13th in the final standings), 2019 (finished 14th in the final standings), and 2018 (finished 15th in the final standings).
- Finished the 2017 season 12th in the Playoff standings after being eliminated in the Round of 12.
- Failed to make the Playoffs in 2016, finished 15th in the championship standings.
Playoff Driver Performances at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
As the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend, for the Alsco Uniforms 302 on Saturday, September 25 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, to kick off the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, let’s take a look at the Playoff driver’s performances at the 1.5-mile track.
Austin Cindric: The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford has made seven series starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway posting two top fives and four top 10s. He has led 93 laps at the track and has an average start of 5.3 and an average finish of 12.7. His best finish came in his first race at the track in 2020, when he finished runner-up. Most recently, he finished fourth earlier this season at Las Vegas.
AJ Allmendinger: The driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet and the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Champion has made only one start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It came earlier this year and he started 10th and went on to win the race, leading 44 laps.
Justin Allgaier: The driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet has six top fives and 10 top 10s in 14 starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He has led 115 laps and has an average start of 10.4 and an average finish of 8.6. He also has two runner-up finishes to his name (2011, 2018) at the 1,5-mile track. Most recently, he started 37th and finished 14th earlier this season.
Noah Gragson: The driver of the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and a Las Vegas native will make his sixth start at the track on Saturday. He has four top fives and five top 10s in his previous five starts, meaning he has never finished outside of the top-five in every start he’s made. He’s led two laps around the track and has an average start of 17.4 and an average finish of 4.0. He has a best finish of runner-up in 2020 and most recently, he finished fifth there earlier this season.
Jeb Burton: The driver of the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet will make his third start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday. His first start was in 2016 and he finished 17th. Most recently, he started fifth and finished 10th earlier this season. He has one top 10 to his name at the track.
Daniel Hemric: The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has six starts at Las Vegas collecting two top fives and three top 10s. He’s led 75 laps and has an average start of 12.2 and an average finish of 14.7. Most recently, he finished runner-up at Las Vegas earlier this season.
Harrison Burton: The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota will make his fourth start at the track on Saturday. He has one top five and three top 10s in those three starts and has an average start of 10.0 and an average finish of 7.7. Most recently, he finished ninth at Las Vegas earlier this season.
Myatt Snider: The driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet has made three Xfinity Series starts at Las Vegas. He has an average start of 11.3 at the track and an average finish of 22.3. In his three starts, he has started on the pole twice, most recently, earlier this season.
Brandon Jones: The driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has nine starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In those starts, he has two top fives and six top 10s. He has led 28 laps and has an average start of 11.6 and an average finish of 9.6. Most recently, he got a best finish at the track of third earlier this season.
Justin Haley: The driver of the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet has five total starts at Las Vegas posting three top-10 finishes. He also has an average start of 10.0 and average finish of 11.0 at Vegas. He has led five laps at the track and got his best finish of eighth earlier this season.
Riley Herbst: The driver of the No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet and another native of Las Vegas has four starts at the track. In those starts, he has two top 10s and an average start of 12.0. Most recently, he finished 40th at the track after being involved in an incident earlier this season. Prior to that, he finished ninth in 2019 and 2020.
Jeremy Clements: The driver of the No. 51 Jeremy Clements Racing Chevrolet has made 13 starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, starting with his track debut in 2011. In those starts, he has a best finish of 13th from 2018 and 2020. Most recently, he started eighth and finished 17th earlier this season.
Xfinity Series & Las Vegas Motor Speedway
The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday for the Alsco Uniforms 302 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. As the series heads to Sin City, here’s a look at the NASCAR Xfinity Series history at the desert track.
There have been 28 Xfinity Series races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway producing 20 different race winner and 17 different pole winners. Cole Custer holds the record for the youngest pole winner in 2018 at 20 years, 7months, 23 days. Mark Martin holds the record for the oldest pole winner in 1999 at 40 years, 1 month, 25 days. Tyler Reddick holds the record for the youngest winner in 2019 at 23 years, 8 months and 3 days. Martin holds the record for the oldest winner, as well, in 2011 at 52 years, 1 month and 24 days.
Only six races have been won from the pole or first starting position and the last time it happened was in 2020 by Chase Briscoe. Kyle Busch holds both the race record (145.415 mph) from 2016 and the qualifying record (185.58 mph) in 2017.
Earlier this season when NASCAR Xfinity Series made its first stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, there were 40 cars in the race, and it had 23 lead changes. There were seven different leaders and eight cautions for 45 laps. Sixteen cars finished on the lead lap and 33 cars were running at the finish. Race winner AJ Allmendinger led 44 laps en route to the win and the margin of victory was .978 seconds.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs Standings Post-Bristol:
| Rank | Driver | Points | Race Wins | Stage Wins | Playoff Pts | Pts From Cutoff |
| 1 | Austin Cindric | 2,044 | 5 | 9 | 44 | 39 |
| 2 | AJ Allmendinger | 2,044 | 4 | 9 | 44 | 39 |
| 3 | Justin Allgaier | 2,020 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 15 |
| 4 | Noah Gragson | 2,017 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 12 |
| 5 | Justin Haley | 2,015 | 1 | 5 | 15 | 10 |
| 6 | Daniel Hemric | 2,014 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 9 |
| 7 | Jeb Burton | 2,009 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 |
| 8 | Harrison Burton | 2,008 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 3 |
| 9 | Myatt Snider | 2,005 | 1 | 0 | 5 | -3 |
| 10 | Brandon Jones | 2,003 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -5 |
| 11 | Riley Herbst | 2,001 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -7 |
| 12 | Jeremy Clements | 2,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -8 |
Taking a look at the Playoffs standings as we head into Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the four drivers below the cutline are Myatt Snider, Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst and Jeremy Clements.
Although this is only the first race of the Round of 12 so anything can happen, there are a few drivers in the standings that have a buffer on the cutline. Austin Cindric and AJ Allmendinger head into the Playoffs with the most Playoff points (44) and are 39 points each above the cutline. They have both also put up some good numbers at Las Vegas, including Allmendinger winning earlier in the season at the track.
Justin Allgaier is ranked No. 3 in the standings and is 15 points above the cutline. From there, the numbers start to get much tighter for all the drivers so a shakeup heading into the next race is definitely a possibility.
NASCAR Xfinity Series, Etc.
New Logo; New Look for Xfinity Series: The NASCAR Xfinity Series unveiled a new logo for the 2022 season, featuring purple instead of the current red border and outline. To take a look at the new logo, click here.
Josh Berry back in the No. 1: JR Motorsports announced on Monday afternoon that Josh Berry would be back behind the wheel of the No. 1 Chevrolet in this weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Berry, who ran a part-time season for JR Motorsports in the first-half of the season, has been filling in for Michael Annett who will miss his sixth race of the season as he continues to recover from a stress fracture in his right leg. This weekend will mark the fourth time that Berry has subbed in for Annett. There’s no question that Berry would fill in for his JR Motorsports teammate as it was announced earlier this season that Berry will compete fulltime for the team in 2022.
Parsons set to run fulltime in 2022: Stefan Parsons and BJ McLeod Motorsports announced that he will compete full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2022 with Sokal Digital and Advertising and Springrates Automotive Suspension Source serving as primary sponsors. Parsons, 24, has made 24 Xfinity Series starts on a part-time schedule so 2022 will mark his first full-time season.
