NASCAR Xfinity, Truck Series playoff eligibility requirements must change

The beneficiaries of my idea

There are three Xfinity Series drivers this season who may benefit from my idea. Ryan Preece would certainly benefit, John Hunter Nemechek may have competed in more races, and there is a certain argument to be made about the case of Kaz Grala.

First, Ryan Preece would benefit from this rule change. Joe Gibbs Racing announced Preece would run a partial Xfinity Series schedule driving the #18 Toyota. In April, he won the 2018 Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

At that time, Preece sat in 15th place in the point standings. Yet because of the fact that he did not attempt every race, he was ineligible to make the playoffs. He currently sits in 22nd in the point standings despite the fact that he competed in only eight of the 26 races.

Shouldn’t NASCAR reward Preece for his performance, especially since he is ahead of several full-time drivers in the point standings?

Plus, with NASCAR valuing wins so heavily in their playoff system, Preece’s victory seemingly came with fine print, which read playoff ineligibility. With my idea, he would have made it into the 2018 Xfinity Series playoffs. In addition to Christopher Bell and Brandon Jones, he would be the third Joe Gibbs Racing driver in the playoffs.

Chip Ganassi Racing signed John Hunter Nemechek to a part-time Xfinity Series schedule to drive the #42 Chevrolet. Nemechek has raced in only 13 races thus far this season, yet he is only 70 points behind the top Xfinity Series driver who is not in the playoffs, Michael Annett (496 to 426).

On Thursday, August 23, Chip Ganassi Racing announced that Ross Chastain would drive #42 Chevrolet in three races that were originally scheduled to be driven by Nemechek.

Nemechek showed class when he tweeted this in response to that announcement.

Although Nemecheck mentions the owners championship, does that better his career by helping the team win the owners championship? I doubt it. Interestingly, in his second race driving the #42 Chevrolet, Ross Chastain won the DC Solar 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Congratulations to him. While this idea would help Nemechek, I rooted for Chastain.

However, if my idea was the rule, would Nemechek have driven the car in this race instead? Perhaps he would have won it. If so, the Xfinity Series playoff field would look different.

Lastly, Nemechek is a young, talented and popular driver. When longtime drivers such as Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, etc., are retiring, NASCAR should market their youthful talent. If this idea were to be adopted, Nemechek would likely compete in more races.

Kaz Grala probably would not benefit from my idea even though I thought of it when he did not race at Kentucky Speedway. He changed teams during the season, and although he gained some momentum, he only sits in 20th place in the point standings. He has led only 13 laps this season, so he has not shown contending speed.

Nevertheless, with the value of the owners championship, perhaps another team such as Biagi-DenBeste Racing could have offered him a ride. Without overly complicating things, the owners championship partially determines teams’ end-of-year purses.

There are playoffs for the owners championship as well, so if my idea would also be adopted for the owners championship, perhaps Grala would drive for Biagi-DenBeste Racing. The team won at Atlanta Motor Speedway in late February with Kevin Harvick driving their #98 Ford. Under my idea, would the team offer the ride to Grala in the playoff races? This, of course, is all hypothetical speculation, but it’s neat to ponder.

Under my idea, Preece would make the Xfinity Series playoffs while Ryan Reed would miss the playoffs. With his one stage win and his one race win this season, Preece would currently sit in the top eight in the point standings instead of in 22nd place. Alas, my idea is not the rule, but in my opinion, it should be.