NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff picture after 2018 Whelen Trusted To Perform 200

Only the Championship 4 remains on the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule. Which four drivers are set to compete to win the championship?

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell entered the second round of the three-round, seven-race 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, the round of 8, leading the playoff picture with a comfortable margin over the Championship 4 cut line.

However, a disastrous first two races of the three-race round of 8, the races at Kansas Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, send Bell to seventh place out in the playoff picture out of the eight round of 8 drivers.

Bell was essentially in a must-win situation heading into the third and final race of the round of 8, the Whelen Trusted To Perform 200, at ISM Raceway, and this officially became the case as the race progressed and stage points had been awarded.

Needing a victory even in the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) ISM Raceway oval in Avondale, Arizona even though he entered the race with more victories than anybody else in the field with six, the 23-year-old Norman, Oklahoma native delivered.

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Bell became the second driver to clinch a berth in the Championship 4, as Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer did so by winning the race at Texas Motor Speedway. Chip Ganassi Racing’s John Hunter Nemechek, who is not a full-time driver, won the opening race of the round of 8 at Kansas Speedway, so no Championship 4 berths were clinched as a result of this race.

Three drivers aside of Custer entered the Whelen Trusted To Perform above the Championship 4 cut line. Because Bell won the race to effectively move the Championship 4 cut line up by one position, a maximum of only two of them could clinch berths in the Championship 4. Two of them did, in fact, end up doing so.

JR Motorsports teammates Tyler Reddick and Elliott Sadler entered the Whelen Trusted To Perform a total of 20 points and 13 points, respectively, above the Championship 4 cut line. Richard Childress Racing’s Daniel Hemric entered it a total of 12 points ahead of the Championship 4 cut line.

Of these three drivers, Hemric and Reddick are set to advance to the Championship 4. Hemric finished the race in second place while Reddick finished in sixth. Sadler, who finished in 11th, is not set to advance to the Championship 4.

Aside of Bell, three drivers entered the race below the Championship 4 cut line. Of those three drivers, only two had a chance to advance to the Championship 4 without winning the race. Those two drivers were JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, who entered the race a total of 12 points below the Championship 4 cut line, and Richard Childress Racing’s Matt Tifft, who entered it a total of 14 points below the Championship 4 cut line.

Team Penske’s Austin Cindric, who was the other one of those three drivers, had no way by which he could clinch a berth in the Championship 4 aside of winning the race because of the fact that he entered it a total of 61 points below the Championship 4 cut line.

Tifft finished the race in third place while Allgaier finished in 24th, but neither of them ended up advancing to the Championship. Cindric finished it in fourth.

With all of that in mind, the four drivers who are set to compete in the season finale, the Ford EcoBoost 300, at Homestead-Miami Speedway In Homestead, Florida on Saturday, November 17 as the four Championship 4 drivers with a chance to win the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship are Custer, Bell, Hemric and Reddick.

Here is the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff picture with only the Championship 4 remaining on the 2018 schedule.

Rank – Driver – Car, Team, Manufacturer: Points (Behind) – Playoff Points (Rank)
1st – Christopher Bell – #20, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota: 4000 (-) – 49 (4th)
1st – Cole Custer – #00, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford: 4000 (-) – 17 (3rd)
1st – Daniel Hemric – #21, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet: 4000 (-) – 15 (5th)
1st – Tyler Reddick – #9, JR Motorsports, Chevrolet: 4000 (-) – 10 (6th)

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Be sure to tune in to the live broadcast of the lone 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 race, the Ford EcoBoost 300, on Saturday, November 17. This race is set to be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET.

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