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NASCAR Xfinity Series: Can anybody stop the ‘Big 3’?

By Asher Fair

LONG POND, PENNSYLVANIA - JUNE 01: Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem Toyota, races Cole Custer, driver of the #00 FIMS Manufacturing Ford, during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pocono Green 250 at Pocono Raceway on June 01, 2019 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
LONG POND, PENNSYLVANIA - JUNE 01: Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem Toyota, races Cole Custer, driver of the #00 FIMS Manufacturing Ford, during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pocono Green 250 at Pocono Raceway on June 01, 2019 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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Does anybody have what it takes to stop the “Big 3” of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, which includes Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer and Christopher Bell?

The “Big 3” of the NASCAR Xfinity Series have taken hardly any time to emerge throughout the first half of the 33-race 2019 season. These three drivers are the three drivers who reached last year’s Championship 4 and returned to the series this year, and they have been dominant.

These three drivers are Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick, the reigning Xfinity Series champion, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer.

Reddick, Bell and Custer sit in first, second and third place in the championship standings, respectively, with 16 races having been contested so far this season. Custer and Bell have each won four races so far this season while Reddick has won three.

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But we are constantly reminded that four drivers, not three, will advance to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and therefore four drivers, not three, will compete for a championship in the season finale.

After all, last season, the Cup Series also had a “Big 3” that included Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. These drivers all entered the 36th and final race of the season trying to become two-time champions, and they entered it having combined to win 20 of the season’s first 35 races.

But it was Team Penske’s Joey Logano, who entered this race having won just two of the season’s first 35 races, who won it to secure the first championship of his Cup Series career, leaving the “Big 3” shaking their heads after none of them were able to capitalize on remarkable seasons.

As for the 2019 Xfinity Series season, only three drivers other than the “Big 3” have gone to victory lane through the first 16 races. These three drivers are Busch, JR Motorsports’ Michael Annett and Kaulig Racing’s Ross Chastain.

Busch is a full-time Cup Series driver who has won three of his four Xfinity Series races so far this year but is not eligible to score Xfinity Series points. Annett’s lone victory so far this season is also the lone victory of his career, and he won it in a “wild card” superspeedway race at Daytona International Speedway in mid-February.

Like Annett, Chastain’s lone victory so far this season also came in a “wild card” superspeedway race at Daytona International Speedway, this one having taken place this past Friday night, and Chastain is not even eligible to score Xfinity Series points.

Does anybody have what it takes to stop the “Big 3”?

Team Penske’s Austin Cindric and JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier are relatively close to the “Big 3” in the championship standings in fourth and fifth place, respectively, but neither driver has won a race this season. Cindric is still hunting for the first victory of his Xfinity Series career while Allgaier is still winless after earning a career-high five victories last year.

Additionally, while Reddick, Bell and Custer have recorded 11, nine and nine top five finishes so far this season, Cindric has recorded six while Allgaier has recorded seven. Keep in mind, these are the only two drivers who are within 110 points of any of the “Big 3”.

The only other driver who has recorded more than four top five finishes this season is Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe. He, like Cindric, has recorded six of them, but he sits all the way down in 10th place in the championship standings, nowhere near Cindric and Allgaier, much less the “Big 3”.

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In short, nobody has anything for the “Big 3” of Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Cole Custer at this point, and it would take a lot to change that, especially to change that to the point where somebody other than these three drivers is able to advance to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway and win the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.

With all things considered, a wreck involving all three of these drivers in the season finale may very well be the only way to prevent one of them from winning this title.

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