On a night when Richard Childress Racing's Jesse Love won the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season finale and series championship, it was Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 19 team, not Richard Childress Racing's No. 2 team, which emerged on top of the owner championship.
This year's Championship 4 actually featured six drivers, including two battling for both the driver championship and the owner championship, two battling for just the driver championship, and two battling for just the owner championship.
Because the No. 19 Toyota was split between multiple drivers throughout the year, it did not have a driver qualify for the playoffs, despite getting into the owner playoffs. So while AM Racing's Harrison Burton was one of the 12 playoff drivers, his No. 25 team did not end up being one of the 12 playoff teams.
Things got even more complicated with Austin Hill's penalty. The driver of Richard Childress Racing's No. 21 Chevrolet retained his playoff eligibility after being suspended for the early August race at Iowa Speedway for hooking Aric Almirola in the right rear at Indianapolis Motor Speedway one week prior, but he was stripped of the 27 playoff points he earned during the regular season.
However, the No. 21 team was not issued the same penalty. So while Hill missed out on the round of 8 by 21 points on the driver side, the No. 21 team advanced on the owner side.
Additionally, the No. 19 team advanced to the round of 8. As a result, the No. 1 and No. 8 JR Motorsports teammates were both eliminated in the round of 12, even though their drivers, Carson Kvapil and Sammy Smith, respectively, both advanced.
Almirola then won in the No. 19 Toyota to open up the round of 8 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, securing the No. 19 team a spot in the owner Championship 4 even though he personally was not a playoff driver.
Hill then won in the No. 21 Chevrolet the following weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, securing the No. 21 team a spot in the owner Championship 4 even though he had personally already been eliminated.
Why the NASCAR Xfinity Series had two champions in 2025
Joe Gibbs Racing's Taylor Gray, who had already been eliminated himself, then won the round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway. Because the No. 54 team had already been eliminated as well, this win meant that there were two spots left open in the owner Championship 4, while all four were still open on the driver side.
The No. 88 and No. 7 JR Motorsports teams rounded out the owner Championship 4. Their drivers, Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier, respectively, were the top two drivers who qualified for the Championship 4 on the driver side.
But while the owner Championship 4 was full, two spots remained open for the drivers. As a result, Love and JR Motorsports' Carson Kvapil advanced, even though Love's No. 2 team was eliminated in the round of 8 and Kvapil's No. 1 team had already been eliminated in the round of 12.
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Now let's get to the actual Championship 4, which might well be the final Championship 4 in Xfinity Series (O'Reilly Auto Parts Series) history. Love won the race ahead of Almirola in second place and Zilisch in third.
The win secured Love the Xfinity Series championship. But with the No. 2 team already eliminated from owner championship contention, it was Almirola who delivered the No. 19 team the owner title.
Zilisch finished second in the driver standings behind Love, despite winning five times as many races as Love throughout the 33-race season. But his No. 88 team finished second in the owner standings behind the No. 19 team, not the No. 2 team; the No. 88 team finished three spots ahead of Love's No. 2 team in fifth.
It sounds complicated, but when you consider the driver playoffs and owner playoffs are actually two different sets of playoffs, it actually makes total sense; they both work the same way. The only difference is that you rarely hear much about the owner championship, and this year's went to a car that was shared by six drivers throughout the season.