Entering the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway, four drivers were still eligible to win the championship. Four teams were also still eligible to win the owner championship.
In total, six drivers, not four, were battling for at least one of the two championships. Two drivers were going for the driver title. Two were going for the owner title for their teams. But only two were going for both.
Richard Childress Racing's Jesse Love was one of those competing only for the driver championship.
Jesse Love's team didn't win the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship
The driver playoffs and the owner playoffs are two different sets of playoffs. On the owner side, the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team qualified for the playoffs, despite not having a full-time driver. As a result, the No. 25 AM Racing team, despite Harrison Burton qualifying for the driver playoffs, did not qualify for the owner playoffs.
Then there was Austin Hill, whose suspension for the race at Iowa Speedway in August, after he hooked Aric Almirola in the right rear at Indianapolis Motor Speedway one week prior, resulted in NASCAR taking away all 27 of the playoff points he earned during the regular season.
Hill's No. 21 Richard Childress Racing team, however, was not issued the same penalty. So when Hill missed out on the round of 8 by just 21 points, the No. 21 team actually did advance out of the round of 12.
The No. 19 team qualified for the round of 8 as well, so while JR Motorsports teammates Carson Kvapil and Sammy Smith advanced to the semifinal round, their No. 1 team and No. 8 team, respectively, were eliminated in the opening round.
In the round of 8, Almirola won the opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, locking the No. 19 team into the Championship 4 on the owner side. Hill then won the next race at Talladega Superspeedway, locking the No. 21 team in as well.
But because Almirola was a part-time driver and therefore not a playoff driver, and Hill had already been eliminated, neither driver advanced to the championship round.
After non-playoff driver Taylor Gray of Joe Gibbs Racing won the round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway, all four spots in the Championship 4 on the driver side were awarded on points.
They went to JR Motorsports teammates Connor Zilisch, Justin Allgaier, and Kvapil, as well as Love. But with only two spots still open on the owner side, only Zilisch's No. 88 team and Allgaier's No. 7 team advanced.
Kvapil's No. 1 team had already been eliminated, and there were not enough spots still open for Love's No. 2 team to move on.
So while the driver Championship 4 battle was between Zilisch, Allgaier, Love, and Kvapil, the owner Championship 4 battle was between the No. 88 team (Zilisch), the No. 7 team (Allgaier), the No. 19 team (Almirola), and the No. 21 team (Hill).
Love won the season finale at Phoenix to win the championship, denying the 10-win Zilisch the crown, but all that did for his No. 2 team was lock up a fifth place finish in the owner standings.
Almirola finished in second place, highest among the drivers battling for their teams in the owner championship, so the No. 19 team was crowned 2025 owner champion.
Zilisch was third, so he finished second in the driver standings, and his No. 88 team also finished second in the owner standings.
Six drivers spent time behind the wheel of the No. 19 Toyota in 2026, with Almirola leading the way. Almirola competed in 17 of the 33 races and was responsible for all three of the car's wins at Phoenix, Bristol Motor Speedway, and Las Vegas. He also recorded the team's only three runner-up finishes.
The 2026 O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season is scheduled to get underway on Saturday, February 14 with the United Rentals 300, which is set to be shown live on the CW Network from Daytona International Speedway.