This year's NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 field consists of JR Motorsports teammates Connor Zilisch, Justin Allgaier, and Carson Kvapil, as well as Richard Childress Racing's Jesse Love.
Yet if not for Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill being suspended for the race at Iowa Speedway back in early August, the quartet would consist of Zilisch, Allgaier, Love, and Hill.
NASCAR altered their rules surrounding playoff waivers ahead of the 2025 season. Though drivers who miss races for reasons NASCAR does not deem acceptable can still be granted a playoff waiver, NASCAR gave themselves the right to strip those drivers of all playoff points they earn during the regular season.
So when Hill missed the Iowa race as punishment for hooking Joe Gibbs Racing's Aric Almirola in the right rear at Indianapolis Motor Speedway the previous week, it proved costly.
Austin Hill knocked himself out of the NASCAR championship
Hill finished the regular season with 27 playoff points. He won three races, good for five playoff points each, and six stages, good for one each. He added six more playoff points with a fifth place finish in the regular season standings. But instead of starting the playoffs with 2,027 points, well above the cut line in third place, he started with 2,000, well below the cutoff in 12th (last).
He never made his way above the cut line in the round of 12. But he finished the round of 12 just 21 points below the cutoff, meaning that had he not let his emotions get the best of him at Indianapolis, he would have advanced instead of JR Motorsports' Sammy Smith.
Hill went on to secure his fourth win of the year at Talladega Superspeedway in the round of 8, meaning that had he still been championship eligible, he would have locked himself into the Championship 4 for the second year in a row.
Instead, all four Championship 4 spots ended up being awarded on points, as the two other round of 8 winners were also non-playoff drivers. Almirola won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Joe Gibbs Racing's Taylor Gray won at Martinsville Speedway.
Since Kvapil earned the fourth and final Championship 4 spot on points, he is the driver whom Hill would have replaced in this Saturday's winner-take-all round at Phoenix. Instead, the driver of the No. 21 Chevrolet is stuck in a sixth place tie in the point standings, and he can ascend no higher than fifth this weekend.
Should Kvapil wind up winning the championship, he'll have Hill to thank for effectively removing himself from championship contention with an ill-advised move in late July.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race is scheduled to take place on Saturday, November 1, and it is set to be shown live on the CW Network from Phoenix Raceway starting at 7:30 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and be sure to catch all of the action from Arizona!