Because the round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was won by part-time driver Aric Almirola of Joe Gibbs Racing, no championship-eligible drivers entered this past Saturday's race at Talladega Superspeedway locked into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway.
And because the Talladega race was won by Richard Childress Racing's Austin Hill, who was ultimately eliminated in the round of 12 because of the 27-point penalty he was hit with due to his one-race suspension over the summer, there are still no drivers locked into the winner-take-all round next weekend.
However, the Championship 4 picture did shift around at Talladega, and the four drivers above the cut line entering NASCAR's biggest oval are no longer all above it.
Sam Mayer drops out of NASCAR playoff picture
JR Motorsports teammates Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier are still atop the point standings, which should come as no surprise; quite frankly, it would still take a complete meltdown this weekend at Martinsville Speedway for either one of them to fail to qualify for the Championship 4.
And Richard Childress Racing's Jesse Love is still third in the standings as he continues to piece together a solid yet underrated postseason. But Haas Factory Team's Sam Mayer is no longer in the fourth and final spot above the cutoff after a crash resulted in a last-place DNF at Talladega.
JR Motorsports' Carson Kvapil, who matched his season-best finish with a runner-up finish on Saturday, now finds himself above the cut line, 11 points ahead of teammate Sammy Smith. Joe Gibbs Racing's Brandon Jones, who himself dropped below the cutoff after the Las Vegas round of 8 opener, is 20 points behind Kvapil.
Mayer, who held an eight-point lead over Jones for the fourth and final spot heading into Talladega, has plumetted to 22 points behind Kvapil. He is only ahead of teammate Sheldon Creed, who is 41 points behind Kvapil and likely in a must-win situation this weekend at Martinsville.
The CW Network's live coverage of the IAA and Ritchie Bros. 250 is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, October 25. If you have not yet had a chance to begin a free trial of FuboTV, do so today and don't miss any of the action from Martinsville Speedway!