NASCAR Xfinity playoffs explained
Sep 12, 2024
Shane van Gisbergen has qualified for the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs and is in with a shot of being champion in his rookie year, but the way top honours is decided isn’t as simple as who has the most points…
Here’s a breakdown of how the NASCAR Xfinity playoffs work:
Qualifying for Playoffs
The Xfinity Series season consists of 33 races, but only the first 26 make up the regular season. During this time, drivers are competing to earn a spot in the playoffs by accumulating points based on race finishes, stage finishes, and race wins. Just like in the Cup Series, winning a race during the regular season typically secures a driver a playoff spot, provided they attempt to compete in every race and remain within the top 20 in points.
12 drivers qualify for the playoffs in total, based on:
Race Wins – A win during the regular season guarantees a playoff spot.
Points – If fewer than 12 drivers win races, the remaining playoff spots are filled by the drivers with the most points.
Playoff Points
Playoff points are critical for advancing in the postseason if a driver doesn’t secure a race win. These points are awarded in the following way:
Race wins: 5 playoff points per win.
Stage wins: 1 playoff point per stage win.
Regular-Season winner: The regular-season champion earns 15 additional playoff points, the second-place driver gets 10, and so on down to the 10th place driver who receives 1 playoff point.
Playoff Races
Once the playoffs begin, the 12 drivers compete over the final seven races, which are divided into three rounds: the Round of 12, the Round of 8, and the Championship 4.
The full NASCAR Xfinity grid is still competing in these races, even if they aren’t playoff contenders, meaning the top-12 drivers need to navigate a full-grid of cars in their direct competition with each other.
Round of 12 (Races 27-29): The top 12 drivers face off in the first three playoff races. After these three races, the bottom four in the standings are eliminated.
Round of 8 (Races 30-32): The remaining eight drivers compete in the next three races. Once again, the four drivers with the lowest point totals are eliminated, leaving four contenders for the championship.
Championship 4 (Race 33): In the final race of the season, the top four drivers compete at the season finale. Unlike the earlier rounds, playoff points do not carry over, meaning all four drivers enter the last race on equal footing. The highest finisher among these four drivers is crowned the Xfinity Series Champion.
The first playoffs round will be the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway on the 29th of September. While SVG still doesn’t quite have the pace to contest for wins on ovals, there is a road course in the Round of 12 which will be the Supercars-champion’s best route to the next stage of playoffs.