The NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 is set after Saturday night’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway.
Jesse Love and Carson Kvapil clinched the final two spots to race for a title at Phoenix Raceway with respective finishes of 23rd and 18th. Both drivers had to overcome adversity throughout the evening at the Virginia short track as Love lacked speed and had multiple early penalties, while Kvapil spun late in the race.
Kvapil rallied late after his Lap 227 spin and gained more than 10 positions before the checkered flag to outduel Brandon Jones by four points for the final Championship 4 spot.
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JR Motorsports drivers Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier already punched their tickets to Phoenix on points after Talladega Superspeedway.
Jones, Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed were eliminated from championship contention at Martinsville.
Mayer expressed his frustrations with racing Jeb Burton. Mayer spun the No. 27 Jordan Anderson Racing driver after the checkered flag and shared pointed words about Burton on pit road.
“It‘s a principle thing. He‘s the worst person to race around in the entire garage,” Mayer said of Burton. “He has a reputation of being over his head every single week and this was a prime example of it. He just can‘t take no for an answer and a guy with a purple spoiler racing for something huge, moved him out of the way and went on and was faster than him in the end, and as soon as he got back to me, he gave it the beans and tried to wreck me three corners in a row.”
Mayer’s Haas Factory Racing teammate Creed said he just needed a little more to compete for the win Saturday night to advance, ultimately finishing fourth.
“We just needed to be a little better to maybe be in the position the 8 or the 20 were in,” Creed said. “I‘m really surprised the 20 didn‘t kind of try to push the 54 up or even the 8. I thought he was for sure gonna try. To see a Martinsville finish end like that is probably good for the series. I think guys are maturing and I feel like all of us are just trying to race each other a little better, but I just felt like the 20 or the 8 could have maybe pushed the issue a little more there.”
The Xfinity Series Championship takes place next Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) and will be the final title race to take place at the 1-mile Arizona oval. It’s also the final race with Xfinity as the series title sponsor.
