It’s time for the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs and Austin Cindric will lead the field to green in their debut at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Cindric earned the pole position after coming home second following a tight battle with AJ Allmendinger at the end of last week’s race (Sept. 17) at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Allmendinger, who also won the regular season championship, will start second at Vegas. No. 7 JR Motorsports pilot Justin Allgaier slots in third while Allmendinger’s Kaulig Racing teammate Justin Haley begins fourth. Joe Gibbs Racing makes up the next four positions, with Harrison Burton rounding out the top-five qualifiers.
Ty Gibbs, Daniel Hemric and Brandon Jones begin sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively. Noah Gragson and Riley Herbst complete the top 10.
The remaining playoff drivers, Myatt Snider, Jeremy Clements and Jeb Burton, will line up 12th-14th, respectively. All NASCAR playoff drivers are guaranteed to start at the front, but in this case, there are actually 14 such drivers and teams with JRM’s No. 8 and JGR’s No. 54 making the car owner playoffs. Sam Mayer will start 11th for JRM’s No. 8 in the quest for that title.
As expected, Timmy Hill did not qualify for the race.
The lineup was set by a formula that is based on the driver’s and team’s performance. Driver’s and car owner’s finishing position (weighted 25%), fastest lap from previous race (15%) and owner points ranking (35%) were added together to form a total. The driver with the lowest number starts on the pole, then the next lowest, etc. until all spots are filled.
Xfinity Lineup for Las Vegas
The Alsco Uniforms 302 airs on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
About the author
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.