Eyes on Xfinity: A Look at the 2024 Championship 4

Thirty-five down, one to go.

When the NASCAR Xfinity Series takes the track this weekend at Phoenix Raceway, it will feature a clash of titans and a wealth of experience.

This is the series where names are made, known for young rising talent passing through on the way to the NASCAR Cup Series.

But the four drivers competing for the championship have an average age of 34. For some perspective, that’s almost four years older than Championship 4 in Cup.

What does this elevated age tell us about what we’re about to see this weekend? After a week (and really a season) that has featured more controversy at the Cup level than anyone would deem to be healthy, we’re likely to get what the Xfinity Series has given us all year: excellent old-school racing.

While controversy continues on the Cup side, with discussion about whether any of the four championship contenders were among the four best drivers throughout the entirety of the season, we don’t have the same problem in Xfinity. If you’ve been paying close attention, you’d be likely to put at least two, maybe three of the Xfinity Championship 4 in the deserving category. The fourth driver has at least been consistent enough to be in the conversation, with a decorated and lengthy career resume.

Without further adieu, let’s take a look at the Xfinity Championship 4

Justin Allgaier

It’s hard to name someone as the favorite when the defending champion is still competing, but that is exactly what I’m doing with Allgaier. I’ll give him the nod over Cole Custer here.

Allgaier has been so close so many times; this will be his seventh appearance in the Championship 4. Despite all the attempts, he hasn’t closed the deal yet. But there is plenty of evidence to suggest this is his year.

Among the contenders, Allgaier has the most starts at Phoenix with 28. He also has the most wins (two) and most top fives (10). Despite the high number of starts, he still has a very good average finish of 10th.

When the series went to Phoenix in the spring, Allgaier was dominant. He led 50 laps in the final stage before a flat tire ended his day just five laps before the checkered flag. He’ll be bringing a different car this weekend, though, as the damage caused by the flat tire rendered the spring car a total loss.

Allgaier has been close enough times to know not to be overconfident. He spoke to Fronstretch at Championship 4 Media Day and made it clear.

“This sport gives and it takes away,” he said, “There’s no guarantees you’re gonna win anything ever.

“We’ve done all the right things. The experiences. The trials and tribulations we’ve gone through. We’ve put ourselves in this position this weekend with a car and team that is capable of doing it. The other six [attempts] don’t matter. The other six were different times, different places. We’ve had more speed this year than we’ve had in years past, and that’s what’s gonna be the difference for me this weekend.”

Cole Custer

Custer has put together a spectacular season. Albeit quietly, he’s led the most laps (772) among the Championship 4. His average finish is 10.6, and he boasts a series-leading 22 top 10s (tied with Sheldon Creed.) Perhaps the quiet nature of this incredibly consistent year comes from having just two wins .

Custer has started nine Xfinity races at Phoenix, with last season’s championship-winning race being his lone win. In that race, he traded barbs with John Hunter Nemechek early but went on to lead the most laps (96) and brought home his first NASCAR championship.

Earlier this season at Phoenix, that momentum carried over. He won the pole and led 61 laps, all of which came in the first half of the race. In the second half the field seemed to catch up with Custer, and he went on to finish seventh.

While he’s the only contender boasting a championship, he’s also the youngest driver competing for the title at the ripe old age of 26.

He’s proven to be a clutch performer when it matters most, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him end his full-time Xfinity tenure with a repeat championship before heading up to the Cup Series to drive for the revamped Haas Factory Team in 2025.

“Our team does a really good job executing weekends and maximizing, we just have to go out there and do it one more time,” Custer said. “Having the shot to win a championship in NASCAR, you don’t get a ton of shots at that. So you want to make every single opportunity count.”

Austin Hill

While the first two drivers could interchangeably be picked as the favorite to win, Hill comes in as a bit of an underdog. He’s got four wins on the season, most of any of the contenders. Three of those wins came where he has become a perpetual favorite: drafting tracks.

Outside of the drafting environment, Hill has been thought of as good but maybe not quite great. Two weeks ago at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he put some of that reputation to rest with a definitive three-second win after leading 82 laps. He’s heard the accusations of only being a winner on the drafting tracks, and he’s quick to rebuke them.

“We’re up front each and every week, so people who say that, they’re just uneducated,” he said.

In a strange twist on the season, he has the most wins of this group and the fewest laps led. He’s been somewhat boom and bust. When Allgaier and Custer are off, they’re still in the top 10. When Hill has been off, he’s been buried deeper in the field. This weekend, his Richard Childress Racing team is bringing a brand new car.

“Anytime you can bring a band new racecar to the track with all the bells and whistles on it, it should be better,” he said.

Hill does need to find something he hasn’t quite found at Phoenix. In his five starts, he’s yet to finish in the top five. If Hill can pull off the win, it would be RCR’s first NASCAR championship since Tyler Reddick won the 2019 Xfinity title.

AJ Allmendinger

The oldest driver in contention is also the biggest longshot to win. Allmendinger has made his name for being a skilled road-course racer who has won turning left and right in various series, but Phoenix hasn’t been his forte over the years. He’s made seven winless starts at the doglegged oval, with two top fives.

This season has been an enigma for Allmendinger. It was a long slog of finishes below expectations. The arrival of Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch blocked Allmendinger from winning a single Xfinity road course race, breaking a streak that started in 2019.

On the ovals, he often struggled more than usual, leading a total of 156 laps throughout the first 29 races of the season. Then at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he hit on something and scored his first win of the season.

Allmendinger has stayed loyal to Kaulig Racing through thick and thin, and he’s motivated by a lot of factors, but maybe none more than bringing a championship to the team that feels like family.

“I’m trying to do it more for everybody at Kaulig Racing,” he said. “That’s would be the satisfaction I would get out of it. Delivering a championship for Matt [Kaulig, owner] and Chris [Rice, team president].”

He may be the biggest underdog here, but he said he’s confident in the effort Kaulig has put in to give him a real shot at winning the title.

“If it doesn’t go well this weekend, it’s not from lack of effort, it’s lack of talent on my end,” he said. “… We are wholly prepared, more than we ever have been for one race.”

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And as for the rest of the field? Any time you have 38 competitors on the track at once, you have huge potential for the unexpected. As Kurt Busch once said, “the more that becomes unpredictable, the more it becomes unpredictable, to predict unpredictability.”

There are many drivers outside the top four who could run up front and factor in for the win. Chandler Smith narrowly missed advancing to the championship round and got into a post-race squabble with Custer after last week’s race at Martinsville Speedway. Creed has been really good at Phoenix recently, and he’s still searching for his first win in the series.

Sam Mayer was in this round last season but didn’t make it this year. He didn’t get the looks he felt he deserved for any available Cup rides, and next season he’ll leave JR Motorsports to drive for Haas alongside Creed. Mayer could be a good bet to mix it up at the front of the field.

Joe Gibbs Racing not having any cars in contention is a bit of a surprise. Between Creed, Smith and Aric Almirola, the whole team could play spoiler this weekend. Almirola has a lot to race for too, as his No. 20 team is racing for the owner’s championship.