Top 5 Storylines of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Season

Less than a month ago, the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season came to an end and closed the book on the division’s 42nd year of competition in the modern era.

It came with no shortage of remarkable storylines, either. From first-time winners to the second-closest finish in series history, the Xfinity Series had plenty of headline occurrences that highlighted the 2024 season.

Here’s a look back at five of the best narratives from the 2024 Xfinity season.

Read all of Frontstretch‘s content looking back on 2024 here

5. Sheldon Creed Breaks Series Record for Most Runner-Up Finishes Before First Win

Whether he likes it or not, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Sheldon Creed made history in 2024.

At Michigan International Raceway in August, Creed came up just short of his first career Xfinity win by finishing second … again.

To almost any other driver in any other race, a second-place finish doesn’t mean much other than a solid points day. However, on that particular Saturday, it just so happened to be Creed’s 11th runner-up result, and it broke the series record for most second-place finishes before a first win.

Creed’s silver medal finish surpassed the previous record of 10 set by NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett and 2021 series champion Daniel Hemric. It’s certainly not bad company to be in, but one Creed nonetheless believed is, “not a record you want.”

Yet it doesn’t end there.

One month later, Creed earned a further two consecutive second-place results at Watkins Glen International and Bristol Motor Speedway increasing his record to a whopping 13.

At the close of the 2024 season, the 27-year-old had amassed an impressive 16 top-five finishes — the second-most of the year — out of 33 total races. That’s nearly half of the season, yet not one of them was that coveted first victory.

The 2020 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion will be moving on to the newly rebranded Haas Factory Team in what will be his fourth full-time season in the series.

4. Road Course Aces Shane van Gisbergen and Connor Zilisch Quickly Earn First Victories

While Creed’s winless streak continues at 103 starts and counting, rookie Connor Zilisch only had to wait for his first win in the shortest number of races: one.

The 18-year-old had already begun the 2024 racing season by turning plenty of heads when he earned a class victory in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona International Speedway earlier in the year, but at Watkins Glen in September, he added the title of Xfinity winner to his already impressive resume.

REPOST to congratulate Connor Zilisch! 🏁

He makes HISTORY, becoming the seventh driver in NASCAR Xfinity Series history to win their debut race. pic.twitter.com/qHcVOpx8FU

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 14, 2024

Not only is he the seventh in series history to accomplish the feat in his first start, he’s also the first to do so from the pole.

The JR Motorsports driver entered three more Xfinity races in the year and finished in the top five in two of them.

A limited yet first-class season earned the Mooresville, N.C., native a ride with JRM in 2025.

He’ll drive full time in the No. 88 Chevrolet next year, much like fellow road course ace Shane van Gisbergen.

It came to no surprise that the former Australian Supercars champion quickly found series success in only his second road-course start at Portland International Raceway in June. However, the Kiwi went on to earn more victories only a week later at Sonoma Raceway and later again at the Chicago street course.

If it wasn’t for a last-lap penalty accrued at the Circuit of the Americas in March, van Gisbergen would have earned a top five at every road course in 2024, a stat that will almost certainly help him when he moves to the Cup Series next year.

The 35-year-old ended his season with a playoff berth and 12th-place result in the series standings, a result he’ll looking to at least replicate in 2025.

He’ll almost certainly need to win to do so, and with five road courses scheduled in the Cup regular season, he’s proven that he should be more than capable of accomplishing it.

3. Aric Almirola Rejuvenates NASCAR Career With Three Wins in Part-Time Season

After he walked away from Cup competition at the end of the 2023 season, few thought they would ever see Aric Almirola in a NASCAR victory lane ever again.

Even fewer could’ve guessed it would only take a few months to get there.

Yet during the offseason in late 2023, JGR announced Almirola would return in a part-time role with the team’s Xfinity program in the No. 20 Toyota, the same team he ran part time with nearly 17 years earlier.

It only took the 40-year-old four races in 2024 to finally win that first race with JGR at Martinsville Speedway in early April.

The Floridian garnered another top-five result at Darlington Raceway nearly a month later, and it seemed his delayed retirement was a sound decision. Over the summer, however, he seemingly vanished.

Rumors began to swirl around the garage over the veteran’s whereabouts, as races he was originally scheduled to run the No. 20 were filled by different drivers. Finally, in late June, JGR announced that Almirola had been suspended by the team for an altercation with fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace.

It wasn’t until late July that Almirola returned to the No. 20 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he quickly returned to form and finished third.

With his consistency and success in the No. 20, JGR placed Almirola in the No. 20 full time for the rest of the season after the second race of the playoffs. The veteran won the very next race at Kansas Speedway and completed the season sweep of Martinsville victories in November, the first Xfinity driver to do so at the track since Sam Ard in 1983.

Almirola ended the season by placing the JGR No. 20 second in the owner’s championship, just one point shy of the title.

His 2025 plans still remain unclear, but this last season was enough to see Almirola’s career twilight with a roar rather than a whimper.

2. Sam Mayer Beats Ryan Sieg By Mere Inches in Texas Photo Finish

After 11 years of full-time Xfinity racing, Ryan Sieg is still hunting his ever elusive first win. However, in April at Texas Motor Speedway, he was literally inches from ending his wait.

In the closing laps at the Lone Star State’s 1.5-mile circuit, Sieg had gotten enough space between he and JRM driver Sam Mayer in second. For a moment, Sieg appeared to be on his way to finally winning his first race. However, Mayer crept ever closer to the back bumper of Sieg’s No. 39 Ford, and on the final lap, he finally crossed over Sieg to send it hard into the final turn. Coming to the line, the duo slammed into each other side-by-side.

The result was a margin of victory of 0.002 seconds for Mayer, a tie for the second-closest finish in Xfinity history.

WHAT A FINISH. BY INCHES! Repost to congratulate Sam Mayer on his NASCAR Xfinity Series WIN at Texas! Wow. pic.twitter.com/Y3HK7FORAB

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 13, 2024

As Mayer celebrated what was his fifth-career win, Sieg lamented to reporters on pit road what he could have done differently.

It wasn’t the last time Sieg ended in that position in 2024 either, as the Georgia native finished runner-up two more times in the season at Talladega Superspeedway in the fall and again at Las Vegas Motor Speedway only two weeks later. However, in neither of those results was Sieg short by only fractions of a second.

Mayer went on to earn two more victories, including one that qualified him for the Round of 8 in the playoffs and eventually ended his season ninth in the standings.

While the two had mediocre finishes to their years, their battle and subsequent metal-grinding finish will undoubtedly be remembered in Texas highlight reels to come.

1. Justin Allgaier Finally Wins First Career Championship

With the exception of perhaps Denny Hamlin, it was widely considered the most anticipated championship in modern-day NASCAR competition.

But finally, after 14 seasons of frustrating attempts, Xfinity veteran Justin Allgaier could at long last raise the series’ trophy over his head at Phoenix Raceway.

AT LONG LAST, HIS DREAM COMES TRUE!@J_Allgaier is the 2024 #XfinitySeries Champion! pic.twitter.com/2XjE68E5mG

— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) November 10, 2024

Prior to 2024, Allgaier had appeared in the Xfinity Championship 4 six out of the eight years it has been run since its inception in 2016. Alas, he had come up short each and every time, even finishing runner-up twice in 2020 and 2023.

During that weekend one month ago, it seemed like it was going to happen again. Allgaier had crashed his car in Friday (Nov. 8) practice, which forced the team to bring out the backup vehicle, making it start from the rear of the field in 37th.

A roller coaster of a Phoenix race for Allgaier saw him slice through the field multiple times into the top 10 before being penalized for a restart violation and then was penalized again for speeding while serving said penalty.

At the beginning of the final stage, the JRM No. 7 Chevrolet was right back where it had begun the race: in the low 30s and one lap down. However, a late caution put Allgaier back onto the lead lap and revitalized his title hunt.

After a late-race charge back to the front, season-defining pit stops and multiple overtime drama, Allgaier was finally a champion.

Less than a month later, he was voted the Xfinity Series’ most popular driver, making him the series’ first most popular driver champion since Chase Elliott in 2014.

The fans love their champion!@J_Allgaier is the 2024 NMPA Most Popular Driver in the #XfinitySeries! pic.twitter.com/l7vwkgE9HV

— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) November 23, 2024

With the fan vote win, Allgaier’s title proved to be perhaps one of the most popular championships in recent history, and it capped off what was another thrilling Xfinity season.