1. With Talladega Superspeedway and Martinsville Speedway looming back-to-back, how important is it for the Round of 8 drivers to do well at Las Vegas Motor Speedway?
Christopher Hansen: Extremely important, since a good result is far from a sure thing (let alone a win) at Talladega the week after. In two of his three NASCAR Cup Series championship runs, Joey Logano won the Round of 8 opener at Vegas, locking himself into the Championship 4. Those two weeks meant Logano’s team could shift its focus to preparing its Phoenix Raceway car for the title race. It proved beneficial, as Logano went on to score the title in 2022 and 2024 after winning the Round of 8 opener. For the seven playoff drivers who don’t reach victory lane in Sin City, they better hope they score stage points and a solid finish, because nothing is ever guaranteed when racing at Talladega, especially with a Championship 4 spot on the line.
Mark Kristl: Unless your record in the Next Gen era at Martinsville is stout, accruing points at Vegas should be paramount. The Next Gen has not raced well at short tracks, and Martinsville, as the cutoff race, has featured some crazy stuff, so hoping to make up a deficit there will be tough. LVMS should allow the eight drivers to try different things, such as pit strategy, but I’d prioritize stage points. You can wreck out at Talladega and cost yourself many points, so bank extra points at Vegas to safeguard against any Talladega misfortune.
Andrew Stoddard: For the remaining eight Cup playoff drivers, a great run at Vegas could spell the difference between a Championship 4 berth and falling just short. At a 1.5-mile intermediate like Vegas, drivers and teams have arguably more control over the outcome of their race. They won’t have to deal with the superspeedway pack racing of Talladega or the close quarters bumping of Martinsville. At those tracks, it’s much easier to get caught up in someone else’s mess; therefore, it is best for teams to gain a checkered flag or as many points as possible at Vegas to set the tone for their Round of 8.
2. Where does Shane van Gisbergen rank among the all-time road course racers in NASCAR history?
Kristl: He’s in the top 15. Fifteen other drivers have led more laps and have the same amount or more victories than Shane van Gisbergen on road courses. Because of what van Gisbergen has accomplished this year, he is in the top 15. Let’s revisit this question in a year or two when he succeeds, further climbing up those statistical categories.
Stoddard: If you factor in overall statistics and the longevity of road course success, van Gisbergen is fourth all time behind Chase Elliott, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon. While what van Gisbergen has done on road courses this year has been unquestionably impressive, a longer sample size is needed to label him the NASCAR GOAT on tracks with both left- and right-hand turns. If van Gisbergen can match his 2025 accomplishments in 2026, then he could vault to the top of this list a year from now.
Hansen: Van Gisbergen has to be among the top five, and his road course stats this season alone show that. In the six road course races run, van Gisbergen won five of the six races, with a worst finish of sixth at Circuit of the Americas. The Trackhouse Racing driver ran inside the top five on road courses for 497 laps. That’s 221 laps more than any other driver in the Cup Series, showing just how unstoppable van Gisbergen was at the left and right turns this year. Should he win the first road course of 2026, which would be his sixth straight, van Gisbergen would tie Gordon for most consecutive road course wins of any driver, solidifying him as the new king of the road in NASCAR.
3. Which driver is more likely to lose the championship: Connor Zilisch in the NASCAR Xfinity Series or Corey Heim in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series?
Stoddard: Connor Zilisch is more likely to lose the title than Corey Heim for multiple reasons. First and foremost, the Xfinity Series simply has a deeper talent pool, including one of the greatest ever NXS mainstays in Zilisch’s JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier. Second, Zilisch has had to endure multiple injuries throughout the season. You wonder if the wear and tear of the season will start to come back to haunt him down the stretch. Finally, Heim has experience with this playoff system that Zilisch lacks. Heim has made two prior Truck Championship 4 appearances, blowing it in 2023 due to run-ins with Carson Hocevar before coming tantalizingly close with a runner-up finish at the Phoenix finale in 2024. Heim will have learned his lessons from those previous two championship races, while Zilisch does not have that championship race experience yet.
Hansen: Heim is more likely to lose the championship of the two because of circumstances occurring during races that cost him a few wins earlier on in the campaign. The TRICON Garage driver had several races slip away in the closing laps, either because of mechanical failure or circumstances outside of his control. Last week at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, Heim was involved in the lap one, turn 1 crash and still managed to drive back through the field to win his 10th race of the season. Phoenix is going to be no walk in the park for Heim, as a late-race pit road penalty, crash or even mechanical failure could make his 10-win season all for nothing if he doesn’t win the championship. All the Is need to be dotted and Ts crossed if Heim wants to cap off a historic 2025 season with his first Truck title.
Kristl: Zilisch is more likely to lose the title because his fellow playoff drivers are closer to him than the Truck playoff drivers are to Heim. Allgaier and Brandon Jones have won at least twice this season, Sammy Smith won an Xfinity race at Phoenix, and Sam Mayer and Jesse Love have double-digit playoff points, showing they’ve been fast this year too. Heim has been able to withstand on-track challenges from other contenders; if anything, his biggest obstacle is his own team’s mistakes. Zilisch is more likely to lose the championship than Heim, but it would be tragic if they both did not take their respective series crown.
4. Which driver is more deserving of a full-time NASCAR opportunity: Brent Crews or Austin Green?
Stoddard: While both of these drivers are intriguing young prospects, Austin Green is more deserving a full-time NASCAR opportunity. Green has a runner-up finish from last week at the ROVAL as well as five top 10s in 11 Xfinity starts, and he has done all that way in Jordan Anderson Racing/Peterson Racing Group equipment. Green does have to some work to do when it comes to oval racing, but just imagine what he could do with a full-season slate in a quality ride. Brent Crews has turned heads too, but he has been blessed with championship-level equipment from TRICON in the Truck Series and Joe Gibbs Racing in the ARCA Menards Series. Crews is more than capable of climbing the ladder, but he needs more seasoning.
Kristl: Green is more deserving because he has raced cleanly in his NXS starts. Crews, due to his age, cannot compete at the bigger racetracks, so we haven’t seen whether he can handle his own at a variety of different circuits. Also, because William Sawalich is struggling so mightily in the Xfinity Series, it is somewhat concerning whether Crews should race full time in that series, as rumored, compared to racing in Trucks or the ARCA Menards Series.
Hansen: Crews seems more ready for a full-time opportunity in NASCAR based on his performance in ARCA this season. In the national series, Crews recorded four race wins, along with five top fives and seven top-10 finishes in nine starts. Three of those wins came in JGR’s No. 18, while his fourth win came driving Nitro Motorsports’ No. 70. Crews also had success in limited starts in the ARCA East and West series, winning three of his five starts in East and scoring one win in one start at Phoenix in West. On top of all that, he was the driver to beat at the ROVAL last weekend in the Truck race, leading a race-high 56 laps before a late yellow allowed Heim to steal the win. The 2025 season alone between his starts in ARCA and limited appearances in the Truck Series show that Crews is ready for a full-time ride in one of NASCAR’s national series.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 as an iRacing contributor. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.