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5 Things You Might Have Missed from the Xfinity Series at Bristol

Photo credit: Andrew Coppley
Photo credit: Andrew Coppley

From Autoweek

1. CHASE BRISCOE WON THE FOOD CITY 250

Chase Briscoe took the lead from Austin Cindric with six laps to go and won the Food City 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

While Cindric claimed the regular season championship, the five bonus points earned by Briscoe on Saturday will have both leading the standings once the playoffs begin next Saturday in Las Vegas.

Briscoe's seventh win leads all drivers.

"I was worried (because) our car was really good on the long run, I couldn't get going, those guys were so far ahead," Briscoe said. "The last 15 laps our car came to life, I figured something out. We had to root and gouge our way up there, that's what Bristol is all about."

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Cindric lost his power steering with 30 laps to go and began backing up to Ross Chastain and Briscoe. Briscoe utilized a bump to get under and around Chastain, and then quickly picked off a wounded Cindric.

"I lost power steering with 30 laps to go and I'm not sure I've ever been in that much pain in my life," Cindric said. "But that's the way it goes. We should've won the race tonight."

The top-5 was completed by Ross Chastain, Cindric, Harrison Burton and Justin Allgaier.

Allgaier swept the first two stages, leading 127 laps, but lost the lead on the final round of pit stops.

"I feel good," Allgaier said. "I'm disappointed for our guys we won both stages and didn't have anything to show for it at the end. We got a set of tires that was quite a bit different, we weren't able to adjust on the car. Still, hats off to these guys."

Photo credit: NASCAR
Photo credit: NASCAR

2. WHO MADE THE PLAYOFFS?

Here is how the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs will begin.

1. Chase Briscoe +48
2. Austin Cindric +48
3. Justin Allgaier +31
4. Noah Gragson +23
5. Brandon Jones +18
6. Justin Haley +16
7. Harrison Burton +12
8. Ross Chastain +8
---
9. Ryan Sieg -8
10. Michael Annett -8
11. Riley Herbst -9
12. Brandon Brown -10

The first three races take place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

The bottom four winless drivers in the standings after each round will be eliminated. Their points will be reset for the start of each round, adding whatever playoff points they accumulated during the previous round(s) to the base total.

The last remaining four will race for the championship in November at Phoenix Raceway.

3. MICHAEL ANNETT'S STREAK COMES TO AN END

Michael Annett has quietly put together one of his most consistent NASCAR Xfinity Series seasons in 2020 and was hoping to carry that momentum through the regular season finale at Bristol.

Annett was in seventh and lapping Joe Graf Jr. (already five laps down) when Brandon Jones in eighth initiated slight contact with Graf -- sending him into Annett. That pushed the JR Motorsports No. 1 into the wall and out of the race.

The incident ended Annett's streak of six consecutive top-10s. He had earned 13 over the past 14 races, too.

"We know we're in the playoffs, obviously, and just looking for that race win and the five points to carry us into the playoffs, and through each round of the playoffs" Annett said from the infield care center. "This one stings when you have a car this fast.

"I told Travis (Mack, crew chief) that it was a race winning car. I came in here with all the confidence in the world being at JR Motorsports and how fast are cars have been. Justin (Allgaier) is showing that and I was running right behind Noah (Gragson). I'm kicking myself for putting myself in a bad position. I moved to the outside to see if I could snooker Noah 10 laps sooner and we're just playing chess with race cars and I made the wrong move, obviously."

Annett's best season arguably came in 2012 with Richard Petty Motorsports when he posted six top-5s and 17 top-10s, albeit without a win, but against Cup Series competition with greater regularity. He captured his first win and 19 top-10s last season with JR Motorsports and has three top-5s and 16 top-10s in 2020.

He will enter the playoffs as the No. 10 seed in his pursuit of the final four.

4. ROSS CHASTAIN IS STILL WINLESS

Ross Chastain continues to be amongst the most competitively consistent drivers in the Xfinity Series but just hasn’t been able to break through for his first win of the season.

He finished second on Saturday at Bristol, his third consecutive podium finish, and fifth over the past seven races, to give him 14 top-5s in 27 starts.

That’s good enough to finish the regular season third in points, but the lack of wins means he will start the playoffs as the eighth seed and just eight points above the elimination cutline.

Chastain was the leader on the final restart with 47 to go, but was quickly passed by Cindric. He was then poised to capitalize on Cindric's loss of power steering but was passed by Briscoe before he could take the lead.

"It's tough to come up short like that," Chastain said. "We put up a fight. Everybody at Kaulig Racing gave me what I needed to win, we just didn't get it done. Got too loose at the end, and that was it."

Photo credit: Jared C. Tilton - Getty Images
Photo credit: Jared C. Tilton - Getty Images

5. JUSTIN HALEY BESIEGED BY FLAT RIGHT FRONTS

Justin Haley showed race winning speed throughout the night but was forced to pit twice for flat right fronts.

He finished second to Allgaier in the first stage. On Lap 105, Haley was forced to pit under green after suffering a flat right-front tire.

Haley finished 16th.

"We had really fast speed," Haley said. "We were fast in the first stage but two flat right fronts ain't gonna get it for you at Bristol."

RESULTS

1. Chase Briscoe
2. Ross Chastain
3. Austin Cindric
4. Harrison Burton
5. Justin Allgaier
6. Anthony Alfredo
7. Noah Gragson
8. Brandon Jones
9. Jeb Burton
10. Riley Herbst
11. Jeremy Clements
12. Brandon Brown
13. Alex Labbe
14. Ryan Sieg
15. Timmy Hill
16. Justin Haley
17. Jeffrey Earnhardt
18. Gray Gaulding
19. Josh Williams
20. Chad Finchum
21. Colby Howard
22. Matt Mills
23. Stefan Parsons
24. Tommy Joe Martins
25. Jesse Little
26. Brett Moffitt
27. Joe Graf Jr
28. Dexter Bean
29. Kody Vanderwal
30. Bayley Currey
31. Michael Annett
32. Kyle Weatherman
33. Vinnie Miller
34. BJ McLeod
35. Myatt Snider
36. Stephen Leicht

Fan favorite Myatt Snider was amongst the first drivers to fall out due to attrition.