Yahoo Autos Austin Cindric Is Your 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion
This year's Xfinity Series, the second-tier NASCAR championship designed to develop drivers before they debut in the Cup Series, has been dominated by one driver. That person, Chase Briscoe, won nine races this year, had 16 top fives, and failed to finish just once all year.
Briscoe did not win the championship, however.
Instead, an uncharacteristically weak performance by Briscoe this weekend opened the door for two of the other three drivers in the Xfinity Series variant of the top level's Championship Four. Penske Racing's Austin Cindric, a young driver on his way to the Cup Series in the near future, and JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier, an Xfinity Series veteran who seems likely to stay at this level for most of his career, instead filled out the top two spots for most of the race. The second of two late yellows, this one actually brought out by a spinning Briscoe, left Allgaier at the front of the field with old tires on a restart with two laps to go; Cindric would restart third with fresh tires after pitting from the lead.
Cindric saw his opportunity to pass Allgaier with 1 to go, and he took it. On the final lap, he also passed Allgaier's teammate Noah Gragson, making him both the race winner and the Xfinity Series champion.
The win was Cindric's sixth, and his 19 top fives are actually three more than Briscoe recorded this year. This was Briscoe's season, but Cindric was always close behind. Cindric return to the Xfinity Series with a chance to defend his title next year, but he will also make his Cup Series debut as part of a part-time schedule for Penske Racing in advance of an announced full-season run for the Penske-affiliated Wood Brothers Racing team in 2022.
Briscoe, however, will not return to the series next year. He will instead join Stewart-Haas Racing in the Cup Series, replacing Clint Bowyer in the #14 entry. He will be an immediate Rookie of the Year favorite and will be expected to contend for a playoff spot in his first season.
Allgaier will officially finish the season in second, while Justin Haley will finish third. Kaulig Racing driver Ross Chastain will leave the Xfinity Series to join Chip Ganassi Racing's Cup program in 2021, but he did not make the category's Championship Four.
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