Xfinity Series heads to Dover for final Dash 4 Cash race
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Dover Motor Speedway for Saturday‘s A-GAME 200 (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with a tightly bunched group of drivers atop the standings.
RELATED: Weekend schedule for Dover | Xfinity Series Standings | Dash 4 Cash
Austin Hill‘s three victories early in the season have given the Richard Childress Racing driver a slim four-point edge over two-race winner John Hunter Nemechek. Kaulig Racing rookie Chandler Smith (-19), Stewart-Haas Racing‘s Riley Herbst (-32) and defending race winner, JR Motorsports‘ Josh Berry (-36) are currently the top five drivers in the title run.
Three competitors — Berry, his JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier and Stewart-Haas Racing‘s Cole Custer — have hoisted Dover trophies before. The two-time winner Allgaier is the only driver in this week‘s field with multiple Dover wins and his 15 top 10s tie him with Kyle Busch for most all-time. The veteran nearly collected a third trophy the last time the series visited the track — his No. 7 JRM Chevrolet leading a race-high 67 of the 200 laps and finishing a slight 0.604 seconds behind his teammate Berry.
Custer also possesses a strong resume at Dover with top-10 finishes in five of his six Xfinity Series starts at the track. He has a pair of top 10s in four NASCAR Cup Series starts as well.
Plus, Custer has an extra incentive this weekend having collected last week‘s $100,000 Dash 4 Cash prize at Talladega Superspeedway and hoping to make it two in a row. Saturday marks the final installment of the Dash 4 Cash incentive program from Xfinity with another $100,000 check ready to be paid to the top finisher among Custer, last week‘s race winner Jordan Anderson Racing‘s Jeb Burton, Richard Childress Racing‘s Sheldon Creed and Big Machine Racing‘s Parker Kligerman.
They all bring strong cases to the contest this week after last Saturday‘s dramatic Talladega race, where Burton earned his second career victory and Creed finished runner-up. Not only is this Custer‘s return to Xfinity Series competition at Dover, but it will mark the first Dover Xfinity race for Kligerman since 2013. He does have a top 10 in three previous series starts.
After winning three of the first five races, the Richard Childress Racing driver, Hill has only one top-10 (ninth place at Richmond) in the four races since. His closest challenger in the championship — Nemechek — the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has three top 10s in six previous Dover starts but has finished 32nd and 37th in his last two races there.
Practice for Saturday‘s race is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET on Friday afternoon followed immediately by qualifying at 3:35 p.m. ET — broadcast on FS1.
