After a spectacular event in Las Vegas last weekend, the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Phoenix, Arizona for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race the iK9 Service Dog 200 at ISM Raceway this Saturday, March 9 at 4 pm ET with pre-race coverage at 3:30 pm ET on FS1 MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio for the fourth race of the 2019 season. The defending winner is Brad Keselowski.
Distance: 200 miles (200 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 45),
Stage 2 (Ends on lap 90), Final Stage (Ends on lap 200)
NASCAR Xfinity Series at Phoenix Quick Hits
- Christopher Bell is the last NASCAR Xfinity Series regular to win at ISM Raceway (November 2018).
- There have been five different winners in the last five races
. Kyl e Busch won three straight times from 2015-16.- Bell holds an 18 point lead over 2018 championship runner-up Cole Custer and 2018 champion Tyler Reddick.
- Brandon Jones, Michael Annett, and Justin Allgaier are the only drivers to score top-five finishes in two of the season’s opening three races.
- John Hunter Nemechek leads Noah Gragson in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings, by 13 points. Both drivers have two top-tens in three races. Nemechek finished runner-up last weekend at Vegas.
- Kyle Busch, who won last week’s Xfinity Series race in Las Vegas, along with Bell (2018) and Allgaier (2017) are the only three drivers entered this weekend with previous victories in this race.
- Busch’s ten wins in the Xfinity Series at Las Vegas is most all-time. He’s won three in-a-row twice – 2013 (sweep)-2014 and 2015-2016 (sweep).
- The margin of victory in the three races so far averages out to 0.166-seconds – the closest since 1998. All three races this season have been decided by less than a second.
- Bell has led the most laps (149) this season.
- A start in Saturday’s race by 77-year old veteran Morgan Shepherd would give him 1,118 starts in all three NASCAR national series – sixth best in history – breaking a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Terry Labonte.
- Five drivers have completed every lap and finished on the lead lap, including Ryan Sieg, Gragson, Cole Custer, Michael Annett, and Ross Chastain.
- Joe Gibbs Racing holds the current series record for winning on 16 of the 25 tracks hosting a race.
- Kyle Busch, Chastain, and B.J. McLeod are attempting to run both the Xfinity and Monster Energy Series races at Phoenix.
Cactus Country: Xfinity Series’ Fourth Stop on the Schedule is ISM Raceway
Through three races the series has seen three different winners – Michael Annett (Daytona), Christopher Bell (Atlanta) and Kyle Busch (Las Vegas). Which is appropriate because the NASCAR Xfinity Series is on a different winner streak at ISM Raceway as well, which has reached five different winners – Kyle Busch (Playoff race 2016), Justin Allgaier (Spring 2017), William Byron (Playoff race 2017), Brad Keselowski (Spring 2018) and Christopher Bell (Playoff race 2018). Allgaier, Bell and Busch are all entered this weekend and are the only former winners in the field.
Kyle Busch currently leads the series in wins at ISM Raceway with ten victories (Fall 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, 2013 sweep, Spring 2014, Fall 2015, 2016 sweep). If Kyle Busch were to win this weekend at ISM Raceway, he would tie NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin for the NASCAR Xfinity Series wins record at a single track. Martin currently holds the record for the most wins at a
ISM Raceway has hosted 34 NASCAR Xfinity Series races, dating back to inaugural event on November 6, 1999. The race was won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon in his own No. 24 Chevrolet. Heading to ISM Raceway this weekend, the NASCAR Xfinity Series has produced 18 different poles winners and 18 different race winners at the track.
Lots of Competitive Action through Three Xfinity Races this Season
With three different winners in the first three races of the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, the on-track competition looks to be in full force. Which has been the norm in this series as 27 of the 37 Xfinity seasons (since 1982) have started with three different winners in the first three races.
Another stat advocating for this season’s action as standing out is the average Margin of Victory through the first three races has been 0.166 seconds – the closest average MOV through the first three races of the season since 1998. That’s two decades! All three races this season have had an MOV of less than a second – it’s just the sixth time that’s happened since the series started measuring the margin of victory electronically in 1996.
Additionally, through the first three races of the 2019 season, the series has seen 13 different drivers lead laps with an average of seven different leaders and 12 lead changes per race. Christopher Bell has currently led the most laps this season with 149 (30.04%).
Every Race Counts: Playoff Outlook following Las Vegas
Just three races into the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and the Playoff picture is starting to take shape. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell (Atlanta) and JR Motorsport’s Michael Annett (Daytona) have already secured their spots in the 2019 Playoffs with early wins, leaving ten spots still up for grabs as the series heads to Phoenix, Arizona.
Below is the 2019 Playoff outlook following Las Vegas Motor Speedway:
| Rank | Driver | Starts | Points | Race Wins | Stage Wins | Playoff Pts | Pts. From Cutoff |
| 1 | Christopher Bell | 3 | 139 | 1 | 2 | 7 | In on Wins |
| 2 | Michael Annett | 3 | 111 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| 3 | Cole Custer | 3 | 121 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 40 |
| 4 | Tyler Reddick | 3 | 121 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 40 |
| 5 | Brandon Jones | 3 | 117 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| 6 | John H. Nemechek | 3 | 107 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| 7 | Justin Allgaier | 3 | 96 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 8 | Ryan Sieg | 3 | 96 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| 9 | Ross Chastain | 3 | 96 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 15 |
| 10 | Noah Gragson | 3 | 94 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 11 | Austin Cindric | 3 | 94 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 12 | Justin Haley | 3 | 89 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| 13 | Chase Briscoe | 3 | 81 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -8 |
| 14 | Brandon Brown | 3 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -26 |
| 15 | Josh Williams | 3 | 52 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -37 |
| 16 | Garrett Smithley | 3 | 52 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -37 |
| 17 | Gray Gaulding | 3 | 49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -40 |
Fast Start: Joe Gibbs Racing is a Xfinity Series Powerhouse
Off to a hot start this season, winning two of the first three races of the NASCAR Xfinity Series 2019 season, has the spotlight turned squarely on Joe Gibbs Racing. And when talking about which organization is the clear-cut powerhouse in the NASCAR Xfinity Series over the last decade or so (2009-2019), Joe Gibbs Racing is at the top of most lists. And rightfully so.
Since 2009, the season Kyle Busch brought Joe Gibbs Racing its first Xfinity Series driver championship, the team has won 127 of 338 races run – that’s an astounding winning percentage of 37.5% (2009-present). To put that into perspective, during that time JGR won more than double (68 more wins) the next highest organization – Team Penske with 59 victories. And to boot, JGR’s winning percentage is also more than double that of their next highest competitor as well.
| Organizations | Xfinity Wins (2009-Present) | Winning % |
| Joe Gibbs Racing | 127 | 37.6% |
| Team Penske | 59 | 17.5% |
| JR Motorsports | 42 | 12.4% |
| Roush Fenway Racing | 39 | 11.5% |
| Richard Childress Racing | 31 | 9.2% |
What might be most impressive of the recent dominance is how pivotal a role Kyle Busch played in the organization’s success. Of 338 races run from 2009-present, Kyle Busch ran 208 races and won 71 of them, making his winning percentage 34.1%.
Joe Gibbs Racing leads the series in wins at ISM Raceway with 11 victories – ten from Kyle Busch and one from Christopher Bell in the Playoff race last fall.
In total, Joe Gibbs Racing has accumulated 154 NASCAR Xfinity Series wins since first competing in the series back in 1997 with driver Bobby Labonte. Joe Gibbs Racing has been able to win so many Xfinity races they now hold the series record for the most wins at 16 of 25 different tracks the series competes on actively – here is the list of tracks and number of Xfinity wins by JGR:
Auto Club Speedway (eight), Bristol Motor Speedway (12), Chicagoland Speedway (six), Dover International Speedway (12), Homestead-Miami Speedway (four), Indianapolis Motor Speedway (three), Iowa Speedway (six), ISM Raceway (11), Kansas Speedway (eight), Kentucky Speedway (six), Michigan International Speedway (five; tied with Roush Fenway Racing for lead), New Hampshire Motor Speedway (nine), Pocono Raceway (three-way tie for the lead with Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske; each have one), Richmond Raceway (nine; tied with Roush Fenway Racing for lead), Talladega Superspeedway (five) and Texas Motor Speedway (11).
GMS Racing’s John Hunter Nemechek, a Rookie and a Rising Talent to Contend With
| YTD Rookie Standings | |
| Rookies | Points |
| John H. Nemechek | 107 |
| Noah Gragson | 94 |
| Justin Haley | 89 |
| Chase Briscoe | 81 |
| Brandon Brown | 63 |
One thing John Hunter Nemechek has been good at is getting up to speed quickly, and this season is no different. The 2019 Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate and GMS Racing rising star is currently sixth in the series driver points standings heading to ISM Raceway. Nemechek’s recent success had moved him up six spots in the standings this past weekend following his runner-up finish to Kyle Busch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Thick in the Xfinity Series Playoff conversation and atop the series Sunoco Rookie standings, Nemechek has the wind at his back heading to Phoenix this weekend. The North Carolina native has made just one start at ISM Raceway, last season, where he won the pole and finished in the top-ten (ninth).
Nemechek is currently in the Xfinity Series rookie standings lead following Las Vegas by 13 points over second-place Noah Gragson and 18 points ahead of third-place Justin Haley.
Championship Focus: Cole Custer and Tyler Reddick Tied for Second in Points
Two California kids looking like they are poised to make it back to the Championship 4 in 2019, are 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick and 2018 driver championship runner-up Cole Custer, as both are now tied for second in the NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings following Las Vegas – just 18 markers back from series standings leader Christopher Bell.
Tyler Reddick made the jump from JR Motorsports to Richard Childress Racing this season and hasn’t stumbled once. The returning champ has been quite impressive this season, posting one top five, two top-tens and an average finish of 9.3.
Custer, on the other hand, continues to validate the investment Stewart-Haas Racing has made in him. Through three races, Custer has been neck-n-neck with Reddick as he, too, has posted one top-five and two top-tens. But Custer slightly bests Reddick (9.3)
ISM Raceway has been good to Custer. In four starts he has amassed three top-tens and an average finish of 11.0. Reddick has also fared well at ISM Raceway, putting up two top-ten finishes in three starts; including an average finish of 10.0.
Also Noteworthy…
Milestone for Morgan – NASCAR Xfinity Series driver, Morgan Shepherd, will attempt to break the tie for sixth on the NASCAR national series combined starts lists with NASCAR Hall of Famer Terry Labonte this weekend at ISM Raceway. Both drivers currently have 1,117 national series starts. If Shepherd makes the race, he will move solely into sixth on the NASCAR national series combined starts list with 1,118 national series starts. NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty holds the record for the most NASCAR national series starts with 1,182. Shepherd already holds the record for the oldest driver to make a start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the age of 77. He has made two starts this season with an average finish of 34th.
Ole’ Reliable Ryan (Sieg) – Through three races this season, only five drivers have finished on the lead lap of every race and completed 100% of their laps attempted and RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg is one of them. Sieg is currently eighth in the driver championship standings following his three consistent finishes – the best start to a season in his Xfinity career. The four other drivers that have completed 100% of the laps this season are Cole Custer, Michael Annett, Ross Chastain and Noah Gragson.
Double the Action, Double the Fun – Make sure to catch all the action this weekend as several drivers will be pulling double duty at ISM Raceway participating in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday, March 9th and then again Sunday, March 10th in the NASCAR Cup Series race. The drivers attempting to pull off such a feat are Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, and BJ McLeod.