By Zach Akers
NASCAR’s top three national series made a stop close to their home base this weekend as the sport’s top drivers battled it out at the Charlotte Roval. The Cup Series and Xfinity Series trim their playoff field to 8 drivers following this weekend and the Craftsman Truck Series began their Round of 8 this weekend.
The Craftsman Truck Series kicked things off on Friday evening as Corey Heim went wire-to-wire winning his 10th race of the season and third race in this year’s playoffs. This win will lock him in to the series Championship 4 race at Phoenix which will take place on October 31st. The truck series takes next week off as they head to the unpredictable Talladega on October 17th for the second race in their Round of 8. The remaining 7 drivers left in championship contention are separated by only 6 points leaving the Roval.
The Xfinity Series story could write itself, it was the Connor Zilisch show yet again winning his 10th race of the season. Zilisch heads to the Xfinity Series Round of 8 with a 57 point advantage after winning in dominating fashion at the Roval. The JR Motorsports driver started up front and didn’t look back. Zilisch will be accompanied by teammates Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Carson Kvapil in the next round as Smith and Kvapil made some big moves late in the race to ensure they maintained their transfer spots. The Xfinity Series heads to Las Vegas next weekend to begin the Round of 8.
The weekend was capped off as the Cup Series drivers took to the track on Sunday evening and similar to the Xfinity Series, the road course king Shane Van Gisbergen (SVG) prevailed yet again. SVG picked up his 5th win on the season, although he was eliminated from playoff contention, he had a dominating win at the Roval. Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell seemed to be the only drivers that showed a fight to SVG on the day, but were no match in the end.
The Cup Series heads to Las Vegas next weekend where they begin their Round of 8. Denny Hamlin will begin the round as the #1 seed as he looks to finally capture a Cup Series championship which has been the one piece to Hamlin’s Hall-Of-Fame level career that he’s missing. Keep up with NASCAR updates as the season progresses and even with silly season happenings this off season. It’s sure to be an exciting end to the season and we’ll be sure to keep you up to date on any and all things racing!
