While Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway served as a solid starting point to the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs for several of the 12 drivers duking it out for the championship, a few drivers walked away from the race on much shakier ground than they were on when the evening started.
Race Results: Food City 300 at Bristol
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No driver suffered a worse first race of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs than Sammy Smith, the driver of the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
Smith, who started from the 14th position, never really even got a chance to get going before he started feeling like something was wrong under the hood of his race car. As Smith attempted to nurse his way to the end of the 300-lap slugfest, the engine could only muster 56 laps on track before it expired.
Not the way @sammysmithSS wanted to start the #XfinitySeries Playoffs as he's done for the night. pic.twitter.com/a7Jc1LqNNu
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) September 13, 2025
As smoke trailed from the exhaust, Smith pulled his No. 8 Chevrolet onto pit road, where his JR Motorsports team assessed the situation, and the determination was made that they were done for the evening. As a result of the early-race engine failure, Smith was credited with a 37th-place finish in the 38-car field. To say it was a disappointment would be an understatement.
Comments from a frustrated @sammysmithSS after mechanical issues knock him out of the first playoff race at Bristol. pic.twitter.com/RDeovQhYPI
— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) September 13, 2025
“Yeah, it’s very disappointing. It’s a tough way to start the Playoffs. Unfortunate situation with the motor, I think, they haven’t really quite said. But, yeah, [Hendrick Motorsports] does such a good job, and it’s just a fluke deal,” Smith said in an interview with The CW. “Very disappointed for our Pilot, Chevrolet, JR[Motorsports] team. We work so hard, and to not really have a shot, it gets frustrating. So, we’ll just have to do our best the next two weeks of the Playoffs. We’ll see.”
Smith, who entered the event sixth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff Standings, now finds himself in the basement of the standings in the 12th position, and he sits 24 points below the cutline due to the 37th-place finish at Bristol. It’s going to be a tough climb for Smith to advance to the next round of the Playoffs.
The JR Motorsports driver isn’t the only Playoff contender who suffered from a subpar evening at Bristol, though.
While Jesse Love didn’t suffer from as bad an evening as Smith, the driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, also suffered miserably. Love, who came into the night fourth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff Standings, ended a trying night 10th in the Playoff Standings, and he now sits three points below the cutline.
Love picked up damage in several on-track run-ins throughout the evening, which slowed his pace over the duration of the event, and in the end, he and his team were unable to manufacture a turnaround.
After a 25th-place finish, Love, who considers Bristol Motor Speedway one of his best tracks, called the night terrible.
“It was a terrible night at what I feel is one of our best racetracks as a team with the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet. I have no idea why. We definitely tried everything,” Love explained after the race. “We were different than we were here in the Spring, and maybe that was our error, but nothing went our way tonight. It could always be worse, but tonight was pretty bad. Obviously, we’re below the cut line, but nothing we can’t dig ourselves out of.”
With two races remaining in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs Round of 12, Nick Sanchez finds himself as the first driver outside of the Playoffs cutline at three points below the bubble. Love, likewise, sits three markers outside the cutline in 10th, while Austin Hill ranks 11th, 16 points behind the cutline, and Smith is 24 points outside looking in.
Taylor Gray, the driver of the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota GR Supra, currently sits as the final driver inside the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs Cutline.
The final two races of this round of the Playoffs will take place at Kansas Speedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. The Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway is the next stop in the Round of 12. That race is set for Saturday, September 27, and will be televised on The CW. The television coverage of the Kansas Speedway race will begin at 4:00 PM ET.
