Since the beginning, it’s been widely expected that any driver hoping to win Rookie of The Year (ROTY) honors in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this season would need to qualify for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. Now, just three races into the regular season that expectation has become a requirement.
Connor Zilisch was able to capture the victory in Saturday’s Focused Health 250 at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), putting his JR Motorsports Chevrolet into Victory Lane for the first time this season. The win allowed the Mooresville, North Carolina native to lock himself into the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.
Interestingly enough, the victory (and the major points haul that came alongside it) wasn’t enough to move the driver of the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet into the lead in the ROTY standings, after a dismal start to the season with accidents at both Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.
#54 Taylor Gray – Joe Gibbs Racing
For the most part, the opening three events of the NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign have been kind to Taylor Gray and the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing team, with a top-five result in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway and a seventh-place result at Circuit of The Americas.
This past weekend, in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start on a road course, Gray managed to have a pretty quiet afternoon, completing all of the laps and bringing home a respectable top 10 result, while also avoiding all of the carnage that the twist and turns of road course racing can present.
“I feel like we really struggled the first three-quarters of the race just being really tight everywhere and just kept working all day,” Gray said. “I can’t thank my Joe Gibbs Racing guys enough. They kept working on the Operation 300 GR Supra all day and we never gave up. I feel like we got the car okay there at the end and unfortunately, we got in a bit of a tight fuel spot and started having to save quite a bit of fuel and gave up quite a bit of track position there.”
Despite a DNF and 38th-place result at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Gray leaves Austin, Texas sitting eighth place in NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings, and as the leader of the Rookie of The Year (ROTY) battle, albeit narrowly.
#16 Christian Eckes – Kaulig Racing
If you could take a look at the No. 16 CELSIUS Chevrolet at the end of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), there’s a solid chance you would think he finished at the back of the pack. However, instead, Christian Eckes collected his first top-five in the second-tier series.
Saturday was, without a doubt, a wild one for Eckes, who clearly embraced the full-contact prerogative of the NASCAR Xfinity Series on road courses. But, in the end, a championship-winning effort, whether that be overall or the ROTY battle, often requires recoveries like the Middletown, New York native made on Saturday.
“Today was a tough one – I made a couple of mistakes and sped on pit road, which put us behind,” Eckes said in a post-race release. “We got a little damage going back through the field, but I can’t say enough about this No. 16 team. Our CELSIUS Chevrolet was super-fast today. I think we really had a shot at it today and had a decent comeback.”
It’s been a so-so start to the season for the newest driver for Kaulig Racing, finishing 12th in the season-opener at Daytona, and now a top five at Circuit of The Americas. However, sandwiched in between, much like rookie points leader Taylor Gray, was a DNF at Atlanta. Now, Leaving COTA, he sits one point behind the No. 54.
#1 Carson Kvapil – JR Motorsports
Of the eight drivers running for Rookie of The Year (ROTY) honors, Carson Kvapil provided the biggest surprise in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Circuit of The Americas (COTA). Granted, the finish won’t exactly show that, coming home a disappointing 23rd.
The fact of the matter, though, is that the Mooresville, North Carolina native put up a legitimate fight against eventual race-winner and JR Motorsports teammate Connor Zilisch for the victory, and entering the weekend, it’s safe to say that not a lot of people expected that.
RELATED: Carson Kvapil’s Impressive Road Course Debut Thwarted By Flat Tire
After a fourth-place result in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway, a pair of 23rd-place results at Atlanta and Circuit of The Americas (COTA) has knocked the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet to 11th in NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings – only seven markers behind Taylor Gray for the ROTY points lead.
#18 William Sawalich – Joe Gibbs Racing
After the weekend that William Sawalich had, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is happy to walk away from Austin, Texas with a ninth-place finish in the Focused Health 250.
Having never been to Circuit of The Americas (COTA) before, Sawalich spent time during practice, qualifying, and the early stages of the event learning the 2.4-mile road course, and getting up to speed to make a charge into the top 10 at the conclusion of the event.
“We had a good Starkey GR Supra today,” Sawalich said post-race. “It was as fast as Xfinity Mobile so I can’t really thank the JGR guys enough on the No. 18 team. We had four total tires fall apart during the first and second stage so that set us back a little bit, but we regained our ground through a little bit of strategy, and they put me in position to get a good top 10 and a solid finish at the end.”
Next, Sawalich and Joe Gibbs Racing will head to Phoenix Raceway, the site of his maiden NASCAR Xfinity Series pole position last November, for the first short-oval of the season, a track type that the Minnesota-native has become comfortable on due to his vast experience in the ARCA Menards Series.
#88 Connor Zilisch – JR Motorsports
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Connor Zilisch came out on top in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), his second career win in the second-tier series in just his seventh career start.
The Mooresville, North Carolina native was dominant throughout the weekend, pacing NASCAR Xfinity Series practice, winning the pole for Saturday’s event, and leading the most laps, but the victory wasn’t a full-blown curb stomping, after a penalty at the end of the first stage for pitting before pit road opened.
Though Zilisch sits fifth of eight drivers in rookie points, the JR Motorsports driver is locked into the post-season. Therefore, should none of the other seven eligible rookies qualify for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, then Zilisch would automatically capture ROTY honors.
#10 Daniel Dye – Kaulig Racing
Other than a wreck early in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway, it’s been a pretty quiet season for Daniel Dye and the No. 10 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing – which, considering the craziness of the first three weeks of the Xfinity Series schedule, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
That last-place finish at Daytona, coupled with a seventh at Atlanta Motor Speedway and a 17th at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) hasn’t done too much damage to Dye’s hopes at claiming Rookie of The Year (ROTY) honors, sitting sixth in the standings 15 points behind.
“Not exactly the finish we wanted today, but all in all, we had a really good points day in this No. 10 Heise LED Lighting Systems Chevrolet,” said Dye. “We fought tight in the first stage and went for stage points in the second stage, which cost us track position going into the final stage. From there we just struggled to get back through traffic.”
However, the Deland, Florida native is likely going to need to click off some solid runs in order to keep himself in the fight against the likes of Zilisch, Gray, Eckes, Kvapil, and Sawalich.
#26 Dean Thompson – Sam Hunt Racing
Just about any other season, Dean Thompson and Sam Hunt Racing would be considered amongst the favorites to win Rookie of The Year (ROTY) honors in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. However, this year, with so many drivers graduating into the second-tier division, the Anaheim, California native is viewed as more of a long shot.
It’s not impossible by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s likely to be an uphill battle for Thompson, who has spent the last three seasons in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series running full-time, with only a pair of starts in the Xfinity Series prior to February at Daytona.
After an eighth-place finish at Daytona, Thompson and the No. 26 team were leading the rookie standings, but a poor result at Atlanta derailed that train heading into COTA. Granted, with road courses not being his forte, an 18th-place finish certainly isn’t a bad showing.
RELATED: Daytona Top-10 Gives Dean Thompson Lead in Stacked Xfinity Rookie Battle
With a post-season berth likely required to win Rookie of The Year honors now, Thompson and Sam Hunt Racing are going to need to dig deep and either make a surprise trip to Victory Lane or be consistent enough to point their way into the post-season against some very competitive drivers and teams.
#48 Nick Sanchez – Big Machine Racing
In terms of raw speed, Nick Sanchez has had an incredible start to his rookie campaign.
Yet, after a pair of superspeedway events and a road course, the Miami, Florida native finds himself eighth of eight drivers eligible for Rookie of The Year (ROTY) honors. At Daytona, the No. 48 was one of the fastest cars on the racetrack, but a bad push at the end of the race’s second stage left him with a wrecked race car.
At Atlanta, Nick Sanchez had another totaled race car, but that didn’t stop him from scoring a top-five result. Circuit of The Americas (COTA) wasn’t bad for the No. 48 team, in terms of speed, but the end result was disappointing, finishing 24th.
That has left Sanchez sitting 20th in NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings, and eighth in the Rookie of the Year standings, but even despite disappointment in two of three events, Sanchez is still within 20 points of rookie point leader Taylor Gray.
