2019 XFINITY Series Season Preview: Championship Favorites and Contenders

2019 XFINITY Series Season Preview: Championship Favorites and Contenders: Believe it or not, Speedweeks at Daytona is already less than a month away, and NASCAR will soon be back in our lives. Looking ahead to the 2019 XFINITY Series championship scene, we have an interesting mix of contenders.

Three members of last year’s Championship 4 are back, including defending series champ Tyler Reddick. However, veteran Elliott Sadler has retired, Daniel Hemric and Matt Tifft made the jump to the Cup Series, and Ross Chastain saw his ride disappear when Chip Ganassi Racing had to scrap the No. 42 after the FBI kicked down the door of sponsor DC Solar. Meanwhile, JR Motorsports will split the No. 9 team between multiple drivers this year, and Richard Childress Racing will do the same for the No. 21.

Noah Gragson headlines the list of newcomers, and Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe and John Hunter Nemechek will also begin their first full seasons at the XFINITY level. Throw in veteran Justin Allgaier and other full-timers in strong equipment like Austin Cindric and Brandon Jones, and there are a decent amount of drivers who could step in 2019.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the drivers I have tabbed as the favorites for the 2019 XFINITY Series championship.

2019 XFINITY Series Season Preview: Championship Favorites

He just didn’t have a great car to work with in last year’s title race at Homestead, but Christopher Bell still put together an amazing 2018 season. In his first full year in the series, he led all XFINITY regulars with seven wins, 18 top-five finishes and 759 laps led. Another year of experience could lead to even bigger numbers, and it will be an absolute shock if Bell isn’t racing for the championship in the 2019 finale.

Although he helped Stewart-Haas Racing capture the owners’ title, Cole Custer came up one spot short of taking home the XFINITY crown for himself in 2018. Still, he made major strides in his second season, doubling his total of top-five finishes to 14 while leading all drivers with 26 top-10s and a 9.0 average finish. Custer should only continue to improve, and after just missing out on the title last year, he should once again be a major threat in 2019 and one of the safest bets to make the Championship 4.

2019 XFINITY Series Season Preview: The Contenders

In many ways, Justin Allgaier had the best season of his career in 2018. He won a career-best five races, and he finished second in the series with 17 top-five finishes, 24 top-10s and 741 laps led. Unfortunately, terrible luck in the playoffs cost him a shot at reaching the Championship 4, but he was probably the second-best driver over the course of the entire season. As by far the most experienced driver among the serious title threats, Allgaier should be able to put himself back in position for another championship run in 2019.

The newest face that figures to be a legitimate threat for the title is Noah Gragson. The youngster will take over the JR Motorsports No. 1 following the retirement of Elliott Sadler, so he will have the equipment he needs to show his stuff. Granted, Gragson only has three XFINITY starts under his belt, but he compiled a 4.3 average finish in those starts, finishing second in his series debut. There could be some early growing pains, especially for a driver known for pushing it to the limit and beyond, but Gragson could be a force by the time the playoffs roll around.

You can’t take anything away from Tyler Reddick. After all, he is the defending series champion, so you have to give him at least a chance to repeat. That being said, his title was the product of a solid showing in the playoffs and one great race at Homestead. He didn’t run up front consistently, finishing the year with just seven top-five finishes and a single stage win. Reddick switched teams this offseason from JR Motorsports to Richard Childress Racing, but that is lateral move in terms of equipment. The real question is whether or not he can make the jump to weekly contender because he will have a hard time duplicating last year’s run to the title.

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