Spade Racing 2025 Xfinity Preview: Nascar Wrestles with its Future
1. Cup Regular Season Preview
2. Cup Team Rankings & Grades
3. TV/Streaming Preview
4. Truck Season Preview
5. Xfinity Season Preview
Who doesn’t like a good tag team? You? Well, too bad—I’m pairing up Xfinity Series drivers by where I expect them to finish and there’s not much you can do about it.
1. STARKEY & STARS: Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas—18 William Sawalich
and 19 (multiple drivers). Sawalich has shown he can dominate already, but how will he adjust to going up against the second-best in stock car racing on a regular basis? Well, having experienced teammates (even on a rotating basis) should help.
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The top of the catch fence would be a great spot for an elbow drop |
2. THE COMPANY MEN: Haas Factory Team Fords—00 Sheldon Creed and 41 Sam Mayer. Lots of changes at the former Stewart-Haas Racing, but having two solid wheelmen and rock-solid financial backing should help the transition.
3. THE YOUNG LIONS: JR Motorsports Chevys—1 Carson Kvapil and 88 Connor Zilisch. Two drivers with little experience but lots of talent and incredibly bright futures in front of them. Also, incidentally, probably the two drivers whose last names are most-frequently incorrectly auto-corrected.
4. THE WELCOME WAGON: Richard Childress Racing Chevys—2 Jesse Love and 21 Austin Hill. Both have established themselves as Xfinity Series stalwarts, putting them at a Jason Keller-level of success thus far.
5. JR’S VETS: JR Motorsports Chevys—7 Justin Allgaier and 8 Sammy Smith. Overshadowed a bit by their younger teammates, don’t be surprised to if either of them wind up in the championship four this year.
6. COACH’S BACKUPS: Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas—20 Brandon Jones and 54 Taylor Gray. While not possessing the sky-high potential of William Sawalich or the win-or-else attitude of the #19 “all star car”, they DO have decent Xfinity Series rides.
7. THE KAULIGLOUS FREEBIRDS: Kaulig Racing Chevys—10 Daniel Dye, 11 Josh Williams, and 16 Christian Eckes. These three could go just about anywhere in the standings this year, but it’s hard to leave a guy with an unironic mullet off of Bradstreet USA.
8. ONE CAR WONDERS: AM Racing Ford—15 Harrison Burton, and 48 Big Machine Racing Chevy—48 Nick Sanchez. Who says you need to have teammates to make the playoffs?
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Has anyone ever used a tire as a weapon in a hardcore match? |
9. EVERYBODY’S UNDERDOGS: RSS Racing Fords—28 Kyle Sieg and 39 Ryan Sieg. The Official Underdogs of Nascar could use their own version of the Freebird Rule to sneak a car into the playoffs.
10. TEAM JAR: Jordan Anderson Racing Chevys—27 Jeb Burton and 31 Blaine Perkins. They may not have the most funding, but they always have the most press releases.
11. OUR HUNT IS FOR WINS: Our Motorsports Toyota—5 Kris Wright, and 26 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota—Dean Thompson. Look for them to be aggressive on plate tracks.
12. TEAM GREEN: SS-Greenlight Racing Chevys—07 (multiple drivers) and 14 Garrett Smithley. Slowly but surely? More like Quickly and Smithley (…sorry).
13. YOUNG, YOUNG & INDEPENDENT: Chevys of Alpha Prime Racing--4 Parker Retzlaff, Young’s Motorsports 42—Anthony Alfredo, and Jeremy Clements Racing—51 Jeremy Clements. Three smaller teams aiming for top-twenties and, with a little luck, contending for a win or two.
14. THE FLYING FLORIDIANS: DGM Racing Chevys—71 Ryan Ellis and 91 (multiple drivers, mostly Josh Bilicki). Its not easy when you’re not based out of North Carolina.
15. THE MASKED BACKMARKERS: 35, 44, 70, 99 cars. Somebody has to finish in the 30’s, but hopefully all these teams can make progress throughout the year.
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Does this track have lights?
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