Xfinity Championship 4 Contenders Tie in Championship Race Qualifying

Connor Zilisch, driver of the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet, enters his car in the garage area at Phoenix Raceway. | James Gilbert/Getty Images

Brandon Jones, the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, will look to end a solid NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign with a win in Saturday night's Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway in an effort to build momentum heading into the 2026 season.

While Jones secured the pole position with a 27.490-second (130.957 mph) lap time, the main focus is the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship battle, which saw an intriguing scenario play out in the qualifying session.

Connor Zilisch earned the top starting spot among the Championship 4 contenders, as he'll start Saturday night's race from the fourth position, but he earned that distinction by the narrowest margin conceivable.

Zilisch turned the exact same lap time (27.644 seconds) as Justin Allgaier, but won the tiebreaker over his teammate for the fourth starting position. Right behind Zilisch and Allgaier will be another championship contender, Jesse Love, who secured the sixth starting spot in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

Carson Kvapil, the final driver in the fight for the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series driver's championship, qualified 14th.

There are two other drivers, Aric Almirola and Austin Hill, attempting to bring home championship hardware in Saturday night's Championship Race. These two drivers are piloting cars that are still alive in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Owner's Championship 4.

Almirola will start from the seventh position, while Hill locked down the 16th starting spot for the race around the 1-mile oval in Avondale, AZ.

Taylor Gray, who took his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win a weekend ago at Martinsville Speedway, will lineup from the outside of the front row alongside Jones.

Sheldon Creed will start third, ahead of Zilisch, Allgaier, Love, Almirola, Nick Sanchez, Dean Thompson, and Ryan Sieg, who is filling in for the suspended Sam Mayer, rounded out the top 10 qualifiers for Saturday night's race.

Official Starting Lineup for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race (race 33 of 33):

Pos	Car	Driver	Lap time	Speed
1	20	Brandon Jones	27.490	130.957
2	54	Taylor Gray #	27.593	130.468
3	00	Sheldon Creed	27.639	130.251
4	88*	Connor Zilisch (P) #	27.644	130.227
5	7*	Justin Allgaier (P)	27.644	130.227
6	2	Jesse Love (P)	27.651	130.194
7	19*	Aric Almirola	27.689	130.016
8	48	Nick Sanchez #	27.750	129.730
9	26	Dean Thompson #	27.796	129.515
10	41	Ryan Sieg	27.802	129.487
11	27	Jeb Burton	27.817	129.417
12	25	Harrison Burton	27.830	129.357
13	18	Justin Bonsignore	27.834	129.338
14	1	Carson Kvapil (P) #	27.842	129.301
15	17	Corey Day	27.852	129.255
16	21*	Austin Hill	27.853	129.250
17	39	Kyle Sieg	27.858	129.227
18	8	Sammy Smith	27.895	129.055
19	4	Parker Retzlaff	27.921	128.935
20	11	Brenden Queen	27.950	128.801
21	16	Christian Eckes #	28.029	128.438
22	99	Connor Mosack	28.056	128.315
23	31	Blaine Perkins	28.091	128.155
24	44	Brennan Poole	28.120	128.023
25	70	Leland Honeyman	28.198	127.669
26	91	Josh Bilicki	28.214	127.596
27	42	Anthony Alfredo	28.262	127.380
28	28	Nick Leitz	28.277	127.312
29	51	Jeremy Clements	28.314	127.146
30	71	Ryan Ellis	28.325	127.096
31	07	Patrick Emerling	28.380	126.850
32	14	Garrett Smithley	28.408	126.725
33	10	Daniel Dye #	28.420	126.671
34	35	Stefan Parsons	28.504	126.298
35	5	Glen Reen	28.624	125.769
36	53	Joey Gase	28.636	125.716
37	45	Josh Williams	28.827	124.883
38	74	Dawson Cram	28.966	124.284

(P) indicates NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff Driver
* indicates NASCAR Xfinity Series Owner's Playoff Car
# indicates Rookie of the Year Contender