What was your favorite Xfinity Series race from the 2024 season?
Madelyn: The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Tanner: The Loop 110 at the Chicago Street Course
Jey: Mission 200 at the Glen
Why was this your favorite race? The track, the winner, the product, etc.
Madelyn: The LiUNA! was my favorite race of the 2024 season simply because it was the first win of the season for my favorite Xfinity driver, John Hunter Nemechek. I had gotten so used to seeing him win multiple races a year in the Truck Series that it was only natural I would want to see him do the same in Xfinity. Any race where my favorite driver doesn’t get in a wreck, especially one where he wins, is bound to be one of my favorite races of the year regardless of the on-track product.
Tanner: Racing with a backdrop of the Chicago skyline evokes a lot of emotions for race fans, but for me, it’s a signal of the progress made within the sport. On top of that, two of the best in the sport spent the first 10 laps duking it out on the course’s tight confines, trading the lead countless times before Shane van Gisbergen pulled away. Toward the end of the race, the cautions threatened to sink my opinion of this race, but SVG mounted a charge toward the front, squeezing by Jesse Love entering turn 7 with a few laps to go to take the win, making for one of the best Xfinity races in recent memory.
Jey: Connor Zilisch absolutely handled the field in his Xfinity field early in the day and was the class of the field all race long. There was a lot of calamity at the end, but despite this, the young phenom was able to taste victory in his first-ever race in the series.
If you could change one thing from this race to make it even better, what would it be?
Madelyn: If I could change one thing from this race, I would make it so that the finish was just a bit closer. Nemechek beat second-place Cole Custer by 4.360 seconds. While that’s not necessarily a huge lead, it is a comfortable one. If the finish had been just a bit closer, the race may have been a bit more exciting since Nemechek led the most laps of any driver in the race.
Tanner: It would be nice if NASCAR understood the concept of the local yellow on road courses because some of the cautions called throughout the day could’ve been handled with a local yellow where you aren’t allowed to overtake. In a race where it’s only 50 laps, fans want to see as much green-flag racing as possible, and NASCAR’s current procedures prevent that from becoming a reality in all three national series.
Jey: If we could’ve had the race play out naturally versus what we got, I believe it would’ve been a much more compelling story with fuel mileage and such all playing major factors
Will your enjoyment of this race make you more likely to tune into it or even attend it next season? Why or why not?
Madelyn: Las Vegas Motor Speedway has a place in my heart since it’s where my favorite Truck Series driver, Christian Eckes, won his first race back in 2021. While this singular race probably won’t change my habits of watching the Vegas races, I will most likely tune in again this coming season.
Tanner: Absolutely. I skipped out on the initial Xfinity Chicago Street Race because I knew storms were on the way, and like I expected, that race ended prematurely due to inclement weather. Knowing that this year’s iteration would have great weather and a ton of Cup drivers, it was a perfect storm for a great race in the Xfinity car. Now that Connor Zilisch is in the Xfinity Series, it will be interesting to see how he adapts to a street course in a stock car next season.
Jey: I will most certainly be watching this race again next year.
Have you or will you re-watch this race?
Madelyn: I have not re-watched this race other than highlights. I probably won’t watch it in full again.
Tanner: I re-watched the highlights
Jey: I’ve re-watched this event once since it happened and likely will at least once more before the series ventures back there.
pitboxpress.com 