The NASCAR Xfinity Series season will get underway in just a few days. Series regular Justin Allgaier will continue to hunt for his first series championship, but he’ll have to go through defending champion Cole Custer. Those two are the consensus favorites, but is there value further down the board? Let’s dive into our 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season preview as we break down the championship odds and identify the best futures bets to make.
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2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Season Preview, Championship Odds, Futures Bets & More
NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Odds & Season Preview for 2024
The 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series brings with it plenty of changes. Several big-name drivers, including the 2021 Xfinity Series champion, won’t compete for the title this year as they enter (or return to) full-time Cup Series competition. I’ll break down those changes — as well as all modifications to the schedule — below. But to assist those of you who are only here for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship odds and my futures bets, you’ll have to click “show more” to read my analysis of all the offseason changes.
New Faces
Gone from full-time competition are John Hunter Nemechek, Daniel Hemric and Josh Berry. Who replaces them?
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is full of part-time teams and part-time drivers, so I’ll focus most of my notes on drivers who are contending for a series title. Important to note as we begin this section is that Josh Berry, who drove the No. 8 Chevrolet last year, John Hunter Nemechek, who drove the No. 20 Toyota, and Daniel Hemric, who drove the No. 11 Chevrolet, have all been tapped for full-time Cup Series rides.
Replacing Berry in the No. 8 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports is Sammy Smith, who slides over from Joe Gibbs Racing. Smith will compete alongside a relatively unchanged stable for JR Motorsports, with Sam Mayer in the No. 1, Justin Allgaier in the No. 7 and Brandon Jones in the No. 9.
With Smith gone, Joe Gibbs Racing has filled the seat of the No. 18 Toyota with Sheldon Creed, who gives up the No. 2 Chevrolet. Creed will compete alongside Chandler Smith, who will pilot the No. 81 Toyota full-time, along with several part-time drivers in the Nos. 19 and 20. That list includes Nemechek, Aric Almirola, Ryan Truex and Joe Graf Jr., among others.
Filling the seat of Creed’s No. 2 Chevrolet is rookie Jesse Love, who will compete alongside Austin Hill in the No. 21 for Richard Childress Racing. Filling the seat of Smith’s No. 16 Chevrolet at Kaulig Racing is none other than A.J. Allmendinger, who makes his return to full-time Xfinity Series competition. With Hemric promoted, Kaulig will turn to Josh Williams to fill the No. 11 Chevrolet. Rookie (and one-time Cup Series winner) Shane Van Gisbergen will pilot the No. 97 for the team.
The Stewart-Haas Racing stable remains unchanged. They’ll bring back Cole Custer, last year’s Xfinity Series champion, to the No. 00 Ford. He’ll drive alongside Riley Herbst in the No. 98 Ford.
Also joining the Xfinity Series are Hailie Deegan, who will drive the No. 15 Ford for AM Racing, which has a technical alliance with Stewart-Haas, and actor Frankie Muniz, who will run a partial schedule in the No. 35 Ford for Joey Gase Motorsports.
New Places
The Xfinity Series returns to Iowa Speedway in 2024 — but that’s not the only change on this year’s 33-race schedule.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule has been touched up in a few spots, especially with the pause for the Summer Olympics taking place over the summer. Let’s go through the schedule to break down each of these changes.
The schedule once again opens at Daytona, but instead of immediately heading out west afterward, the Xfinity Series will visit Atlanta for the second race of the year. The track’s date moves up from March to fill the gap created by Auto Club’s departure from the schedule.
After Atlanta, the schedule remains mostly unchanged — it’s the usual west coast swing (Las Vegas and Phoenix) before Circuit of the Americas and Richmond. The series then heads to Martinsville a week earlier than usual before heading to Texas, which loses its playoff date. Then it’s Talladega, Dover, Darlington Charlotte, Portland and Sonoma, just like last year.
The next change to the Xfinity Series schedule is the addition of Iowa Speedway in mid-June. New Hampshire slides up a few weeks for the next event, and then the series heads to Nashville in late June. July will feature Chicago Street, Pocono and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
After the Olympic break, we get restarted in mid-August at Michigan, before heading to Daytona, Darlington and Watkins Glen. The regular season will end at Bristol, which slides out of the Round of 12.
This year’s Round of 12 consists of Kansas, which hosted last year’s regular-season finale, Talladega, which picks up a new second date, and the Charlotte Roval. The Round of 8 is unchanged; it’s Las Vegas, Homestead and Martinsville again, and the championship race remains in Phoenix.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Odds for 2024
| Driver | Championship Odds |
|---|---|
| Cole Custer | +260 |
| Justin Allgaier | +350 |
| Sam Mayer | +600 |
| A.J. Allmendinger | +600 |
| Sheldon Creed | +850 |
| Chandler Smith | +900 |
| Austin Hill | +900 |
| Shane Van Gisbergen | +1100 |
| Sammy Smith | +1400 |
| Riley Herbst | +2000 |
| Brandon Jones | +2500 |
| Jesse Love | +3500 |
| Parker Kligerman | +4000 |
Top 4 | NASCAR Xfinity Series Odds
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is a top-heavy division. Every champion since 2007 has driven for one of six teams, two of which have ceased competition.
The championship-winning teams competing this year are Joe Gibbs Racing, JR Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing. Three of top four drivers compete for those teams.
Cole Custer (+260), last year’s champion, is the favorite after a dominant playoff performance. He was a +300 favorite at the beginning of last season but struggled early. He represents Stewart-Haas Racing.
Justin Allgaier (+350), now entering his 13th season of full-time Xfinity Series competition, is still looking for his first title but has a good shot this season. He entered last year at +400. He represents JR Motorsports.
Sam Mayer (+600) was a longer shot last year (+800) but finally scored his first win in July before notching three more by the end of the season. He also represents JR Motorsports.
A.J. Allmendinger (+600) returns to the series full-time after competing in the Cup Series last year. Allmendinger finished fourth in 2021 and fifth in 2022. He is the lone driver competing for a team that hasn’t won a title, Kaulig Racing.
The Best of the Rest | NASCAR Xfinity Series Odds
Joe Gibbs Racing, which won the 2022 Xfinity Series title with Ty Gibbs and the 2021 title with Daniel Hemric (and should’ve won the 2023 title with John Hunter Nemechek) has the next two drivers on the odds board: Sheldon Creed (+850) and Chandler Smith (+900). Both drivers flashed serious potential with their previous teams but lacked the equipment to run up front consistently. They should do so this year.
Creed’s former teammate, Austin Hill (+900) will represent Richard Childress Racing for another season alongside new teammate Jesse Love (+3500). The RCR cars just didn’t show enough speed on intermediates for me to take them that seriously, although Hill should benefit from the extra Talladega date in the Round of 12.
JR Motorsports’ other drivers, Sammy Smith (+1400) and Brandon Jones (+2500) are wild cards, as is Kaulig Racing’s Shane Van Gisbergen (+1100). Smith and Jones don’t have high ceilings, but they’re in excellent equipment and have proven themselves by winning at this level. If they get hot at the right time, they could win the title. Van Gisbergen, while not in the best equipment, already won a Cup Series race in his first attempt. If the Aussie can figure out ovals quickly, he could be in the mix at Phoenix.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Season Preview 2024: Top Futures Bet
Sheldon Creed | 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Season Preview
I’ve only got one pick to win this year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship: Sheldon Creed. The 26-year-old’s rise up the ranks has been complicated by two less-than-stellar seasons with Richard Childress Racing, but, as his dramatic departure from the team suggests, he probably wasn’t getting nearly the same support as his teammate, Austin Hill.
Before joining RCR in 2022, Creed was a Truck Series star. He had won the 2020 Craftsman Truck Series Championship and finished fifth in 2021, largely due to a crash at Las Vegas in the Round of 8. He won eight races in those two seasons. His 2021 is all the more impressive when compared to John Hunter Nemechek’s performance in the JGR-aligned No. 4. Creed won just two fewer races while leading more laps than him while driving worse equipment.
Creed never found victory lane while piloting the No. 2 Chevrolet, but he often came close. Creed scored seven runner-up finishes in his time with the team on his way to a total of 11 top-5s and 28 top-10s. Several of his best runs also ended poorly — Creed led the most laps at Portland (2023) before finishing seventh, the second-most at Dover (2023) before finishing 11th and the third-most at Bristol (2022) before crashing out.
Few drivers can win on any given Sunday (or, in this case, Saturday), but Creed has a diverse skill set with wins on intermediates, road courses and short tracks in the Truck Series and runner-up finishes at intermediates, road courses, short tracks and superspeedways in the Xfinity Series. The +900 for him to win the 2024 Xfinity Series title at BetMGM is disrespectful.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion Pick: Sheldon Creed +900 at BetMGM
