(photo credit Leon Hammack)

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs’ Round of 8 begins the with Saturday’s Focused Health 302 (7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and if the current run of races is any indication, it may well come down to who can beat championship leader Connor Zilisch, a 10-race winner who has simply dominated the season.

The 19-year-old Zilisch has either won or finished runner-up in 10 of the last 12 series races – eight victories and a pair of runner-up finishes. Although he came to NASCAR with a road-racing pedigree (with class wins in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Series’ Rolex 24 at Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring), the driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet has won convincingly on ovals of various sizes and certainly shows up in Las Vegas an odds-on favorite. He starts the Playoffs with a dominating 57-point advantage on the field atop the championship standings.

He will, however, start this Round of 8 with very legitimate competition from his own JR Motorsports teammate, reigning series champion Justin Allgaier, who won the March race at Las Vegas by a second over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Aric Almirola. Zilisch finished ninth in his debut at the track.

Allgaier and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill are the only current series drivers to ever win at Las Vegas. Allgaier comes into this impactful Playoff round 24 points above the cutoff line with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brandon Jones and Haas Factory Team’s Sam Mayer four points and two points – respectively – to the good heading into the Vegas 200-lapper.

Richard Childress Racing’s Jesse Love (-2), JR Motorsports’ teammates Sammy Smith (-7) and Carson Kvapil (-11) and Haas’s Sheldon Creed (-13) round out the Playoff eight in a much tighter contest for the final two championship positions beyond Zilisch and Allgaier.

Practice and Kennametal Pole Qualifying for the race is at 2 p.m. Saturday (CW App). Kvapil won the pole position this spring and Mayer started on pole in this race last Fall. NASCAR Cup Series regular A.J. Allmendinger is the defending race winner.

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!