October 31-November 2 marks the final weekend of NASCAR’s top three divisions: the Craftsman Truck Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Cup Series. After a hard-fought 35 weeks, four drivers per series find themselves one race away from glory. The rules are simple – You don’t have to win; you just have to finish ahead of your three rivals. What’s it looking like for this pivotal race weekend?
Craftsman Truck Series
This Craftsman Truck Series season has been all about Corey Heim and the #11 TRICON Garage Toyota. Heim’s domination consisted of a record-breaking 11 wins, 18 top five, 20 top tens, 7 poles, and an average finish of 5.2. He has also led in a record-shattering 25 consecutive races, and if he leads this weekend, he will become the first driver in series history to lead at least once in every race in a season. Anyone other than the Marietta, Georgia native winning the title would be viewed as a major letdown.
Kaden Honeycutt has been everywhere this season. After 16 races with NIECE Motorsports and the #45 Chevrolet team, he was let go due to signing a contract with another manufacturer and team for next season. From the 18th race at Richmond onwards, he replaced the injured Stewart Friesen in the #52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota. The Willow Park, Texas kid recorded no wins, 3 top fives, 13 top tens, and an average finish of 13.2. Kaden is not only looking for his first win, but his first title as well.
Defending series champion Ty Majeski of Seymour, Wisconsin, like Honeycutt, is also winless this season; he had three wins in his title run last year. However, he’s been consistent for ThorSport Racing and the #98 Ford team, with 9 top fives, 17 top tens, and an average finish of 10.2. Will the short track ace’s first win of 2025 come at the best time possible?
Last but not least, San Bernardino, California’s Tyler Ankrum has had a great season behind the wheel of McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s #18 Chevrolet. He scored his first win in nearly six years at Rockingham in April and also had 8 top fives and 15 top tens with an average finish of 10.7. After years of misfortune, Ankrum hopes to follow it up with his first title.
Xfinity Series
In title sponsor’s Xfinity’s final race before the series rebrands to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, the dominant Connor Zilisch looks to send off to the cable company as the final champion. The driver out of Charlotte, North Carolina won a series rookie record 10 races in 2025, to go along with 19 top fives, 22 top tens, 8 poles, and an average finish of 8.2 in his #88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. He did all of this after suffering a back injury at Talladega (April) in a crash and missing Texas, as well as suffering a broken collarbone after falling off his car in victory lane at Watkins Glen in August. The future Trackhouse Cup Series driver winning the title is what all fans are expecting.
Fellow JRM rookie Carson Kvapil, the driver of the #1 Chevrolet, is in a similar pickle to that of Kaden Honeycutt. Mooresville, North Carolina’s pride and joy failed to win a race, but recorded 7 top fives and 14 top tens, with an average finish of 13.8. Kvapil is slated to be scaled back from full-time to part-time for the team next year but will run the full schedule in some capacity. Kvapil is looking forward to achieving a potential first career win and title, as well as snatching Rookie of the Year honors away from Zilisch.
The third and final JRM driver in the Championship 4 is Riverton, Illinois’s defending series champion, Justin Allgaier. The driver of the #7 Chevrolet won three times this year, finished in the top five 14 times, had 19 top tens, 2 poles, and an average finish of 12.5. The 39-year-old veteran can never be left out of the title conversation.
Menlo Park, California’s Jesse Love, driver of the #2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, rounds out the Xfinity Series Championship 4 contenders. Love won the season-opening race at Daytona in February, before having his win at Rockingham in April stripped due to failing post-race inspection. He also finished in the top five 8 times, the top ten 21 times, qualified on pole 4 times, and had an average finish of 11.4 in his sophomore season. Can Love end his season the same way that it began?
Cup Series
Chase Briscoe’s first season in Joe Gibbs Racing’s #19 Toyota started off quiet but has picked up massively. His win at Talladega in the Round of 8 propelled him to the final round; the Mitchell, Indiana native won thrice in 2025. He had 15 top fives, 19 top tens, and a series-leading 7 poles, with an average finish of 12.5. Briscoe seeks Coach Joe’s first title since Kyle Busch in 2019, and the first NASCAR Cup Series title of his own.
It’s been the same old song and dance for Chesterfield, Virginia’s Denny Hamlin, the driver of Joe Gibbs Racing’s #11 Toyota. 20 full-time seasons in Cup, and no championships to show for it. Hamlin won a series-high 6 times this season, and scored 14 top fives, 17 top tens, 4 poles, and had an average finish of 14.2. His win in the Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas sent him to the final round. Will this finally be the year for the Cup Series’ longest-tenured driver?
Back-to-back Daytona 500 champion William Byron found himself here after winning the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville, despite being involved in a gut-wrenching accident at Las Vegas. The driver of the #24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet won 3 races and racked up 11 top fives, 16 top tens, 4 poles, and an average finish of 14th. The Charlotte, North Carolina racer is another driver hungry for their first Cup title.
The only driver to have made the Championship 4 that has won a title in the past is Elk Grove, California’s Kyle Larson. Behind the wheel of the #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, he also won 3 races for the team. To go with this, he had 14 top five and 21 top ten finishes, a pole, and an average finish of 13.5. Will the 2021 Cup Series champion make the other three wait?
The action begins on Friday, October 31 at 7:30 PM EST on FS1 with the Craftsman Truck Series finale. The Xfinity Series sendoff race will be on Saturday, November 1, at 7:30 PM EST on the CW. The grandaddy of them all, the Cup Series Championship Race, airs on Sunday, November 2, at 3 PM EST on NBC.
