Insiders predict 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion after Martinsville

This weekend, the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Phoenix to crown a champion among the final four drivers left in the Playoffs. In 2025, the back and forth has mostly been between Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier. Jesse Love and Carson Kvapil are hoping to pull off an upset of the two favorites.

Allgaier is the reigning champion. Zilisch has rewritten the record books in his rookie season. He has somehow exceeded the lofty expectations placed on him and, with 10 wins, is looking to finish the job.

Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic have made their championship picks for the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The drivers are very talented and any of them could pull it off, but who is most likely to win the championship?

“Well, I’m going to be picking Justin Allgaier. … I just think Phoenix there and obviously his championship experience,” Gluck said on The Teardown earlier this week. “Look, I mean, it’s three JRM cars, so.”

It seems that the two co-hosts are on the same page for the most part. Despite the difference in wins, Allgaier has been just as good as Zilisch this NASCAR season.

“The wins discrepancy is the wins. That’s 10 to 3 for wins,” Bianchi said. “But Allgaier is in the ballpark for top-fives for top-10s. He’s only led 13 fewer laps this year than Zilisch. … Zilisch is phenomenal, but Allgaier’s been really, really good this year. Really, really good. And he’s got a lot of confidence there, and it’s Phoenix, right? So, it’s a thing. And the one thing that I think you need to be careful of, and I talked about Heim maintaining control of the race.

“We saw a little bit of this with Zilisch in this race on Saturday, and really here in the Spring as well. He gets back in traffic a little bit, things can happen, and you can completely become a victim of things in your surroundings, and that’s dangerous. So, we’ll see how this plays out. I guess I’ve kinda been on the Allgaier’s gonna win it, so I’m going to go with you, and I agree with you. But I think it’s going to be a showdown between these two JRM guys.”

The two NASCAR insiders seem to believe that Allgaier is the one to beat. You can’t really argue that when Zilisch has only raced at Phoenix twice in an Xfinity car. Last season, he was P4 in the championship finale. Earlier this season, he was P16.

Can Connor Zilisch finish up his historic season with the NASCAR Xfinity Series title? Or are we about to see a back-to-back champion in Justin Allgaier?