Courtesy of TMS Media Relations

WHAT: Andy’s Frozen Custard 300, opening race of the NASCAR Playoffs for the Xfinity Series.

WHERE: Texas Motor Speedway, a 1.5-mile oval in Fort Worth, Texas.

WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 24, 2:30 p.m. CT.

BROADCAST INFORMATION: TV: USA Network | Radio: SiriusXM (Ch. 90), PRN.

RACE LENGTH: 200 laps | 300 miles.

RACE STAGES: 1-45 | 46-90 | 91-200 laps.

PLAYOFF DRIVERS (seeding order with points): 1) Noah Gragson, JR Motorsports, 2,051 points. 2) Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing, 2,038. 3) Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports, 2,033. 4) AJ Allmendinger, Kaulig Racing, 2,033. 5) Josh Berry, JR Motorsports, 2,022. 6) Austin Hill, Richard Childress Racing, 2,016. 7) Brandon Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing, 2,010. 8) Jeremy Clements, Jeremy Clements Racing, 2,005. 9) Sam Mayer, JR Motorsports, 2,005. 10) Daniel Hemric, Kaulig Racing, 2,003. 11) Riley Herbst, Stewart-Haas Racing, 2,002. 12) Ryan Sieg, RSS Racing, 2,001.

ROUND OF 12 SCHEDULE (3 RACES): Texas Motor Speedway, Saturday; Talladega Superspeedway, Saturday, Oct. 1; Charlotte ROVAL®, Saturday, Oct. 8.

DEFENDING RACE WINNER: John Hunter Nemechek, Joe Gibbs Racing.

DEFENDING POLE WINNER: AJ Allmendinger, Kaulig Racing.

2021 TOP-FIVE FINISHERS: 1. John Hunter Nemechek, Joe Gibbs Racing; 2. Daniel Hemric, Joe Gibbs Racing; 3. Noah Gragson, JR Motorsports; 4. Justin Allgaier, JR Motorsports; 5. Austin Cindric, Team Penske.

NOTEWORTHY: Texas Motor Speedway will be hosting the opening race of the seven-race NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs after playing host to the Round of 8 opener last season. … Texas Motor Speedway has hosted the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs since the format began in 2016. The inaugural Playoff race was held on Nov. 5 and won by Cup Series fulltime driver Kyle Larson. … One third of the 12-driver playoff field is represented by JR Motorsports, including three among the top five seeds, with No. 1 Noah Gragson, No. 3 Justin Allgaier, No. 5 Josh Berry and No. 9 Sam Mayer. … Since the first Playoff race in 2016, only two playoff drivers – Cole Custer (2018) and Christopher Bell (2019) – have won the six races run at TMS. The other winners were Larson (2016), Erik Jones (’17), rookie Harrison Burton (’20) and John Hunter Nemechek (’21). … Nemechek will have the opportunity to defend his race victory as he is scheduled to compete in the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. It will be his 10th Xfinity Series start this season and third with Joe Gibbs Racing. His other seven have come with Sam Hunt Racing, including his most recent start at Darlington where he finished ninth. … None of the 12 playoff drivers have won an Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway and Nemechek is the only driver with a win on the entire 39-driver entry list. … The Xfinity Series ran at TMS earlier this season, a points-paying race on May 21 as part of the NASCAR All-Star Race weekend. Fulltime Cup Series driver Tyler Reddick of Richard Childress Racing, who was driving for Big Machine Racing, led 31 laps en route to the victory in the SRS Distribution 250. Hendrick Motorsports Cup driver William Byron, driving for JR Motorsports, finished second while Mayer, an Xfinity Series regular with JR Motorsports, finished third. Berry of JR Motorsports led a race-high 46 laps and finished seventh. Allgaier also finished fourth to give JR Motorsports three of the top four finishing positions.  … Among the playoff contenders, the top three in driver rating for Texas Motor Speedway according to NASCAR Statistics are AJ Allmendinger (101.7), Gragson (100.5) and Daniel Hemric (99.3). Allmendinger had two poles and sixth-place finishes in his first two starts at TMS and started 13th and finished ninth in the May race. … The playoff drivers with the top average finishes at TMS are Allmendinger (7.0), Mayer (8.0), Hemric (10.9), Allgaier (11.8) and Ty Gibbs (12.0). … Kyle Busch has dominated Texas Motor Speedway in the Xfinity Series with track records for wins (10), poles (4), laps led (1,795), top-five finishes (17) and top-10 finishes (18). Busch will be unable to add to those records as established Cup drivers are not permitted to compete in the Xfinity Series Playoff races. … Jeremy Clements of Clements Racing owns the track record for most Xfinity Series starts. He made his 27th career start in May’s SRS Distribution 250 and finished 16th. Clements, who made his first start at TMS in the fall of 2007, is chasing his first career top-10 finish at the venue. His best finish is 11th, which came in the spring race of 2020. … Jesse Iwuji, an alumni of Carrollton’s Hebron High School, will be competing in the No. 34 Chevrolet for Jesse Iwuji Motorsports. It will be his 11th start of the season. He recently finished a career-best 11th in the Aug. 26 race at Daytona International Speedway.

TMS CAREER LEADERS

WINS:

• Kyle Busch 10
• Kevin Harvick 5
• Erik Jones 3
• Mark Martin 3
• Carl Edwards 2
• Brad Keselowski 2
• Matt Kenseth 2

POLES:

• Kyle Busch 4
• Joey Logano 3
• AJ Allmendinger 2
• Alex Bowman 2
• Christopher Bell     2
• Erik Jones 2
• Carl Edwards 2
• Matt Kenseth 2
• Jeff Green 2
• Elliott Sadler 2

LAP LEADERS:

• Kyle Busch 1,795
• Kevin Harvick 779
• Brad Keselowski 427
• Carl Edwards 396
• Matt Kenseth 377

WEEKEND SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE

(All times Central/local)

Saturday, Sept. 24

7:30 a.m.                              Xfinity Series garage open

8:30 a.m.                               Cup Series garage open

9:35-10:05 a.m.                    Xfinity Series practice

10:05-11 a.m.                       Xfinity Series qualifying

11:35 a.m.-12:20 p.m.          Cup Series practice

12:20-1:30 p.m.                    Cup Series qualifying

2:30 p.m.                              Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 Xfinity Series Playoff Race

Sunday, Sept. 25

11:30 a.m.                            Cup Series garage open

2:30 p.m.                               Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 Cup Series Playoff Race

Texas Motor Speedway will play host to the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs this weekend. The NASCAR Playoffs doubleheader will be highlighted by the NASCAR Xfinity Series Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT on USA Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90, and PRN), and the NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 on Sunday (2:30 p.m. CT on USA Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch. 90, PRN, and 95.9 The Ranch).

The newly renovated Lil’ Texas Motor Speedway 1/5-mile dirt track will kick off the weekend of racing with the inaugural C. Bell’s MICRO MANIA. The four-day event (Sept. 21-24) features practice on Wednesday, qualifying races Thursday and Friday, and mains and finals Saturday. Micro Sprints are smaller versions of full-sized sprint cars with side-mounted 600cc motorcycle engines that can generate 140 horsepower with similar chassis and body styles to the larger versions. NASCAR stars currently confirmed to participate include Christopher Bell, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch and his son Brexton Busch, Sheldon Creed, Daniel Hemric, Brett Moffitt, and John Hunter Nemechek.

TICKETS:

For ticket information for this weekend’s NASCAR Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 playoff doubleheader, including individual day tickets for C. Bell’s MICRO MANIA, please visit www.texasmotorspeedway.com.

Season tickets and camping for Texas Motor Speedway’s 2023 major event season are on sale now. Save up to 33 percent versus buying individual tickets, take advantage of interest-free monthly payments, get the best seat selection and more. All-new reduced rates are available for the GEICO Infield, GEICO VIP and WinStar World Casino & Resort Lone Star Circle camping areas. Click HERE for more information and to purchase season tickets.

MORE INFO:

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