By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor

Following each regular season points race, Kickin’ the Tires takes a deep look at the current playoff grids for both the NASCAR XFINITY Series and Camping World Truck Series, evaluating the postseason picture for NASCAR’s second and third tours. 

Xfinity Series

Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Event: Lilly Diabetes 250

Race Winner: Justin Allgaier

Stage Winner(s): John Hunter Nemechek, Daniel Hemric

Who Won Big

• Justin Allgaier: What a special year it’s becoming for the No. 7 JR Motorsports team. Allgaier secure his fifth victory of the season at Indianapolis, giving him the most wins of anyone in Xfinity this season. The veteran’s up to 24 confirmed playoff points, and he holds the points lead heading into the regular season finale.
• Daniel Hemric: Luck is going to fall Hemric’s way eventually, right? The Richard Childress Racing prospect brought home another stage win en-route to a fifth-place run at the Brickyard, his 12th top five of the year. The performance gave Hemric another playoff point, and closed him within range of he competitors ahead of him should they collapse in the regular season finale at Las Vegas.
• Ross Chastain: In his finale regular season race of JD Motorsports, Chastain finished a respectable 12th and actually leap-frogged Austin Cindric for 11th in the standings. If he can avoid serious issue at Las Vegas, the Xfinity veteran should secure his first playoff berth.

 Who Hurt Their Odds:

• Austin Cindric: He wasn’t in the No. 60 this week, but Cindric had issues all the same. He finished 34th at Indy to drop to the playoff bubble in 12th. A surprise winner could push Cindric out of the playoffs.
• Drivers Outside of the Playoff Grid: One more week. They’s all drivers like Michael Annett, Jeremy Clements and Ryan Sieg have to steal a win and make the playoffs. At this stage they may wish to put their focus on 2019.

Playoff Standings: 

Playoff Points

Rank	Driver	Playoff Points
1 (tie)	Christopher Bell	24
1 (tie)	Justin Allgaier	24
3 (tie)	Ryan Preece	6
3 (tie)	Tyler Reddick	6
5	Spencer Gallagher	5
6 (tie)	Elliott Sadler	4
6 (tie)	Daniel Hemric	4
8 (tie)	Ross Chastain	2
8 (tie)	John H. Nemechek	2
10 (tie)	Brandon Jones	1
10 (tie)	Cole Custer	1
10 (tie)	Matt Tifft	1
10 (tie)	Austin Cindric	1

Stage Points

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Results

Season Totals