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: Darlington Raceway

Event: VFW Sport Clips Help A Hero 200

Race Winner: Brad Keselowski

Stage Winner(s): Ross Chastain (Won Both Stages)

Who Won Big

• Ross Chastain: Heartbreaking crash with Kevin Harvick aside, Chastain’s trip to Darlington may prove big to both his playoff push this year and championship ambitions in the future. The Floridian claimed his first Xfinity pole, won two stages and impressed overall in his first race with Chip Ganassi Racing. The stage wins will help his playoff pursuit, but the impressive ride with Ganassi may be the grander statement for Chastain – proving that he can compete for wins and championships if a top-level owner takes a chance on him.
• Cole Custer: If playoff points could be awarded for sick retro looks, then Custer would have left Darlington with a wealth of them. But even without them, the Stewart-Haas Racing sophomore made gains at the historic track, finishing second to stay within a point of Elliott Sadler for second in the standings.
• Tyler Reddick: He didn’t lead a single lap, but Reddick scored a race-high 47 points on Saturday – a run that helped him move ahead of Brandon Jones for sixth in the championship standings. The Daytona winner is 151 points out of fifth, so sixth is the best spot he can secure to end the regular season.

 Who Hurt Their Odds:

• Austin Cindric: The curse of the No. 60 continues. Cindric crashed out after just two laps on Saturday, scoring a lone point in 40th and dropping to 11th in the standings. That’ll cost him a playoff point if he can’t close the gap to Ryan Reed back down.
• Drivers Outside of the Playoff Grid: Time’s running out for these teams. Michael Annett, Jeremy Clements and Ryan Sieg have made the playoffs in the past, but they’ll likely need a win in the next few weeks to contend for a championship this fall.

Playoff Standings: 

Playoff Points

Playoff Points Earned On-Track
Rank	Driver	Playoff Points
1	Christopher Bell	24
2	Justin Allgaier	19
3 (tie)	Ryan Preece	6
3 (tie)	Tyler Reddick	6
5	Spencer Gallagher	5
6	Elliott Sadler	4
7	Daniel Hemric	3
8	Ross Chastain	2
9 (tie)	Brandon Jones	1
9 (tie)	John H. Nemechek	1
9 (tie)	Cole Custer	1
9 (tie)	Matt Tifft	1
9 (tie)	Austin Cindric	1

Stage Points

Darlington Raceway Results

Season Totals