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. Series’ are updated only after weekends in which they’ve raced. 

XFINITY Series

Track: Road America

Event: Johnsonville 180

Race Winner: Jeremy Clements

Stage Winner(s): James Davison, Daniel Hemric

Who Won Big

• Jeremy Clements: Would you look at that? Not only does Cinderella’s shoe fit – she’s been given an invitation to the ball. Clements’ upset on Sunday took what had been a difficult season for the South Carolinian and sent him straight to the playoffs for the first time. This underdog story has at least six more races of life, now.
• Matt Tifft: The pain of bring so close to his first victory must have cut like a knife, but Tifft’s strong day was still something to be proud of. The run was also a necessity, elevating the Joe Gibbs Racing shoe to a 98-point gap on the suddenly-interesting playoff battle.
• Michael Annett: Speaking of great runs that came at the right time – Annett was one of a small group of drivers to keep his machine clean on Sunday. The result? A career-best finish of second, and a slim, 11-point edge on the playoff bubble as a result.

 Who Hurt Their Odds:

• Dakoda Armstrong: One man’s treasure is another man’s garbage. Such was the case for Armstrong on Sunday, as he suddenly became the lesser of two underdogs with Clements’ win. The Hoosier finds himself outside of the playoff grid by four points leaving Road America – the first time he’s sat outside of the postseason field all season.
• Brendan Gaughan: His fifth-place run was nothing to scoff at, but as the only previous winner at Road America, Gaughan arrived in Wisconsin with everything to gain. Instead he lost, finished below one of his playoff competitors and escaped the midwest with just four points separating himself and playoff elimination.
• Ryan Reed: The Daytona International Speedway winner crashed out again at Road America, finishing 35th and dropping to within two points of falling outside of the top 10 in the standings and losing playoff points as a result. Only two figures in the above sentence required a change compared to Bristol. Not good, Ryan…

Playoff Standings: 

*Technically ineligible due to missed races. Would require a waiver to make the playoffs.

Playoff Points

Playoff Points Earned
Rank	Driver	Playoff Points
1	William Byron	17
2	Justin Allgaier	8
3 (tie)	Ryan Preece	6
3 (tie)	Sam Hornish Jr.	6
5 (tie)	Ryan Reed	5
5 (tie)	Elliott Sadler	5
5 (tie)	Jeremy Clements	5
8 (tie)	Daniel Hemric	3
7	Blake Koch	2
8 (tie)	Darrell Wallace, Jr.	1
8 (tie)	Brendan Gaughan	1
8 (tie)	James Davison	1

Stage Points

Road America Results

Season Totals