Good luck topping that, Cup Series.
Listen, NASCAR doesn’t need this kind of show every week but making Martinsville Speedway the final Xfinity Series playoff cutoff continues to deliver according to design. Say what you will about the decisions made behind the wheel on Saturday but it is a reflection of the consequence.
This matters.
It mattered to Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed, soon to be ex-teammates at Richard Childress Racing as they door slammed each other over the final lap and it sure as hell mattered to Justin Allgaier, who is much closer to the end of his career than the youngsters he battled with for a spot in the championship race.
All of this mattered so much and watching how fans responded to the final lap and everything that happened, it mattered to those in attendance too.
The penultimate NASCAR Xfinity Series race of the season was simply incredible theater even before the final restart. With Cole Custer inside of the top six, Hill would have to win the race just as much as Creed, and they raced accordingly.
Sammy Smith faced must-win odds and was understandably frustrated in what he perceived as a block by his own teammate on the final restart of a race he had dominated until his final pit stop. Did Creed commit a foul of sorts by appearing to brake check Hill? Maybe.
Then came the post-race theatrics, Hill gesturing the Jeff Stankiewicz, crew chief of the Creed car who simply responded, ‘I don’t drive the car,’ and RCR executive Andy Petree confronting Creed over his decisions late in the race.
Richard Childress told NBC that Creed was the stupidest driver that has ever raced for him.
Everyone had very strong opinions, expressed on both sides of the fence.
“For neither of the RCR guys to make it into the final four it’s just frustrating,” Hill said. “I’m pretty excited for him to go to his next adventure over at Gibbs and I don’t have to put up with him no more. I can now have Jesse Love as my teammate and hopefully, he races me better, races me cleaner.
“Right there in the middle of three and four, I don’t know what he was doing. He parked it in the middle of the corner and, obviously, I blew the radiator right then and I had no power off the corner. Just ridiculous.”
Creed said it was fair game.
“I didn’t blast him,” Creed said. “I feel like I played pretty fair for the situation. He’s gonna be mad, but it’s for a Championship 4 spot and I want to fight for my guys all the way to the end.”
Creed took exception to being dressed down in front of the media by Petree.
“Roles were reversed, he wouldn’t say anything,” Creed said of Petree’s relationship with Hill. “It’s part of the reason I’m leaving. They’re going to be mad but I feel like I got him up off the bottom and gave him a chance to finish second or third.
“Is it dirty or fair, and I’m just now watching the replay, so we’re side by side into three and I drive up the hill, he hits me in the center and the 20 (John Hunter Nemechek) spins him. I can’t control the 20. He’s going to be in if he doesn’t spin out.”
That part isn’t true, not the he was doing math inside the car, but it all speaks to the explosiveness this format and this track together is designed to produce.
With either Hill or Custer scoring a top-10, Allgaier was effectively in a must-win mode, and the seas just parted for him over the final in a scene that sent him to race for a championship. He was completely beside himself after the race, because a lot of things went wrong throughout the previous three hours, and yet those seas again parted for him.
And at 37 years old, Allgaier does wonder how many more chances he will get to win a championship, and just left feeling incredibly grateful and resolute.
“Whether people realize it or not, this is a defining race win for me,” Allgaier said. “Every one of these wins have meant something different and I cherish them in different ways.”
His phone lock screen is a picture of him with team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr after the Phoenix championship race last year, where he came up just short, and he had tears in his eyes being hugged by the boss.
“I did everything I knew how to do and it didn’t equate to a championship,” Allgaier said. “I’ve been in these positions a lot, and I’ve had a lot more defeat than joy, especially in this playoff format.
“When this format beats you, it makes you stronger and motivated me, and as much as it stings for Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed, I really think about how much it’s going to motivate both of them to come back next year, because I’ve been there. I have lived it.”
Again, say what you will about this format but that line right there is why it elicits the best possible response from both competitors and fans alike.
“I don’t think anyone wants to see this kind of finish every week, but you have to understand, when they made the format and chose the races that go in the rounds, it was with this in mind,” Earnhardt said.
As designed.
“They picked Martinsville to be an elimination race, the race that sends everyone to the championship race and it’s the same as having Daytona as the regular season finale,” Earnhardt added. “That was an intentional decision to create moments, drama and make these drivers do uncomfortable things.
“It’s frustrating sometimes because your driver ends up in a bad position, or crashed sometimes, but I don’t know, we could have run that 10 times and had a different ending but as a broadcaster and fan, I want to see drivers put in uncomfortable positions.”
That’s exactly right and it was the same reason the Ross Chastain ‘Hail Melon’ happened last year too.
NASCAR is at its best when there are consequential moments that create competition and conflict, drawing unfiltered emotion from competitors and enthusiasts alike.
Saturday night was NASCAR at its dramatic best and here’s to hoping the Cup race can match the tempo.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.