NASCAR XFINITY Series Championship Betting Pick: Lock in This Driver Ahead of Saturday’s Race at Kansas

The NASCAR Cup Series' championship battle is getting most of the attention from motorsports fans, and rightfully so.

Kyle Larson, who has dominated throughout the season, has already punched his ticket to Phoenix, with a tight battle looming for the remaining seven drivers over the next two races at Kansas and Martinsville.

But let's not also forget about the NASCAR XFINITY Series championship race, which also has just two events left before its title race at Phoenix as well.

In fact, after a quick look at the latest NASCAR XFINITY Series championship odds from DraftKings Sportsbook, it appears the wrong driver is favored to win the title.

Here's how we can take advantage right now.

NASCAR XFINITY Series Championship Pick

Unlike the Cup Series, the XFINITY Series doesn’t yet have a driver locked into the Championship 4 at Phoenix because John Hunter Nemechek, a part-time driver in the series who is ineligible for the playoffs, won last weekend's race at Texas.

Outside of winning that race, this was good news for both A.J. Allmendinger and Austin Cindric, who have built a bit of cushion between themselves and third-place Noah Gragson in the point standings.

Playoff-eligible drivers who win automatically advance to the following round NASCAR playoffs.

However, because Nemechek won at Texas, no driver earned the free pass to Phoenix.

This also meant that a driver further down the playoff standings didn't win to leapfrog Allmendinger and Cindric either, making it more likely each driver can point their way into the season finale.

Interestingly, Allmendinger is currently the championship favorite at +250, which in a way makes sense because he’s leading the points.

However, I'm a bit surprised to see Cindric behind at +300 odds, so much so that I'm making that bet now ahead of Saturday's race in Kansas.

Anything can happen in NASCAR, so it's not like Cindric's 26-point cushion over the playoff cutline is a lock to advance to Phoenix, but it’s certainly enough of an advantage to allows him to race more conservatively than other playoff drivers.

And if he does advance, Phoenix has been an incredible track for him.

Cindric, who secured the 2020 NASCAR XFINITY Series title with a dominant win at Phoenix last November, backed it up with a second consecutive win at the track back in March.

As I mentioned above, it's not a shoe-in Cindric will advance to the NASCAR XFINITY Series title race, but his points position puts him in a very good spot to do so.

Throw in the recent history at Phoenix for the No. 22 Ford and we have a bet worth making at +300 odds.