DARLINGTON, S.C. If theres ever a venue poised to bring its A-game action following last weeks Martinsville (Va.) Speedway thriller, the NASCAR Xfinity Series should be in good shape with Saturdays Sports Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway.

The venerable 1.366-mile track has a fantastic history of high-drama and important races.

Reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, Justin Allgaier shows up at Darlington with the championship lead by 41 points over Haas Factory Team driver Sam Mayer in second and 47 points over Richard Childress Racings Austin Hill in third, who collected his second win of the season last Saturday and joins Allgaier as the only multiple winners this season.

Sixth in the championship is 18-year-old Connor Zilisch, driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, who announced Thursday he will make his second NASCAR Cup Series start for Trackhouse Racing at Charlottes Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend.

The last five Darlington Xfinity Series races have been won by five different drivers. Allgaier is the defending spring race winner and his three trophies at The Track to Tough Tame is most among full-timers. He is on an eight-race streak of top-10 finishes at Darlington one away from matching NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martins record.

Joe Gibbs Racings Brandon Jones (2020) is the only other fulltime series driver with a Darlington victory. Last year, Allgaier beat Hill to the checkered by a full 3.4-seconds. And Mayer was fourth. RCR has never won an Xfinity Series race at Darlington, but has five runner-up finishes two from Hill.

Of note, the Stage 1 winner has gone on to win four of the last five races at the track.

The series is coming off an emotionally-charged short track event at Martinsville, where Hill led only the last lap to claim the win surging forward after aggressive contact between race leaders Joe Gibbs Racings Taylor Gray and JR Motorsports Sammy Smith derailed their days.

Both Gray and Smith were subsequently penalized this week for actions at Martinsville after the race (Gray) and for contact during the race (Smith).

A handful of NASCAR Cup Series drivers will be on the Xfinity Series grid this week, including Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain and Christopher Bell, who won the Fall Darlington NASCAR Xfinity Series race from the pole position.