Three Skip Barber Racing School graduates are in the mix for the NASCAR Cup Series championship despite a difficult weekend for two of them at Talladega Superspeedway. RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher will enter the Charlotte Roval in the best position of the three, 19 points above the cutline. Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace will need to claw back from a nine-point deficit to make it into the Round of 8. The good news for 23XI fans is that Wallace scored his best career finish on a road course last year at the Charlotte Roval. Since working with our instructors at the beginning of 2021, Wallace has finished in the top fifteen in 40% of NASCAR Cup Series road course races. In the previous 11 races before that, Wallace had failed to ever finish in the top twenty, demonstrative of the impact that the training the Skip Barber Racing School can provide. Graduate Ross Chastain’s day came to an unfortunate end after being involved in an incident at the end of Stage One. Chastain was forced to avoid another driver who had run out of fuel in front of him and in doing so, was tagged in the rear by another competitor. The contact sent Chastain into the wall, ending his day. He’ll face an uphill battle, ten points below the cutline, to advance to the Round of 8 but we’re confident our road course extraordinaire has one more fight in him at the Charlotte Roval next weekend. In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race from Talladega Superspeedway, Skip Barber Racing School graduate Chandler Smith with his fourth-place result stood as the best Skip Barber graduate. Hailie Deegan and her eighth-place result made it two graduates in the top ten. Graduate Carson Hocevar ended the Talladega race in eleventh and will enter the penultimate race of the season 23 points above the cutline with his prospects for the title in Phoenix looking strong. Just behind Hocevar in the standings is fellow Skip Barber Racing School graduate Christian Eckes whose two stage wins in this round have him nine points above the cutline entering the Homestead-Miami weekend on October 21. Looking ahead, The Skip Barber Racing School will have five drivers in the mix for next weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff race from the Charlotte Roval. The Xfinity Series will close the curtain on its Round of 12 at the conclusion of that race. Graduate John Hunter Nemechek has already clinched a spot in the Round of 8 while graduates Austin Hill (+44 points), Chandler Smith (+32 points), Sammy Smith (+18 points), and Jeb Burton (-19 points) will look to keep their post-season run alive. The NASCAR Cup Series will also head to the Charlotte Roval for the final race in its Round of 12. Formula 1 and graduate Sergio Perez heads to the Middle East for the Qatar Grand Prix. Finally, our Skip Barber Race Team returns to action for the season finale of TC America powered by the Skip Barber Racing School and GT4 America at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.