INDIANAPOLIS — The NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend for the fourth annual Pennzoil 150 (5:30 p.m. ET, FS1, IMS Radio Network).

Here are three things I’m watching for the Saturday’s race.

Regular Season Points

John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Hill are tied atop of the NASCAR Xfinity Series points standings coming into Indy. Both have accumulated 811 points each. This is big because there’s only five races remaining in the regular season and the difference between 1st and 2nd in points is essentially a race win.

The regular season champion receives 15 playoff points. 2nd gets 10.

Nemechek who is running his first full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule since the 2019 season, managed to land his car in Victory Lane for the fifth time this season last weekend at Michigan International Speedway. His other wins have come at Auto Club, Martinsville, Atlanta, and New Hampshire. As a result of that, he owns the tie breaker with his five wins to Hill’s four.

He has also done well on a few road courses this season, finishing 10th at Portland and runner-up on the inaugural Chicago Street Race last month.

The Mooresville, N.C. native will look to keep his hot streak alive this weekend as he makes his debut on the Indianapolis Road Course. He has posted five wins, 11 top fives, 16 top 10s and las led 662 laps this season thus far.

Hill finished ninth here last year and has three top 3 finishes in the last 4 weeks. On road courses this season, Hill has a pair of top five finishes and three top 10’s. He’s actually outscored Nemechek 114-98 on them.

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Double Duty

Some Cup Series drivers love the Indianapolis bricks so much that they want to give themselves two opportunities to take the checkered flag and kiss the bricks this weekend – AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain.

Allmendinger will be piloting the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet for his fifth Xfinity Series start of the 2023 season. Three of his four previous starts were on road courses – COTA (first place), Sonoma (runner up), and Road America (ninth). He has made all three starts on the Indianapolis Road Course in the Xfinity Series and has only gotten better time after time. He posted a fourth-place finish in the inaugural race in 2020, a runner up finish in 2021 and then finally snagged the checkered flag in 2022.

The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, Ty Gibbs, will be making his seventh Xfinity Series start of the season behind the wheel of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Two of his Xfinity Series starts this season were on a road course – COTA (third place) and Sonoma (fourth place). He’s made two starts on the Indianapolis Road Course, posting a 19th-place finish and an eighth-place finish.

Chastain will be making his fifth Xfinity Series start of the season behind the wheel of the No. 91 Chevrolet for DGM Racing. He’s made one road course Xfinity Series start this season at Sonoma, where he finished 18th. He has made two series starts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, posting a sixth-place finish (2020) and a fourth-place finish (2022).

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Different Winner

We’ve run on the road course three times and each time we’ve had a different winner. From Chase Briscoe (2020) to Austin Cindric (2021) to AJ Allmendinger (2022), do we see a fourth straight?

It’s up to Allmendinger.