Preview of the 2022 NSRA Finale at Las Vegas

Tonight is the season finale for the 2022 NSRA Beer Street Journal Grand National Series. The season started with thirty-three championship hopefuls taking to the track at Daytona. Twenty-five races later, there are only four drivers who have a mathematical chance at winning the championship headed into the finale. From short tracks to superspeedways, the drivers have not disappointed. The 2022 season has certainly been full of action and a great debut for the NSRA on the World Racing Network. Only one of these four drivers can be the champion. Which of them will walk out of Las Vegas Motor Speedway a champion? WRN has taken a deep dive into all of their seasons to see who stands the best chance at the ultimate prize.

Adam Pettet

Adam Pettet, driver of the AnythingEC number 83 car, asserted himself early in the season as a contender for the championship. Winning four of his first ten starts in the season, Pettet was the driver to chase through much of the regular season. He held the points lead for eleven of the seventeen races in the regular season. Pettet has an impressive record this season, with six wins, four poles, and an astounding 14 top 10 finishes.

A string of bad results near the end of the regular season relegated Pettet to fourth in the regular season standings, but those results turned around during the Playoffs. Adam Pettet has only finished outside the top 5 once during the playoffs, winning two races along the way. Adam Pettet, an admitted lover of the mile-and-a-half tracks, should be pleased to see the championship will be decided at Las Vegas, which is a 1.5-mile circuit. All but one of Pettet's six wins came on a 1.5-mile track (the exception being Dover). Not to mention the 29-point lead he holds coming into the final race, Adam Pettet looks to be the odds-on favorite to walk away with the championship. However, he comes off a DNF at Phoenix, which could break some of the momentum Pettet has built up. There is also uncertainty in whether Pettet will be able to make tonight's race due to other commitments, which leaves the door open to three other drivers.

Nate Mowrer

Nate Mowrer has been a consistent driver all season long. He got to victory lane early in the season, winning the fourth race of 2022 at Iowa Speedway. Running second in points to Adam Pettet through much of the regular season, Mowrer would take the points lead away from Pettet in the final regular season race at The Milwaukee Mile to be crowned the regular season championship. He comes into Las Vegas with five wins on the year, one pole, and matches the 14 top-ten finishes held by Adam Pettet. Mowrer is not one to settle for the regular season championship, he wants to win the big trophy in Las Vegas.

It would take Nate Mowrer eleven races to find victory lane again after his Iowa win, but he broke through at Martinsville (pictured above) for his second race win. He would then go on a winning streak, taking three of the next four races and only finishing outside of the top 10 once in the last 11 races that have been run. In the early races of the playoffs, Mowrer seemed unstoppable on his quest to win his first NSRA Beer Street Journal Grand National Series championship. However, following a DNF at Chicagoland while battling for the win, Mowrer has yet to retake the points lead, which he lost to Adam Pettet. But Pettet's DNF last week, assisted by Mowrer's 3rd place finish that night, has allowed Nate to cut 57 points out of Pettet's lead, making the championship within his grasp coming into Las Vegas.

Philip Scott

Philip Scott is another driver who has been a contender through the entire 2022 season. Like the first two drivers who mentioned on this list, Philip opened up the season early with a win in the 3rd race of the season at Rockingham. With another win at Darlington in the regular season, Philip Scott looked poised to be right in the thick of the battle for the points lead in the Playoffs. However, some inconsistent finishes through the late regular season caused some doubt that the number 99 car would be able to make a strong championship run. Those doubts were dispelled as soon as the Playoffs began.

Unlike the first two drivers on this list, Philip does not have a finish outside the top 10 during the Playoffs. He dominated the road course of Watkins Glen, leading every lap of the race. He has 3 wins, 5 poles, and 10 top 5 finishes coming into Las Vegas. Philip also comes off of two straight second place finishes at Kentucky and Phoenix. Momentum is certainly on the side of the 99 car, but will it be enough to get him the championship? Philip will arrive at Vegas 34 points behind Adam Pettet and 5 points behind Nate Mowrer in second.

While the odds of him walking away champion are much smaller, there is one other driver with a chance to walk away from Las Vegas a champion.

Trey Whitehead

Image Credit: Eclipse Photography

Trey Whitehead has not had as flashy a season as the other three drivers on this list. He has one win to his name, which came back at Talladega. However, Whitehead has shown himself to be able to run up front at any given racetrack and is well deserving of his spot on this list. Trey Whitehead has been very consistent all season long, which is what has gotten him to this position late in the season. He is the only driver on this list not to have a DNF this season. In 22 starts, Whitehead has only finished outside of the top 10 five times. This means it should come to no surprise Trey Whitehead finished the regular season 3rd in points.

His playoff drive has met these high expectations. Like Philip Scott, Whitehead has not finished outside of the top 10 during the Playoffs. While not having won in the postseason, he has started from the pole three times in the seven Playoff races that have been run so far. He has 18 top 10 finished and 10 top 5 finishes in 2022. While Whitehead finds himself 84 points back of leader Adam Pettet, he still mathematically has a path to the championship. Depending on if Pettet is able to make the race, Whitehead is 55 points behind Nate Mowrer, which is a slightly more attainable margin. If the top 3 in points underperform in Vegas, Trey Whitehead could take advantage with one more consistent finish.

Playoff standings heading into the final race

It is too difficult to predict which of these four drivers could walk out of Las Vegas a champion. While Adam Pettet seems to be the favorite going into the race, the other three drivers still have paths that could see them overtake him and win the championship. To see who brings home the 2022 NSRA Beer Street Journal Grand National Series championship, tune in to the World Racing Network on YouTube at 9 pm (est) tonight to watch the race unfold live. The 2022 season finale should put on fireworks, make sure not to miss them.