John Hunter Nemechek is scheduled to make his 11th and final NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season this upcoming Saturday, August 17, at Michigan International Speedway for the Cabo Wabo 250. He will do so behind the wheel of the No. 20 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing, the entry which he has made all but one of his previous 10 starts this season.
The second-generation racer from Mooresville, North Carolina, is currently campaigning on a full-time basis in the NASCAR Cup Series with Legacy Motor Club and in the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE entry. Through 23 scheduled starts, he is ranked in 32nd place in the 2024 regular-season standings on the strength of three top-five results, 36 laps led and an average-finishing result of 24.7.
Coming off a strong 2023 season, where he notched a season-high seven victories, transferred all the way to the Championship 4 round, settled in fourth place in the final standings and reached 100 Xfinity career starts, Nemechek transcended back up to the Cup Series on a full-time basis in 2024. The move occurred after Nemechek spent the previous three seasons regaining his on-track competitiveness and winning races that started by scaling back down from a full-time Cup Series role with Front Row Motorsports to a full-time ride with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Craftsman Truck Series. Amid his full-time Cup role, Nemechek also announced in December 2023 that he would make 10 Xfinity Series starts with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2024, where he would pilot the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing led by rookie crew chief Tyler Allen.
Nemechek commenced his part-time Xfinity campaign in 2024 by finishing in seventh place during the series’ season opener at Daytona International Speedway in February after rallying from a single-car spin towards the halfway segment of the event. Then after finishing 32nd during the following event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he struck gold by winning at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in early March after he led a race-high 99 of 200 laps, including the final 11. With the victory, Nemechek notched his 10th career win in the Xfinity circuit, his ninth driving for Joe Gibbs Racing and his first at Vegas.
Over his next five starts in the Xfinity circuit, Nemechek recorded two top-10 results, with his best result being a third-place run at Circuit of the Americas in late March. During the five-race stretch, he added an Xfinity event to his part-time campaign, which was at Darlington Raceway in May as he piloted Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 26 “all-star” Toyota entry to a 23rd-place finish.
Then at Nashville Superspeedway in mid-June, Nemechek capitalized on a restart with 46 laps remaining to muscle ahead of reigning series champion Cole Custer and fend off a late charge from teammate Chandler Smith to win for the second time in the 2024 season and triumph both for the first time at Nashville and the 11th time in his Xfinity career. Recently, Nemechek ended up in 25th place at the Chicago Street Course in early July.
In addition to making his 11th Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season this upcoming weekend at Michigan, the event will mark Nemechek’s 111th Xfinity career start and fifth at the two-mile oval circuit in the Irish Hills of Brooklyn, Michigan. Ironically, he won at Michigan for the first time a year ago in an event where he also recorded the milestone 200th Xfinity career win for Joe Gibbs Racing.
As Nemechek chases another checkered flag to add to his Xfinity Series resume at Michigan to gain an early advantage to his full-time Cup Series campaign, he also strives to extend the momentum of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota team that aims to contend for the 2024 Xfinity owners’ championship at season’s end. Through 20 scheduled events, the No. 20 team is ranked in fourth place in the Xfinity owners’ standings on the strength of five victories, nine top-five results and 13 top-10 results. With Nemechek having won twice in the No. 20 entry, Aric Almirola, Ryan Truex and Christopher Bell have each piloted the entry to a single victory apiece. Should the No. 20 entry capture the owners’ title, it would be the seventh time doing so for the organization and the first for the No. 20 entry since the 2008 season.
The 2024 Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan International Speedway is scheduled to occur this Saturday, August 17, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
As the 2024 regular season for NASCAR’s top three national touring series approaches its final set of events before the Playoffs commence, the battle for the Rookie-of-the-Year title intensifies as a handful of rising stars attempt to ascend the racing ladder and establish their marks as future NASCAR stars.
With 22 races complete and 14 remaining on the 2024 Cup Series schedule, Josh Berry holds a slim advantage of five points over Carson Hocevar in the rookie Cup standings while Zane Smith and Kaz Grala both trail by triple digits.
For the majority of the season, the battle for this year’s Cup rookie title has been primarily between Berry and Hocevar, both of whom are also campaigning in their first full-time campaign in NASCAR’s premier series.
Berry, a native of Hendersonville, Tennessee, is piloting the No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry for Stewart-Haas Racing, where he succeeded the 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick following two full-time campaigns in the Xfinity Series. Meanwhile, Hocevar, a native of Portage, Michigan, is driving the No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for Spire Motorsports after spending the previous three seasons in the Craftsman Truck Series with Niece Motorsports.
After finishing no higher than 11th while also being plagued by seven finishes of 20th or worse through the first 12 scheduled events, Berry rebounded by notching four top-10 results over the next seven races, including two stellar third-place results, that enabled him to move atop the rookie standings.
Berry, however, is coming off four consecutive finishes of 20th or worse that have him currently situated in 22nd place in the regular-season standings. Berry’s misfortunes have allowed Hocevar to remain within striking distance of toppling Berry for the title. Hocevar, however, has rallied from being involved in an early multi-car wreck during the 66th running of the Daytona 500 to post three top-20 results, including two 15th-place runs, over his next three starts. He has since accumulated 10 additional top-20 runs, including two top-10 finishes, over his next 18 starts and is coming off a 12th-place run at Indianapolis.
Berry has accumulated the most top-10 results of this year’s rookie class at four and is two spots ahead of Hocevar in 22nd place in the regular-season standings as Hocevar holds the best average-finishing result at 19.4 thanks to his consistent runs of top-20 results.
Despite both rookies being strapped in “must-win” situations to make the 2024 Playoffs, their year-long battle of who will claim the season-ending prestigious honor of Cup Series Rookie of the Year remains to be determined.
Meanwhile, Zane Smith, the 2022 Truck Series champion from Huntington Beach, California, driver of the No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, trails both Berry and Hocevar in 33rd place in the standings and the rookie lead by 140 points. Despite notching a career-best second place at Nashville Superspeedway in June, Smith has an average-finishing result of 26th place as he has finished outside the top-20 mark 14 times, which leaves him grinding his gears and striving for more to be more competitive and consistent. In comparison to Berry and Hocevar, Smith’s plans for the 2025 season are unknown, though he is expected to remain on the radar for a ride for years to come.
Kaz Grala, a fourth Cup rookie candidate of the 2024 season from Boston, Massachusetts, is mired in 35th place in this year’s standings and he trails the rookie lead by 222 points. Thus far, he has racked up three top-20 results in 16 of 26-planned events as he continues to hone his development from the Truck and Xfinity Series divisions to NASCAR’s premier series. Amid Grala’s contention to claim the rookie title, his plans for next season remain undetermined.
Transitioning to the Xfinity Series, Jesse Love and Shane van Gisbergen are the top two rookie competitors through 20 scheduled events. With six races remaining until the Playoff field is determined, Love and van Gisbergen are set to square off against one another for both the rookie and the driver’s title as both are guaranteed Playoff berths by winning in their first Xfinity campaign.
The Xfinity rookie candidate who commenced the season on a strong note was Love, the reigning ARCA Menards Series champion who is piloting the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro entry for Richard Childress Racing. Starting in February, Love roared out of the gate to become the first rookie driver to record poles in the first two scheduled races. Despite having his first opportunity of winning spoiled amid a fuel-mileage overtime shootout at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February, the Menlo Park, Californian redeemed himself seven races later by emerging triumphant for the first time at Talladega Superspeedway.
Before his first career victory, Love had racked up two top-five results and five top-10 results as he was also ranked in the top five in the regular-season rankings. While he is currently ranked in seventh place in the Xfinity standings amid two additional top-five results in his previous 11 starts, Love leads the rookie standings by 87 points as he continues to pursue more victories and momentum before contending for his first Xfinity title. Should Love claim this year’s Xfinity Rookie-of-the-Year title, he would join an elite class of competitors who have done so while driving for Richard Childress Racing, including teammate Austin Hill, Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Since June, however, van Gisbergen, driver of the No. 97 Chevrolet Camaro for Kaulig Racing, has marched his way into the spotlight that started when he recorded his first career win at Portland International Speedway. The three-time Supercars champion from Auckland, New Zealand, would proceed to claim his second series victory in back-to-back weeks at Sonoma Raceway before grabbing a third career victory at the Chicago Street Course, the venue where he won in his Cup Series debut a year ago and leaped into NASCAR stardom.
Amid his road-course dominance that currently has him ranked with the most victories amongst Xfinity regulars, the New Zealander continues to search for more pace to be more competitive on oval-shaped circuits. Despite coming off a strong fourth-place run at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which marks his third top-six result on oval-shaped circuits this season, van Gisbergen has 11 ovals mixed with two additional road-course events remaining to leap-frog Love as the top rookie competitor of the 2024 season.
The third-ranked Xfinity rookie candidate is Leland Honeyman, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, who is 310 points behind in a season where he has notched an average-finishing result of 23.3, a career-best fourth-place run at Talladega in April and is mired in 19th place in the standings. The 2024 season marks Honeyman’s first full-time campaign in the Xfinity circuit as he is driving the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro for Young’s Motorsports, but needing to gain more ground to be within striking distance of both Love and van Gisbergen at this season’s conclusion.
Hailie Deegan, a native of Temecula, California, entered this season as a full-time rookie candidate with AM Racing. But, she was replaced by Joey Logano in early July amid a 17-race stretch where she finished no higher than 12th and was strapped with an average finishing result of 26.8. Following the replacement, Deegan has since parted ways and currently has no additional NASCAR plans scheduled for the remainder of the 2024 season.
Dawson Cram, a native of San Diego, California, had initially entered this season as a full-time Xfinity rookie candidate with JD Motorsports. Through July, however, he did not compete in five events, all being road-course venues and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and recently drove a single event for Mike Harmon Racing and Faction46 between the Xfinity and Truck Series, respectively. In addition, JD Motorsports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and laid off staff members in July, with the No. 4 Chevrolet owners’ points acquired by Alpha Prime Racing. With Cram appearing to declare for points for the remainder of this year’s Truck season, his plans for the remainder of this season remain to be determined.
With a single regular-season event remaining on this year’s Craftsman Truck Series schedule, eight overall, the series’ rookie title appears to be within the firm grasp of Layne Riggs, who holds a triple-digit advantage between his main rivals Conner Jones and Thad Moffitt amid a mediocre campaign.
Riggs, a native of Bahama, North Carolina, who joined forces with Front Row Motorsports for his first full-time Truck campaign in the No. 38 Ford F-150, has only racked up three top-five results and four top-10 finishes through 15-scheduled starts. Mired within the strong results are nine finishes of 20th or worse as he has had several strong starts spoiled by on-track incidents. While the results currently have him ranked in 16th place in the driver’s standings, he trails the top-10 cutline to make this year’s Playoffs by 75 points, which places him in a “must-win” situation to make this year’s Truck Playoffs. Despite having a steady advantage in the rookie standings, the next goal for Riggs is to implement a consistent conclusion to the 2024 season while setting his sights on a stronger start for 2025 and beyond.
Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.
Riggs’ closest rival for the title is Conner Jones, a native of Fredericksburg, Virginia, who is embarking on a 13-race schedule with ThorSport Racing after spending the previous season campaigning in his first nine series’ starts. Through eight starts, Jones has recorded three top-15 finishes and five top-20 results, with his best result being an 11th-place run at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. In addition to trailing Riggs in the rookie standings by 173 points, Jones’ current average-finishing result is 20.3, which is four spots higher than the result he concluded with following the 2023 season (24.7). With four races remaining in his part-time campaign this season, the sky remains the limit for Jones to gain his first top-10 result in the series.
Meanwhile, Thad Moffitt, a native of Trinity, North Carolina, trails the rookie lead by 188 points in a season where he graduated to the Truck Series level, initially on a full-time basis with Faction46. Over the last two races, however, Moffitt has been competing with Young’s Motorsports following the shutdown of Faction46 due to financial issues. Prior to the previous two races, Moffitt was absent from competing at Nashville Superspeedway in late June due to a medical issue. These factors are pieces to the puzzle of a struggling season for Moffitt, who has finished no higher than 18th and has been mired with finishes outside the top 20 during his remaining 14 starts. Having made steady ground with consistent runs as an ARCA Menards Series competitor, the task at hand for Moffitt to be competitive within NASCAR’s top three national touring series, beginning with the Truck Series, remains tall and long for him to achieve.
With the closing stretch of the 2024 NASCAR season inbound following a two-week break due to the Paris Olympics Games, the Craftsman Truck Series season resumes on August 10 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1 at Richmond Raceway for the Clean Harbors 250, which serves as this year’s regular-season finale. The Cup Series season also resumes at Richmond Raceway for the Cook Out 400 on August 11 at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network while the Xfinity Series season returns to action at Michigan International Speedway for the Cabo Wabo 250 on August 17 at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
More than four months after generating an impressive NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Circuit of the Americas, Connor Zilisch returns to the series with a five-race plan throughout the final eight-scheduled events of the 2024 season that commences this upcoming weekend at Richmond Raceway.
The Charlotte, North Carolina, native, who celebrated his 18th birthday two weeks ago, will pilot the No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado RST entry for Spire Motorsports for his second career start in the Truck Series and his first at Richmond as he continues to make his early presence within NASCAR’s top three national touring series well-known across the NASCAR community for years to come.
Zilisch, who became the first American to win the CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy in 2020 before claiming both a Mazda MX-5 Cup Scholarship and Rookie-of-the-Year title over the next two seasons, commenced the 2024 season by being signed by Trackhouse Racing as a development competitor on a multi-year basis in early January. The development program from Trackhouse enabled Zilisch to make starts in the NASCAR Xfinity and Craftsman Truck Series divisions along with ARCA, CARS Tour, Trans-Am and IMSA regions. He would proceed to emerge victorious at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in late January, which made him the second-youngest winner of the event at 17 years and 191 days old, before winning at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March, both in the LMP2 class with Era Motorsport.
In March, Zilisch, who currently competes full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East with Pinnacle Racing Group, was announced as the driver of Spire’s No. 7 entry at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, for his Truck debut. He was also signed to compete at Talladega Superspeedway and at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the latter event of which is set to occur in a separate entry, in October.
During his first NASCAR national touring series weekend at Austin, Zilisch stole the show by winning his first pole position with a pole-winning lap at 93.012 mph in 131.983 seconds and becoming the first competitor to win a pole in a Truck debut since Nick Sanchez made the last accomplishment during the 2023 opener at Daytona International Speedway. Despite losing the lead during the opening lap after locking up his front tires and sliding off the track in the first turn amid a three-wide battle, Zilisch, who then endured a roller-coaster event that included spinning shortly after the start of the second stage and being penalized multiple times for short-cutting the course, was able to methodically carve his way back towards the front and survive an overtime restart to finish in fourth place. Ironically, the day did not end for Zilisch, who then traveled to Pensacola, Florida, to compete in the 2024 ARCA Menards Series East season opener at Five Flags Speedway, where he recorded another fourth-place run.
A month after his Truck debut in Austin, Spire and Silver Hare Racing joined forces to add three Truck events to Zilisch’s schedule, including this upcoming weekend’s event at Richmond. He will also compete at Bristol Motor Speedway in September before making his sixth and final Truck start of the 2024 season at Martinsville Speedway in October.
Zilisch’s early presence across NASCAR’s top three national touring series does not conclude with the Truck Series in 2024 as the Charlotte native is also set to make his Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen International in September, where he will pilot the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. He will then return for three additional Xfinity events of this season including Kansas Speedway in September, Homestead-Miami Speedway in October and the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway in November.
As he transitions back to the Truck Series spotlight, Zilisch carries another objective besides gaining more on-track experience within NASCAR’s top series. He also strives to keep the Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet team in contention for this year’s owners championship in this weekend’s event at Richmond which serves as the series’ regular-season finale.
Currently, Spire’s No. 7 entry is ranked fifth in the owner standings on the strength of two victories, both being recorded by two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February and at Texas Motor Speedway in April. In addition, the entry secured two stage victories, five top-five results and nine top-10 results through 15 scheduled events, all while being piloted by Zilisch, Busch, Corey LaJoie, Sammy Smith, Connor Mosack, Andres Perez de Lara and Clint Bowyer. As for Spire’s two full-time Truck competitors that include Rajah Caruth (No. 71) and Chase Purdy (No. 77), Caruth is locked into the Playoffs and set to contend for the driver’s championship after he won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March while Purdy is 44 points below the top-10 cutline to qualify for his first Playoff appearance.
With Spire’s No. 7 entry being 53 points above the top-10 cutline and looking to contend for the owners’ title over the eight-race Playoff stretch, Zilisch is one of three competitors left to keep the entry in contention for the organization’s first title in NASCAR. With Zilisch scheduled to compete in three of seven Playoff events, Sammy Smith will drive the No. 7 entry at the Milwaukee Mile for the Playoff opener in late August while Connor Mosack will compete at Kansas Speedway in September and at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October. A driver for the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway in November is yet to be determined.
Amid his early starts in NASCAR, Zilisch is currently in contention to claim the 2024 ARCA Menards Series East title as he has recorded four victories and finished no lower than fourth through six of eight scheduled events. With two races remaining, he leads the ARCA East standings by 23 points over the reigning champion William Sawalich in a season where he is also three-for-three in the ARCA Menards Series division, with his victories occurring at Dover Motor Speedway, Iowa Speedway and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
While his racing plans for the 2025 season are not yet determined, there is unfinished business and plenty of potential surprises for Zilisch to add his early accomplished racing resume with a steady transcendence of his career to only grow bigger and brighter for years to come.
Connor Zilisch’s second NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career start is scheduled to occur at Richmond Raceway for the Clean Harbors 250 on Saturday, August 10, with the event’s air commencement time to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1.
With his racing status for next season currently unknown, Riley Herbst peddled to the meddle and prevailed in a final lap battle with teammate Cole Custer and Aric Almirola to score a monstrous NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in the Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 20.
The 25-year-old Herbst from Las Vegas, Nevada, led four times for 30 of 100-scheduled laps in an event where he shared the front row with teammate/pole-sitter Cole Custer and implemented an early strategic pit call to claim the first stage victory and gain valuable Playoff points while on old tires. After spending a majority of the event racing towards the front, Herbst, who executed a bold three-wide pass for the lead on both Aric Almirola and AJ Allmendinger amid a late-race restart with 35 laps remaining, retained the lead during another restart with 29 laps remaining and held a steady advantage over teammate Cole Custer when his momentum was stalled due to another caution for a multi-car wreck with 17 laps remaining.
Opting to remain on the track on old tires compared to a majority of the field, Herbst quickly lost the lead to Custer during the final restart with 11 laps remaining. Despite also losing the runner-up spot to Almirola, Herbst regained the spot amid light contact two laps later and spent the next seven laps methodically gaining ground on Custer with a strong race car amid the draft. Then as Herbst attempted to side-draft and snatch the lead from Custer through the frontstretch, Almirola threw himself into the picture by overtaking both in a three-wide pass at the start of the final lap. Herbst, however, quickly dispatched Custer and closed back in on Almirola through two turns before he executed his pass while side-drafting Almirola prior to Turn 4. With the lead in his grasp, Herbst, who nearly spun but regained control of his car prior to entering the frontstretch, fended off both Almirola and a hard-charging Custer to grab his first elusive Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season and lock himself into the Playoffs.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Cole Custer notched his fifth Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season after he posted a pole-winning lap at 167.582 mph in 53.705 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Riley Herbst, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 166.942 mph in 53.911 seconds.
Prior to the event, Sheldon Creed dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change to his No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota Supra. Austin Hill and Parker Kligerman also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the race started, teammates Cole Custer and Riley Herbst dueled for the lead through the first two turns before Custer mustered his No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang ahead of the field while clearing Herbst in the process prior to hitting the backstretch. Shortly after, Aric Almirola made his way into the runner-up spot over Herbst, who was trying to block Almirola, as Anthony Alfredo and Brandon Jones trailed in the top five.
Then as the field entered Turn 3, the event’s first caution flew when Sam Mayer, who was trying to fend off AJ Allmendinger and Carson Kvapil for sixth place, slipped underneath Allmendinger as Allmendinger made a bold move to Mayer’s outside prior to the turn, which resulted with Mayer spinning through the turn before he was hit by a sliding Chandler Smith and backed his No. 1 Huck’s Market Chevrolet Camaro both against the outside wall and into the path of Josh Berry, with Jeb Burton, Conor Daly, Justin Allgaier, Leland Honeyman, Jeremy Clements, Parker Retzlaff and rookie Jesse Love all sustaining damage to their respective entries.
Following an extensive cleanup of the wreckage, the race restarted under green on the seventh lap. At the start, teammates Custer and Herbst dueled for a second time for the lead through the first two turns and they remained dead even through the backstretch. As Almirola tried to navigate his way past Custer, who led the first lap under caution, Herbst started to muscle ahead from the outside lane through Turns 3 and 4, but Custer gained the draft from the inside lane to retain the lead for the next lap as he was followed by Almirola. With Custer leading Almirola, Jones and Alfredo would overtake Herbst through the backstretch. Amid a series of on-track battles around the venue, Custer proceeded to lead at the Lap 10 mark by four-tenths of a second over Almirola.
Through the first 15 scheduled laps, Custer retained the lead by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Almirola, who kept gaining a draft while trying to close in on Custer for more through the straightaways. Behind, third-place Justin Allgaier trailed by four seconds as he was ahead of teammate Brandon Jones and Herbst while Kvapil, Allmendinger, Alfredo, Ryan Sieg and Josh Williams were racing in the top 10. Meanwhile, Matt DiBenedetto occupied 11th place ahead of Daniel Dye, rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Hill and Parker Kligerman while Kyle Sieg, Kyle Weatherman, Brennan Poole, Parker Retzlaff and Sheldon Creed were mired in the top 20.
A lap later, the event’s second caution flew due to Chandler Smith, the fastest competitor during Friday’s practice session who was trying to continue after being involved in the opening lap wreck, falling off the pace due to losing fuel pressure to his No. 81 QuickTie Toyota Supra as he was also unable to limp back to pit road. During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Custer pitted for service while the rest led by Herbst and including Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, Josh Williams, Matt DiBenedetto, Daniel Dye, Parker Kligerman and Brennan Poole remained on the track.
The start of the next restart period on Lap 20 featured Herbst and Allmendinger dueling for the lead entering the first turn and they made contact in Turn 2 before they continued to duel in front of a stacked two-by-two through the backstretch. Then Ryan Sieg drafted Herbst into the lead as he cleared Allmendinger and muscled away prior to exiting the backstretch. With Herbst leading Sieg and Allmendinger for the following lap and through the frontstretch, Matt DiBenedetto trailed in fourth place along with Kligerman, Josh Williams and the rest of the field.
By Lap 25, Herbst stretched his advantage to more than a second over both Ryan Sieg and Allmendinger while Kligerman and DiBenedetto continued to run in the top five. Meanwhile, Brandon Jones, who restarted 18th and whose pit crew discovered a puncture that was removed from a tire when he pitted during the previous caution period, had carved his way into sixth place as he was the first competitor running on the track on fresh tires while Retzlaff, Allgaier, Custer and Almirola followed suit in the top 10.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 30, Herbst claimed his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Allmendinger settled in second place ahead of Ryan Sieg while Jones muscled his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro up to fourth place. Teammate Allgaier settled in fifth place ahead of Custer, who had also charged his way back towards the front, as Kligerman, Almirola, Kvapil and DiBenedetto were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, a majority of the field, including those who did not pit during the previous caution period, led by Herbst pitted while the rest, including those who pitted recently, led by Jones remained on the track. During the pit stops, Kligerman was penalized for an uncontrolled tire penalty while both Retzlaff and Josh Williams were both penalized.
The second stage period started on Lap 34 as teammates Jones and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start and as the field started to fan out, Jones managed to muscle ahead of teammate Allgaier through the first turn and he would retain the lead through Turn 2 and the backstretch while Custer, Almirola and Kvapil battled for third place. With Austin Hill trying to join the battle as a flurry of on-track battles ensued, Jones retained the lead ahead of Allgaier through the frontstretch and for the following lap.
Through the Lap 40 mark, Jones continued to lead as he was out in front of a four-car breakaway from the pack that included teammate Allgaier, Custer and Almirola. In the process, Herbst was in sixth place and trying to gain a draft on Kvapil for more. A lap later, Allgaier gained a run beneath Jones and overtook him for the lead through the backstretch. Soon after, however, Custer, who followed Allgaier in the process, battled Allgaier for the lead through Turn 3 and the frontstretch before he muscled ahead along with Jones as Almirola also followed suit. This resulted with Allgaier slipping to fourth place by Lap 42.
Within the Lap 45 range, Custer was leading by half a second over Almirola, who overtook Jones for the runner-up spot a lap earlier, while Allgaier trailed the lead by a second in fourth place. Meanwhile, Herbst navigated his way back into fifth place ahead of Kvapil and Hill while Ryan Sieg and Creed followed suit in the top 10 ahead of van Gisbergen, Conor Daly, Alfredo, Joe Graf Jr. and DiBenedetto.
At the halfway mark on Lap 50, Custer extended his advantage to nearly two seconds over Almirola while Herbst, Allgaier and Jones followed suit in the top five. While Kvapil, Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, Hill and Creed were in the top 10, van Gisbergen occupied 11th place ahead of Conor Daly, Graf, Dye and Anthony Alfredo while a total of 35 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Four laps later, the caution flew due to smoke billowing out of the No. 44 Macc Door Systems Chevrolet Camaro as Poole was dealing with a potential power steering pump failure. During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Custer pitted while Ryan Sieg, Leland Honeyman and Garret Smithley remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Herbst exited pit road first ahead of teammate Custer, Almirola, Allmendinger, Allgaier, Hill, van Gisbergen, Jones, Creed and Conor Daly. Not long after, Smithley voluntarily opted to restart at the rear of the field, which left Sieg and Honeyman restarting on the front row, but on old tires compared to the field.
The start of the next restart period with a single lap remaining in the second stage period featured Sieg muscling his No. 39 SciAps Ford Mustang ahead as he was drafted into the lead by Herbst. With the field fanning out through the first two turns, Custer got loose as he made light contact with Honeyman as he slipped out of the top five. Amid the contact that involved Custer, the field continued to fan out and jostle for late spots through the backstretch while Sieg was trying to fend off Herbst and Almirola for two final turns.
When the field returned to the frontstretch, Sieg managed to block and fend off both Almirola and Herbst to claim his first Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season as the second stage period concluded on Lap 60. Almirola edged Herbst to claim second place while Allmendinger, Allgaier, Custer, van Gisbergen, Hill, Honeyman and Creed were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, select few led by Sieg and Honeyman pitted while the rest of the field led by Almirola remained on the track.
With 35 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Almirola and Allmendinger occupied the front row ahead of Herbst and Allgaier. At the start, Almirola and Allmendinger dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch as Almirola side-drafted Allmendinger to stall his momentum. In the process, Herbst went three wide on both Almirola and Allmendinger to move his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang into the lead as he retained the top spot for two corners and led the next lap. While Herbst made the biggest gain through the backstretch, Almirola was drifting out of the top five while Custer and Allgaier were moving their way up towards the front. Shane van Gisbergen would then make his way up to fifth place as he battled Austin Hill and Almirola through the frontstretch.
A lap later, however, the caution flew when Almirola, who was mired in sixth place, got tapped by Hill in Turn 1 and did two 360 spins through the turn, though he managed to keep his No. 20 He Gets Us Toyota Supra off the wall and be dodged by oncoming traffic as he limped back to pit road with flat-spotted tires.
With the race restarting under green with 29 laps remaining, Herbst and Allmendinger dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. Herbst then got loose entering Turn 3, which caused him to go high as he avoided Allmendinger while sliding sideways as Allmendinger assumed the lead while Herbst slipped to a side-by-side battle with teammate Custer for the runner-up spot. By the following lap, Custer moved into second place while Herbst settled in third place ahead of Allgaier, van Gisbergen and Hill as the rest of the field behind fanned out.
With 25 laps remaining, Allmendinger was leading by a tenth of a second over a hard-charging Custer, who was using the draft to gain runs on Allmendinger through the straightaways. Then in Turn 1, Custer made his move beneath Allmendinger’s No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro and assumed the lead. Custer, however, briefly lost his momentum in the backstretch, which allowed Allmendinger to fight back and duel with Custer through the backstretch until Herbst gave teammate Custer a draft that allowed Custer to drive his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang away with the lead in his grasp just past the backstretch. Shortly after, teammate Herbst overtook Allmendinger from the outside lane to claim second place while Allmendinger was trying to fend off Allgaier for third place. Despite losing third place to Allgaier not long after, Allmendinger reassumed the spot from Allgaier with 23 laps remaining as both van Gisbergen and Hill tried to close in on Allgaier for fourth place.
Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Custer was leading by a tenth of a second over teammate Herbst, who was closing in on his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate through the straightaways amid the draft. Then entering the backstretch, Herbst gained a run underneath Custer and assumed the lead in his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang. Herbst would stabilize his advantage to three-tenths of a second over teammate Custer during the following lap as he was also trying to muscle away and break the draft off of Custer.
Three laps later, the caution flew for a vicious multi-car wreck that started when Daniel Dye made contact with Alfredo that got Dye loose towards the apron in Turns 1 and 2 while Alfredo, who scraped the outside wall, fell off the pace with a flat tire to his No. 5 Dude Mint Chill Chevrolet Camaro and made contact with the outside wall again entering the backstretch. In the process, Retzlaff rammed into the rear of Alfredo, who would proceed to hit the inside SAFER Barrier, at full pace as Josh Williams also rammed into Retzlaff’s wrecked No. 31 FUNKAWAY Chevrolet Camaro before he hit the backstretch’s outside wall head on, thus leaving all three with wrecked race cars.
During the caution period, some led by Herbst and including Custer, Allmendinger, Jesse Love, Almirola and DiBenedetto remained on the track while the rest led by Allgaier pitted.
Down to the final 11 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Custer cleared Herbst amid two turns to assume the lead. Behind, Almirola wasted no time navigating his way past Allmendinger and Herbst to move into the runner-up spot. With Custer stretching his advantage to a second over Almirola with 10 laps remaining, the rest of the field behind fanned out and jostled as both Almirola and Herbst tried to close in.
With nine laps remaining, Herbst got Almirola loose in Turn 1 and towards the outside wall, which allowed Herbst to reassume the runner-up spot as he set his sights on catching teammate Custer for the lead. Despite trailing teammate Custer by a second with eight laps remaining, Herbst started to close in while logging in faster lap times than Custer while Almirola, Allmendinger and van Gisbergen trailed in the top five.
With five laps remaining, Custer continued to lead by a second over teammate Herbst, who was not getting closer to Custer and slowly losing valuable lap time as Almirola started to close in on Herbst for the runner-up spot. A lap later, however, Herbst chopped off three-tenths of a second off of teammate Custer’s advantage in his quest to catch him, where he would then trail by six-tenths of a second to Custer with three laps remaining, while van Gisbergen occupied fourth place ahead of Creed, Allmendinger and Hill.
Then with two laps remaining, Herbst, who spent the previous two laps methodically gaining ground, gained all the ground he needed to get close to Custer’s rear bumper through the backstretch before he planned his move through Turns 3 and 4. As he made his move beneath Custer and dueled with him while also making contact with him through the frontstretch to gain the lead, however, Almirola gained a massive draft on both and he assumed the lead with a bold three-wide move from the outside lane before he started the final lap of the race.
With Almirola leading, Herbst quickly assumed the runner-up spot just past the frontstretch while Custer drifted back to third place. Herbst then kept the latter close enough in front of him amid the draft and gained the momentum to close back in through the first two turns and the backstretch. Then in Turn 3, Herbst got to Almirola’s left-rear quarter panel, which got Almirola slightly loose, as Herbst side-drafted and snatched the lead entering Turn 4 as he also saved his car from spinning sideways in the process. While Custer regained the momentum to challenge Almirola for the runner-up spot entering the frontstretch, Herbst managed to motor away and streak across the finish line in first place to claim his first Xfinity victory of the 2024 season by a tenth of a second over teammate Custer.
With the victory, Riley Herbst scored his second Xfinity Series career win in his 162nd series start and his first since winning his first series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his home track, in October 2023. In addition, the Las Vegas native became the sixth competitor overall to win on Indy’s oval-shaped circuit as he recorded the second consecutive victory of the season for both Stewart-Haas Racing and the Ford nameplate.
Herbst’s Indianapolis victory also makes him the eighth Xfinity Series regular to win in this year’s regular-season stretch as he is guaranteed a spot into the 2024 Playoffs, where he will contend to win his first NASCAR national touring series championship.
Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“This is Indianapolis,” Herbst said on USA Network. “This is the most famous racetrack in the world. It’s an honor just to walk in this place, let alone win. Man, we’ve had speed all year. I felt like we could win. I just messed up on the restarts a little bit. It was a good fight. I thought I had Cole [Custer] clear and then, [my spotter] said bottom of three [wide] with [Almirola] and I was like, ‘Oh, this is gonna be tough.’ I just continue to work, continue to work, continue to work. It’s bee a pretty tough week on me mentally, to be honest to you. Proud of these guys, proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. These [No. 98] guys could’ve given up on me, gone to different teams, but they’ve stuck behind me and Cole. That’s back-to-back wins for Stewart-Haas Racing. This is fun. I’m gonna go drink beer and turn my phone off for three weeks.”
“This is hallowed ground, honestly,” Herbst added “This is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Every person in the world wants to race here and I won here. I don’t care if it’s the Xfinity Series, this is the Cup Series, it’s the go-kart track out back. This is the Brickyard. This is Indianapolis. This is the coolest racetrack in the world and I love you [fans]. This is pretty sweet!”
Behind Herbst, teammate Cole Custer edged Aric Almirola to claim the runner-up spot a week after he won at Pocono Raceway, with both Herbst and Custer delivering the first 1-2 finish for Stewart-Haas Racing’s in the team’s final season of competition.
“You could see us beating doors down the frontstretch,” Custer, who led a race-high 47 laps, said. “That was…You’re gonna do everything it takes to win Indy. I was doing everything I could to try and get this [car] to turn. I just needed one less lap. What an awesome day for [Stewart-Haas Racing]. Two cars at the front all day. We qualified one, two. Finished one, two. Unbelievable day for [Stewart-Haas Racing] and hopefully, keep this thing rolling.”
“[Stewart-Haas Racing drivers] were the class of the field,” Almirola, who led five laps and rallied from his late spin, said. “Those two cars were certainly better than us, but I knew if they got racing, it was gonna be an opportunity to steal it. I got to the lead and thought [I] was gonna be able to steal it. I just got too tight off of [Turn] 3 and [Herbst] got back inside of me. Those guys deserve it. Proud of them and happy for those guys. It was fun to get back in a race car and challenge for a win.”
Rookie Shane van Gisbergen motored his No. 97 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro to a stellar fourth-place result in his first NASCAR oval start at Indianapolis while Sheldon Creed ended up in fifth place.
Austin Hill, Daniel Dye, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were 12 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 29 laps. In addition, 29 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 20th event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Cole Custer continues to lead the regular-season standings by 56 points over Justin Allgaier, 87 over Austin Hill, 100 over Chandler Smith and 143 over teammate Riley Herbst.
Results.
1. Riley Herbst, 30 laps led, Stage 1 winner
2. Cole Custer, 47 laps led
3. Aric Almirola, five laps led
4. Shane van Gisbergen
5. Sheldon Creed
6. Austin Hill
7. Daniel Dye
8. AJ Allmendinger, four laps led
9. Justin Allgaier
10. Carson Kvapil
11. Ryan Sieg, four laps led, Stage 2 winner
12. Parker Kligerman
13. Jesse Love
14. Conor Daly
15. Brandon Jones, 10 laps led
16. Matt DiBenedetto
17. Joe Graf Jr.
18. Sammy Smith
19. Jeb Burton
20. Leland Honeyman
21. Brennan Poole
22. Kyle Sieg
23. Ryan Ellis
24. Joey Gase
25. Kyle Weatherman
26. David Starr
27. Josh Bilicki
28. BJ McLeod
29. Blaine Perkins
30. Jeremy Clements, one lap down
31. Garrett Smithley, three laps down
32. Greg Van Alst – OUT, Ignition
33. Chandler Smith, 14 laps down
34. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident
35. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident
36. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident
37. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident
38. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident
With the Paris Summer Olympics set to occur for the next two weekends, the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ teams and competitors will be returning to action at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, for the Cabo Wabo 250. The event is scheduled to occur on August 17 and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Cole Custer picked up right where he left off from last weekend in first place as he claimed the pole position for the return of the Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 20.
The reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Ladera Ranch, California, saved his best qualifying lap for last as he was the last of 38 competitors to post a qualifying lap, which he achieved the top starting spot and bested teammate Riley Herbst with a pole-winning lap at 167.582 mph in 53.705 seconds, with Custer being the only competitor to post a qualifying lap within the 167-mile range.
With his accomplishment, Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, notched his 21st career pole in the Xfinity Series, his third of the 2024 season, his first since doing so at Phoenix Raceway in March and his first at Indianapolis.
Custer’s current best result on Indy’s oval-shaped circuit in three total starts is a fifth-place result he posted in 2017 during his rookie Xfinity campaign as he strives to be four spots better for Saturday’s main event.
Custer’s pole comes a week after he scored his first Xfinity victory of the 2024 season at Pocono Raceway as he leads this year’s regular-season standings. It also comes hours after it was announced that he will be returning to a full-time Cup Series campaign in 2025 for Haas Factory Team in the No. 41 Ford, a team that is rebranded from Stewart-Haas Racing.
Saturday’s Xfinity event and return to the oval-shaped circuit at Indianapolis will feature a front row sweep of Stewart-Haas Racing competitors as Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang, will start alongside Custer with his best qualifying lap occurring at 166.942 mph in 53.911 seconds.
Aric Almirola, who makes his return to the Xfinity Series for the first time since Darlington Raceway in May, qualified in a strong third place and he will share the second row with Sam Mayer while Anthony Alfredo piloted his No. 5 Our Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to a fifth-place starting spot as he will share the third row with Brandon Jones.
Carson Kvapil, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry will start in the top 10 while Jeb Burton and Sheldon Creed round out the top-12 starting spots.
Notably, Xfinity Series regulars Chandler Smith, Austin Hill and rookie Jesse Love will start 13th to 15th, respectively, while Conor Daly will start in 16th place. In addition, Joe Graf Jr. will start 17th in his first Xfinity start of the season with Joe Gibbs Racing, Sammy Smith will line up in 21st place alongside Daniel Dye, rookie Shane van Gisbergen will start 23rd and Parker Kligerman will line up in 38th place, dead last, as he was the only competitor who did not post a qualifying lap.
All 38 Xfinity competitors entered for this weekend’s main event made the show.
Qualifying position, best speed, best time:
1. Cole Custer, 167.582 mph, 53.705 seconds
2. Riley Herbst, 166.942 mph, 53.911 seconds
3. Aric Almirola, 166.765 mph, 53.968 seconds
4. Sam Mayer, 166.725 mph, 53.981 seconds
5. Anthony Alfredo, 166.593 mph, 54.024 seconds
6. Brandon Jones, 166.439 mph, 54.074 seconds
7. Carson Kvapil, 166.352 mph, 54.102 seconds
8. AJ Allmendinger, 166.343 mph, 54.105 seconds
9. Justin Allgaier, 166.316 mph, 54.114 seconds
10. Josh Berry, 166.095 mph, 54.186 seconds
11. Jeb Burton, 165.865 mph, 54.261 seconds
12. Sheldon Creed, 165.844 mph, 54.268 seconds
13. Chandler Smith, 165.837 mph, 54.270 seconds
14. Austin Hill, 165.792 mph, 54.285 seconds
15. Jesse Love, 165.758 mph, 54.296 seconds
16. Conor Daly, 165.731 mph, 54.305 seconds
17. Joe Graf Jr., 165.216 mph, 54.474 seconds
18. Jeremy Clements, 165.041 mph, 54.532 seconds
19. Josh Williams, 165.001 mph, 54.545 seconds
20. Parker Retzlaff, 164.721 mph, 54.638 seconds
21. Sammy Smith, 164.675 mph, 54.653 seconds
22. Daniel Dye, 164.204 mph, 54.810 seconds
23. Shane van Gisbergen, 164.108 mph, 54.842 seconds
24. Blaine Perkins, 163.818 mph, 54.939 seconds
25. Leland Honeyman, 163.488 mph, 55.050 seconds
26. Garrett Smithley, 163.339 mph, 55.100 seconds
27. Ryan Sieg, 163.280 mph, 55.120 seconds
28. Kyle Weatherman, 163.236 mph, 55.135 seconds
29. Matt DiBenedetto, 162.970 mph, 55.225 seconds
30. Brennan Poole, 162.566 mph, 55.362 seconds
31. Kyle Sieg, 162.113 mph, 55.517 seconds
32. Josh Bilicki, 161.943 mph, 55.575 seconds
33. BJ McLeod, 161.681 mph, 55.665 seconds
34. Ryan Ellis, 160.625 mph, 55.031 seconds
35. Joey Gase, 160.194 mph, 56.182 seconds
36. David Starr, 159.730 mph, 56.345 seconds
37. Greg Van Alst, 157.649 mph, 57.089 seconds
38. Parker Kligerman, 0.000 mph, 0.000 seconds
The 2024 Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is set to occur on Saturday, July 20, and air at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series and the Xfinity Series return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 2.5-mile oval as the the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series heads to the .686-mile asphalt oval at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (IRP).
The pressure to make the Playoffs is mounting with only five races remaining in the Cup Series regular season at Indianapolis, Richmond, Michigan, Daytona and Darlington.
Five Cup Series drivers have clinched a spot in the 16-driver playoff field – Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, and Christopher Bell.
Seven Xfinity Series drivers have secured a place in the 12-driver playoff field with seven races remaining in the regular season – Shane van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier, and Jesse Love.
There are only two races to go in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular season. Four drivers have claimed a spot in the 10-driver playoff field with only two races remaining in the regular season – Christian Eckes, Corey Heim, Nick Sanchez and Rajah Caruth.
The ARCA Menards Series is also competing this weekend at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday with practice at 1:30 p.m. and qualifying at 2:30 p.m. The ARCA Circle City 200 is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on FS1.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, July 19 1:05 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice 1:30 p.m.: ARCA Practice ARCA Race Center 2:20 p.m.: ARCA Qualifying ARCA Race Center 2:35 p.m.: Cup Series Practice 3:30 p.m.: Truck Series Practice (IRP) USA 4:05 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying (IRP) USA 5:30 p.m.: ARCA Circle City 200 – FS1
8:30 p.m.: Truck Series TSport 200 (IRP) Distance: 137.2 miles (200 Laps) Stages: Lap 60, Lap 120, Lap 200 FS1/MRN/SiriusXM Purse: $672,492
Saturday, July 20 12:05: Xfinity Series Qualifying – USA 1:05 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying – USA NASCAR Press Pass: Post Cup Qualifying
3:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Pennzoil 250 Distance: 250 miles (100 Laps) Stages: Lap 30/Lap 60/Lap 100 USA/IMS Radio/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Purse: $1,873,623 NASCAR Press Pass: Post Xfinity race
Sunday, July 21 2:30 p.m.: Cup Series Brickyard 400 Distance: 400 miles (160 Laps) Stages: Lap 50/Lap 100/Lap 160 NBC/SiriusXM/IMS Radio Purse: $9,596,601 NASCAR Press Pass Post Cup race
The reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer struck gold with his first elusive victory of the 2024 season in the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 13, following a wild four-lap dash to the finish.
The 26-year-old Custer from Ladera Ranch, California, led twice for 25 of 90-scheduled laps in an event where he started in eighth place but ran up front throughout the event as he assumed the lead for the first time on Lap 26. After winning the second stage period, he would find himself shuffled back within the top-10 mark before he methodically carved his way back towards the front.
Then after pitting with 29 laps remaining under green before a late-race caution period eight laps later, Custer capitalized on the following restart period with 12 laps remaining to overtake Justin Allgaier for the lead with nine laps remaining. Despite having his momentum stalled due to another late-race caution period for rookie Shane van Gisbergen spinning in Turn 2, Custer fended off both Allgaier and William Byron to muscle ahead and capture his first Xfinity Series victory of the season for himself, the Ford nameplate and Stewart-Haas Racing as he continues his quest to defend his series’ title.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Sheldon Creed notched his second Xfinity career pole position and his first of the 2024 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 167.255 mph in 53.810 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Brandon Jones, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying time at 166.334 mph in 54.108 seconds.
Before the event, the following names that included rookie Jesse Love, Josh Berry, Taylor Gray, Ryan Truex and Brennan Poole dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. In addition, Poole was assessed a drive-through penalty through pit road due to unapproved adjustments made to Poole’s Alpha Prime Racing Chevrolet Camaro following Friday’s inspection process.
When the green flag waved and the race started, the field jumbled up in tight two-by-two formation through the frontstretch as Sheldon Creed and Brandon Jones dueled for the lead through the first turn before they led the field through the Long Pond Straightaway. Creed then tried to muscle ahead from the outside lane through the Tunnel Curve, but Jones fought back on the inside lane just past the curve as they navigated through the final sets of turns and back to the frontstretch in front of Chandler Smith, Justin Allgaier and William Byron. At the start/finish line, Creed managed to lead the first lap by a hair.
On the second lap and as both Creed and Jones continued to duel for the lead, the event’s first caution flew following a hard accident involving Dawson Cram in Turn 1, where Cram slid sideways towards the apron after he lost his brakes and collided rear-end into the outside wall at full speed.
Following an extensive cleanup process amid Cram’s incident, the event restarted under green on the sixth lap. At the start, Creed managed to fend off Jones from the outside lane to retain the lead through the first two turns and entering the Long Pond Straightaway. Behind, teammate Chandler Smith would muscle his way up to the runner-up spot before Allgaier would charge his way up to third place followed by William Byron as Jones slipped to fifth place.
Then on the eighth lap, Allgaier made his move beneath Creed to assume the lead through the frontstretch. At the same time, Chandler Smith moved to Creed’s outside to snatch the runner-up spot as Creed slipped to third place. Shortly after, Jones’ strong start evaporated as he pitted his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro to address a flat left-rear tire, which cost him a lap as he then endured a slow pit service. By then, Josh Berry, who was piloting the No. 15 AM Racing Ford Mustang in place of Hailie Deegan, who was released by the team earlier in the week, pitted with a flat tire.
Back on the track, a tight battle between Cole Custer, AJ Allmendinger, Byron and Creed ensued for third place, with all nearly colliding past the Tunnel Curve. With all four proceeding without wrecking, Byron and Creed continued to duel for fourth place as Austin Hill joined the battle. With Custer in third place, Allgaier proceeded to lead the Lap 10 mark by nine-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith.
At the Lap 15 mark, Allgaier was leading by three seconds over Chandler Smith followed by Custer, Byron and Hill while AJ Allmendinger, Riley Herbst, Ryan Sieg, Creed and Sammy Smith were running in the top 10. Behind, Sam Mayer occupied 11th place ahead of Parker Kligerman, Jeb Burton, Taylor Gray and Anthony Alfredo while Kyle Sieg, Corey Heim, Ryan Truex, Matt DiBenedetto and Parker Retzlaff trailed in the top 20 ahead of Josh Williams, Daniel Dye, Kyle Weatherman, Jesse Love and Jeremy Clements. Meanwhile, rookie Shane van Gisbergen was mired in 27th place behind Brennan Poole.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Allgaier claimed his 11th Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Custer followed suit in second ahead of Chandler Smith, Byron and Allmendinger while Hill, Herbst, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith and Creed were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire lap field led by Allgaier pitted for service while Jesse Love remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Anthony Alfredo was penalized for speeding on pit road. Soon after, Allgaier was also penalized and sent to the rear of the field due to an equipment interference, where the tire got loose and rolled into the next pit box.
The second stage period started on Lap 25 as Love and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Love and Custer dueled for the lead through the frontstretch as the field fanned out to multiple lanes through the first two turns. With Byron rocketing his way up to third place ahead of Herbst and Chandler Smith through Long Pond Straightaway, Byron then joined the tight side-by-side battle for the lead between Custer and Love just past the Tunnel Curve before he fell off the pace through Turns 3 and 4. With Byron reporting a flat tire as he plummeted in the leaderboard while missing the pit road entrance, Custer, who rocketed ahead of Love through Turns 3 and 4, was leading as Chandler Smith, Herbst and Creed followed suit in the top five. A lap later, the caution returned due to debris being reported on the track and coming from Byron’s No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro, with the driver limping his car around the circuit as his tire carcass came off. Despite the early misfortune, Byron managed to pit for fresh tires and remain on the lead lap category.
The start of the next restart period on Lap 30 featured Custer and Chandler Smith dueling for the lead through the frontstretch and the first two turns before they navigated through the Long Pond Straightaway. With Custer retaining the lead, Hill made his way into the runner-up spot over Chandler Smith and Herbst while Love was in fifth place. Love was then overtaken by Creed for fifth place through Turns 1 and 2 during the following lap as Mayer, Ryan Sieg and Allmendinger went three wide within the top 10 and just past the Tunnel Curve. By then and amid a series of on-track battles ensuing around the Pocono circuit, Custer stretched his advantage to more than a second over a tight battle for the runner-up spot involving Chandler Smith and Hill.
By Lap 35, Custer continued to extend his advantage as he was now leading by three seconds over Chandler Smith with Hill keeping Smith closely within his sights. Herbst and Allmendinger were scored in the top five ahead of Ryan Sieg, Love, Creed, Corey Heim and Sammy Smith while Mayer, Taylor Gray, Kligerman, Allgaier and Ryan Truex were running in the top 15. With Allgaier rallying from his pit road penalty to be scored in the top 15, Byron had carved his way back up to 18th place as he was battling Jeb Burton for more. In addition, Brandon Jones was scored outside the top 20 in his efforts to rally from losing a lap from his flat tire.
Two laps later, Love and Mayer pitted their respective entries from the top 11 under green. By then, Custer, who remained on the track, was leading by nearly four seconds at the Lap 38 mark with Chandler Smith, Hill, Herbst and Ryan Sieg trailing in the top five and by six seconds on the track.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 40, Custer captured his third Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Chandler Smith trailed in second place by nearly four seconds along with Hill, Herbst and Ryan Sieg while Allmendinger, Creed, Sammy Smith, Heim and Allgaier were scored in the top 10. With Allgaier scored in 10th place, Byron had carved his way to 12th place behind Kligerman while Jones was in 18th place behind Parker Retzlaff.
During the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Custer returned to pit road for service while select names led by Byron and including Alfredo, Mayer and Love remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Jeremy Clements was penalized for a safety violation.
With 44 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Byron and Alfredo occupied the front row. The final stage’s start, however, did not last long as a multi-car wreck erupted when Retzlaff got loose in Turn 1 and went up the track as he ran into Ryan Ellis, with both including Leland Honeyman and Poole wrecking against the outside wall. Amid the accident, Byron had retained the lead ahead of Mayer and Love while Chandler Smith, Hill and Custer were scored in the top six. During the caution period, select names including Allgaier, Alfredo, Sammy Smith, Jones and Blaine Perkins pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.
With the race restarting with 40 laps remaining, Byron and Love battled for the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch. Then in Turn 1, Allmendinger slid sideways as he lightly rubbed fenders with Ryan Sieg, but he kept his car running straight below the apron and the race remained under green flag conditions as Love muscled his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro out in front with the top spot. Love would proceed to lead with 35 laps remaining over Byron before the latter ignited a side-by-side battle through Long Pond Straightaway. By then, Hill tried to join the battle before Byron split his way through both to reassume the lead.
Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Byron was leading by four-tenths of a second over Hill as Custer, Ryan Sieg and Mayer were scored in the top 10. Behind, Herbst, Chandler Smith, Allgaier, Kligerman and Corey Heim were in the top 10 as Love pitted under green. Love, however, would be penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation. Byron would then pit from the lead with 29 laps remaining along with Custer and Taylor Gray. With a host of names pitting over the proceeding laps, Allgaier would cycle into the lead with 24 laps remaining.
Then with 21 laps remaining, the caution flew due to Stephen Mallozzi stopping on the backstretch. During the caution period, some led by Allgaier and including teammate Sammy Smith and Alfredo remained on the track while the rest of the field pitted. Soon after, the next restart period with 16 laps remaining did not last long due to Clements spinning and hitting the outside wall in Turn 2 after getting pinned in a three-wide battle, with Mason Massey also getting collected.
The next restart period with 12 laps remaining featured Allgaier muscling his No. 7 Carolina Carports Chevrolet Camaro ahead from the outside lane before Custer tried to mount a charge from the inside lane. Allgaier would retain the lead by two-tenths of a second over Custer as the field behind jostled for late positions with 10 laps remaining. Amid the battles, third-place Byron trailed the lead by nine-tenths of a second as Creed and Alfredo were scored in the top five.
With nine laps remaining, Custer trailed Allgaier by a tenth of a second as he started to close in on Allgaier for the lead. Then through Turn 1, Custer made his move beneath Allgaier and dueled with him through Long Pond Straightaway before he moved his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang into the lead. He would proceed to lead with eight laps remaining and slowly begin to stretch his advantage before the caution returned due to Shane van Gisbergen spinning in Turn 2 after he got hit by Mayer.
The start of the next restart period with four laps remaining featured Custer and Allgaier dueling for the lead before Custer muscled ahead through Long Pond Straightaway. Allgaier then tried to fight back through the Tunnel Turn and Turn 2, but Custer muscled ahead with the lead through the frontstretch and led the next lap. Soon after, the two-car battle between Custer and Allgaier became a three-car battle as Byron closed in. Behind, van Gisbergen spun for a second time in Turn 2, but the race remained under green as Custer led by nearly half a second over both Allgaier and Byron.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Custer remained as the leader by six-tenths of a second over Allgaier and by seven-tenths of a second over Byron. With both Allgaier and Byron losing ground and unable to narrow the deficit, Custer was able to cycle his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang smoothly around Pocono’s tricky turns for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed his first elusive checkered flag of the 2024 Xfinity season.
With the victory, Custer, who came into Pocono as the leader in the regular-season standings, notched his 14th career win in the Xfinity circuit and his second at Pocono after he won his first in 2019. The victory was also his first since winning both the 2023 season-finale event and the series’ championship at Phoenix Raceway last November. The victory was also the first of the year for both Stewart-Haas Racing and the Ford nameplate.
“Man, you just try and manage it the best you can, but it’s just the luck of the draw on who gets the best push and everything,” Custer said on USA Network. “Man, that was some Doug Yates horsepower right there. We definitely had some [horsepower] on the straightaways today. Man, I just can’t say enough about these guys. They worked so hard this whole year and just haven’t had that final result. To finally get [a win], it’s so awesome. This is the second win here at Pocono for our team, so it’s awesome. We can really carry this momentum through the summer and into the Playoffs. I’ve been telling people [that] I’ve never been so frustrated [at] being the points leader. It was the weirdest feeling in the world. We’ve been so good pretty much all year, just top five [runs], and just haven’t been able to break through the year till now. It’s awesome to get [a win] now and I think we can really carry this.”
As Custer celebrated on the frontstretch, Allgaier was left disappointed on pit road after coming up four laps shy of netting his second victory of the season, though he had enough fuel to finish. The runner-up result marks the second time Allgaier has finished in the runner-up spot and first since Portland International Raceway in early June.
“I just feel like, unfortunately, we had the best car all day and at the end, the old tires were just a difference maker,” Allgaier said. “We did what we had to do with the penalty and being able to come through the field. We did all the right things. Obviously, William [Byron] gave me a great push on that last restart and it’s just so hard to keep the right front on [the car] on the long run like that. Really stinks to come out here second. I’ve led so many laps here. [I] Feel like this is same result every time, just not able to go to Victory Lane. Really proud of our team, proud of the effort. Just came up a little bit short and it’s going to sting for a while.”
William Byron came home in third place in his third Xfinity start of the 2024 season while pole-sitter Sheldon Creed and Taylor Gray finished in the top five.
AJ Allmendinger, Austin Hill, Parker Kligerman, Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were 10 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 30 laps. In addition, 31 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 19th event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Cole Custer leads the regular-season standings by 51 points over Allgaier, 59 over Chandler Smith and 76 over Austin Hill.
Results.
1. Cole Custer, 25 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Justin Allgaier, 30 laps led, Stage 1 winner
3. William Byron, 16 laps led
4. Sheldon Creed, seven laps led
5. Taylor Gray
6. AJ Allmendinger
7. Austin Hill, one lap led
8. Parker Kligerman
9. Sammy Smith
10. Sam Mayer
11. Riley Herbst
12. Ryan Sieg, four laps led
13. Brandon Jones
14. Anthony Alfredo
15. Chandler Smith
16. Corey Heim
17. Daniel Dye
18. Josh Williams
19. Ryan Truex
20. Kyle Sieg
21. Jeb Burton
22. Jesse Love, seven laps led
23. Kyle Weatherman
24. Matt DiBenedetto
25. Leland Honeyman
26. Brennan Poole
27. Josh Berry
28. Thomas Annunziata
29. Mason Massey
30. Jeremy Clements
31. Shane van Gisbergen
32. Parker Retzlaff, one lap down
33. Patrick Emerling, one lap down
34. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Suspension
35. Stephen Mallozzi – OUT, Engine
36. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident
37. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Electrical
38. Dawson Cram – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the return of the Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana. The event is scheduled for Saturday, July 20, and will air at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
NASCAR heads to Pocono Raceway this week for a full schedule of racing. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series headlines Friday evening, followed by the Xfinity Series Saturday at 3 p.m. On Sunday afternoon the Cup Series takes center stage with The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VisitPA.com.
With Alex Bowman’s win at the Chicago Street course, 12 Cup Series drivers have secured a place in the 16-driver Playoff field – Bowman, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez and Austin Cindric.
Six Xfinity Series competitors have earned a spot in the 12-driver Playoff field via wins, including Shane van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier and Jesse Love. Cole Custer (the current points leader) is also eligible for the Playoffs, leaving 5 open spots.
Only four Truck Series drivers have guaranteed their place in the 10-driver Playoff field with wins – Christian Eckes, Corey Heim, Nick Sanchez and Rajah Caruth -leaving six remaining spots
NASCAR Press Pass will be live post-qualifying for the Cup Series and post-race for all series.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, July 12 2 p.m.: Truck Series Practice Timed/All Entries/20 minutes – FS2
2:30 p.m.: Truck Series Qualifying Impound/All Entries/Single Vehicle/1 Lap – FS2
5:30 p.m.: Truck Series CRC Brakleen 175 Stages 15/30/70 Laps = 175 Miles FS1/MRN/SiriusXM 2023 race winner: Kyle Busch Purse: $757,128
Saturday, July 13 10 a.m.: Xfinity Series Practice Timed/All Entries/20 minutes – USA
10:30 a.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying Impound/All Entries/ Single Vehicle/1 Lap – USA
Noon: Cup Series Practice Timed/Group A & B – 20 Minutes Each Group USA/MRN/SiriusXM
12:45 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying Impound/Group A & B/Single Vehicle: 1 Lap/2 Rounds USA/MRN/SiriusXM
3 p.m.: Xfinity Series Explore The Pocono Mountains 225 race Stages 20/40/90 Laps = 225 Miles USA/MRN/SiriusXM 2023 race winner: Austin Hill Purse: $1,439,558
Sunday, July 14 2:30 p.m.: Cup Series The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPA.com Stages 30/95/160 Laps = 400 Miles USA/MRN/SiriusXM 2023 race winner: Denny Hamlin Purse: $7,776,907
In his third full-time season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Austin Hill is primed to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s event at Pocono Raceway, the driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro will make his 100th career start in the Xfinity circuit.
A native of Winston, Georgia, Hill made his inaugural presence in the Xfinity Series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September 2019. By then, he was campaigning in his second full-time season in the Craftsman Truck Series and first with Hattori Racing Enterprises, where he had achieved his first two series’ victories and was contending for the 2019 Truck Series title. Driving the No. 61 Toyota Supra for Hattori Racing Enterprises, Hill started 17th and finished ninth in his Xfinity debut.
The following two seasons, Hill, who continued to compete on a full-time basis for HRE in the Truck Series, made a total of 14 Xfinity starts in HRE’s No. 61 entry. During the stretch, the Georgian achieved his first top-five result in the series at Kansas Speedway in October 2020 after finishing fifth. He would also record a total of three top-10 results.
In late October 2021, Hill, who was announced to not be returning to Hattori Racing Enterprises for the 2022 season in early October, was announced as a full-time competitor of the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing for the upcoming Xfinity season, where he would contend for the Rookie-of-the-Year title. In his first event with RCR, Hill overtook AJ Allmendinger on the final lap and prior to a multi-car wreck to score his first Xfinity career win in the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway. He would achieve two runner-up results, an additional six top-five results and a total of eight top-10 results during his next 16 starts before achieving his second career victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his home track, in an event where he led a race-high 73 laps. Hill and the No. 21 RCR team would finish in the top five two additional times and in the top 10 and six additional times during the final nine regular-season events before the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs commenced.
During the 2022 Playoffs, Hill managed to transfer into the Round of 8 following respective finishes of second, 14th and 29th during the Round of 12. Despite finishing no lower than ninth throughout the Round of 8, he did not transfer into the Championship 4 round. With a ninth-place finish during the season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway, Hill concluded his first full-time Xfinity season in sixth place in the final standings. With a total of two victories, a pole at Talladega Superspeedway in October, 11 top-five results, 21 top-10 results, 329 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.0, Hill claimed the 2022 Xfinity rookie title.
Like the previous season, Hill commenced the 2023 Xfinity season on a high note by winning the season-opening at Daytona for a second consecutive time after emerging ahead of John Hunter Nemechek and Justin Allgaier amid a final lap wreck. He would claim a late victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two races later before notching another home track win at Atlanta amid an overtime shootout another two races later. After recording seven additional top-five results and nine additional top-10 results during his next 13-scheduled starts, Hill capitalized on another overtime shootout during the following event to nab his fourth win of the season at Pocono Raceway. Managing four top-five finishes during the final seven regular-season events, the Georgian managed to claim the 2023 Xfinity Series’ regular-season championship over Nemechek and entering the Playoffs with momentum.
Despite finishing 33rd during the 2023 Playoff opener at Bristol Motor Speedway amid a late on-track incident involving teammate Sheldon Creed, Hill rallied with two consecutive top-10 results to transfer from the Round of 12 to 8. Following two consecutive top-10 finishes during the first two events in the Round of 8, he entered the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway three points above the cutline to transfer into the Championship 4 round.
At Martinsville, however, Hill, who led 22 laps and was leading amid an overtime shootout, had another on-track altercation with Creed, where he got bumped twice by Creed before rubbing fenders with him and ramming into the rear bumper of Creed on the final lap, which resulted in Hill wrecking as he was approaching the finish line. He ended up in 21st place on the track and outside of the finale cutline.
Although his championship hopes evaporated for a second consecutive season, Hill finished seventh at Phoenix before ending up in fifth place in the final standings. By then, Hill had doubled his wins total from the previous season at four, earned two extra poles for three total, five additional top-five results (16), three additional top-10 results (24), led a career-high 346 laps and notched a new average-finishing result of 9.0.
Re-signing with RCR for another Xfinity campaign this season, Hill commenced the season by winning the opening event at Daytona and becoming the first competitor to win three consecutive Daytona openers in the Xfinity circuit in 14 years. He would then go two-for-two after winning at Atlanta the following weekend before posting three consecutive top-four runs. With six additional top-10 runs posted in his previous 13 starts, Hill is currently ranked in fourth place in this year’s driver’s standings. He trails the regular-season lead by 60 points as he continues his pursuit of his first Xfinity Series championship.
Through 99 previous starts in the Xfinity Series, Hill has achieved eight victories, five poles, 36 top-five results, 60 top-10 results, 813 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.9.
Austin Hill is scheduled to make his 100th Xfinity Series career start at Pocono Raceway on Saturday, July 13, for the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225. The event’s broadcast time is scheduled to commence at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Rookie Shane van Gisbergen left very little room to doubt his road-course expertise Saturday afternoon as he repeated the success that launched him to NASCAR stardom on the streets of Downtown Chicago a year ago, after winning the second annual The Loop 110 at the Chicago Street Course on Saturday, July 6. It was his third NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season and his career.
The three-time Supercars champion from Auckland, New Zealand, led a race-high 14 of 50 scheduled laps after starting on the pole position and withstanding a series of on-track challenges from Kyle Larson to claim the first stage victory.
Despite losing the lead to Larson at the start of the second stage period before getting shuffled before the following restart period on Lap 25 amid pit strategy, van Gisbergen methodically carved his way back to the front. He then capitalized during a three-lap shootout to overtake rookie Jesse Love and return atop the leaderboard. Once in the lead, he muscled away from runner-up Ty Gibbs to score the third Xfinity career victory in his rookie campaign.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup, rookie van Gisbergen scored his second career Xfinity pole position after posting a pole-winning lap of 88.543 mph in 89.448 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Kyle Larson, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 88.530 mph in 89.461 seconds.
Before the event, Justin Allgaier and Sage Karam dropped to the rear of the field in backup cars. The following drivers, including Sheldon Creed, John Hunter Nemechek, Kyle Sieg and Parker Kligerman also dropped to the rear of the field due to engine changes made to their entries. Daniel Suarez and Ryan Sieg also started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the race started, van Gisbergen rocketed ahead of Kyle Larson through the frontstretch and entering the first turn to lead. Larson then tried to make a move beneath van Gisbergen entering Turn 2 and he managed to pull even with van Gisbergen through Turns 3 to 5, just past DuSable Lake Shore Drive, before he muscled ahead with the top spot entering South Columbus Drive.
After trailing Larson through the drive, van Gisbergen pulled his No. 97 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro back even and reassumed the lead from Larson in Turn 6 while Ty Gibbs tried to challenge Larson for the runner-up spot. With Larson fending off Gibbs and Connor Mosack through the following six turns, van Gisbergen managed to pull away and lead the first lap.
After van Gisbergen led the second lap, Larson made an aggressive move beneath the former while almost forcing him towards the wall entering the first turn to snatch the lead. Van Gisbergen fought back through the following five turns amid a side-by-side battle, but Larson withstood the advantageous lane and retained the lead through South Columbus Drive. Despite van Gisbergen intimidating him through a series of tight turns between South Michigan Avenue and the East Congress Plaza Drive, Larson led the third lap and would continue to fend off van Gisbergen through the fifth lap mark.
Just past the fifth lap mark, van Gisbergen returned the favor as he overtook Larson entering the first turn before fending him off to retain the top spot prior to Turn 2. With van Gisbergen leading and stretching his advantage by more than a second over Larson by the seventh lap, Matt DiBenedetto was trying to rally from spinning in Turn 4 while Chandler Smith retired due to an engine issue in his No. 81 Smith General Contracting Toyota Supra.
With the event’s first caution period flying on the seventh lap due to debris spotted on the course, some of the drivers, including Josh Williams, Daniel Suarez, Jeremy Clements and Andre Castro pitted, while the rest, led by van Gisbergen remained on the track.
The start of the restart period on Lap 10 featured a tight side-by-side battle for the lead between Larson and van Gisbergen as Larson tried to make a move beneath van Gisbergen entering the first turn. Van Gisbergen, however, fended off Larson entering Turn 2 to retain the top spot momentarily before they both dueled for the lead through the following three turns and South Columbus Drive. Larson muscled ahead in Turn 6 as Gibbs, Mosack and Cole Custer trailed in the top five. With the race remaining under green flag conditions despite Josh Bilicki spinning in Turn 11 and Clements nursing a damaged No. 51 Impel Union Chevrolet Camaro to his pit stall, Larson continued to lead ahead of van Gisbergen and Gibbs.
Shortly after, notables, including Justin Allgaier, Riley Herbst and Sheldon Creed ran into issues, with Allgaier pitting under green and spinning while trying to enter pit road amid contact with Ryan Sieg while Herbst ran Creed into the Turn 2 wall as both made contact before Herbst spun his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang in the following turn. Amid the on-track chaos, Larson was leading by a slim margin over a hard-charging van Gisbergen.
Then on the final lap of the first stage period, van Gisbergen, who spent the previous five laps trailing Larson through every turn, pulled even with Larson through South Columbus Drive and through Turn 6 before he muscled ahead through Turns 7 and 8. With the clean air to his advantage for four final turns, van Gisbergen proceeded to claim his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season on Lap 15. Larson settled in second as they were followed by Gibbs, Mosack, Custer, AJ Allmendinger, rookie Jesse Love, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer and Parker Kligerman.
Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Gibbs, pitted while the rest, led by van Gisbergen and Larson, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Custer was penalized for passing and bumping Gibbs’ No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra on pit road and before entering his pit stall
The second stage period started on Lap 18 as van Gisbergen and Larson occupied the front row. At the start, van Gisbergen and Larson dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Larson muscled his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro clear with the lead entering Turn 2. As the field behind jostled for spots, Larson also stretched his advantage over van Gisbergen and Allmendinger through the next 10 series of turns as he would lead the ensuing lap.
Then on Lap 20, van Gisbergen launched another side-by-side attack on Larson for the lead through the frontstretch and just past the first turn, but Larson would fend him off in Turn 2. With van Gisbergen attempting another side-by-side battle through South Columbus Drive, Allmendinger tried to close in from third place while Mosack and Austin Green trailed in the top five. Despite van Gisbergen’s challenges through every turn and straightaway within Chicago’s avenues, Larson was not to be denied as he continued to lead.
Then on Lap 22, the caution returned when Allmendinger, who was running in third place, wheel-hopped entering Turn 6 just exiting S. Columbus Drive, slid sideways and pounded the tire barriers, which damaged the rear and right side of the No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro as Allmendinger limped his car to his pit stall. At the time of caution, Larson had fended off van Gisbergen to retain the lead while Mosack, Sammy Smith and Hill trailed in the top five.
During the caution period, which surpassed the event’s halfway mark, some led by Larson, van Gisbergen and Mosack pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.
With the race restarting with five laps remaining in the second stage period, Hill overtook Sammy Smith through the frontstretch to assume the lead in his No. 21 Dow Coatings Chevrolet Camaro entering the first turn. He proceeded to lead during the following four turns while Sammy Smith, Love, Allgaier and Mayer followed suit in the top five.
With Larson and van Gisbergen mired outside the top 15 due to the mixed pit strategies, Hill retained the lead for the following lap. Larson would then return to the top-10 mark by the following lap while van Gisbergen was mired in 12th behind Joey Logano while Hill maintained the advantage by a second over Sammy Smith and teammate Love.
When the second stage period concluded on Lap 30, Hill captured his third Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Sammy Smith followed suit in second along with Love, Allgaier and Creed while Gibbs, Kligerman, Mayer, Nemechek and van Gisbergen scored in the top 10 as Larson ended up in 11th place. During the stage’s conclusion, Custer, who was running in 14th place, spun his No. 00 Andy’s Frozen Custard Ford Mustang in Turn 12 and plummeted to 26th place.
During the stage break, select drivers, including Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Parker Retzlaff, Jeb Burton, Josh Bilicki, Andre Castro, Custer and DiBenedetto pitted while the rest, led by Hill, remained on the track.
With 16 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as teammates Hill and Love occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out entering Turn 1 as Love assumed the lead in his No. 2 WAT Chevrolet Camaro. He would fend off teammate Hill and Gibbs entering Turn 2 and navigating through Turns 3 to 5 before he made his way onto South Columbus Drive. Behind, Gibbs moved up to second over Hill while Creed and Mayer were in the top five ahead of van Gisbergen and Kligerman. Meanwhile, Larson was mired in ninth behind Mosack while Nemechek, Logano, Herbst, Brandon Jones, Green and Brennan Poole were in the top 15.
Another lap later, the caution quickly returned due to on-track calamity that struck in Turn 12 when Sage Karam ran into the rear of Josh Bilicki, who also made contact with Kyle Sieg as Andre Castro and Parker Retzlaff, whose hood came flying up, were all involved.
The start of the next restart period with 11 laps remaining did not last long due to Preston Pardus stalling his car in the middle of Turn 11. Prior to the caution period, Brandon Jones spun in Turn 2 after Allmendinger collided with Leland Honeyman, who then collided and sent Jones’ No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro spinning in a cloud of smoke. Amid the chaos, Love had retained the lead over Gibbs and teammate, Hill. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen was up to fifth place behind Creed while Larson was still mired in ninth place behind Mosack.
Down to the final eight laps of the event, the event restarted under green. At the start, Love mirrored his start from the previous restart period to retain the lead while Gibbs navigated his way to second place. Creed and van Gisbergen would all overtake Hill through South Columbus Drive and prior to entering Turn 6 before van Gisbergen made a bold move beneath Creed to claim third place in Turn 11.
With van Gisbergen trying to fend off Mayer and Creed through the frontstretch, Gibbs then started to challenge Love for the lead during the following lap. He tried to bump and move Love out of the way in Turn 5, but Love maintained the lead through South Columbus Drive. The battle between Love and Gibbs, however, allowed van Gisbergen to close in on both entering Turn 6 as the top-five competitors on the track trailed the lead by under a second for the next six turns.
Amid the late battles, the caution returned due to Leland Honeyman locking up his front tires and slamming his No. 42 Klean Freak Chevrolet Camaro head-on into the tire barriers in Turn 1. Before Honeyman’s wreck, van Gisbergen made a bold save entering the frontstretch sliding sideways and making light contact with the wall in front of Mayer and Creed.
With the event restarting with three laps remaining, Creed muscled ahead to retain the lead while van Gisbergen bolted his way past Gibbs to move into second place. With Mayer spinning in Turn 1, the race remained under green flag conditions as van Gisbergen quickly closed in on Love’s rear bumper for the following four turns and through South Columbus Drive. Van Gisbergen then forced his way beneath Love to cycle back into the lead in Turn 7 as Gibbs capitalized on the battle to move into second entering Turn 8.
During the proceeding lap and with Creed spinning in Turn 12 amid contact with Kligerman while running in the top five, Larson navigated his way past Love and into third place through Turn 5. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen stretched his advantage to a comfortable advantage over Gibbs through South Columbus Drive and he would continue to do so entering Turn 6 and through East Balbo Drive, East Congress Plaza Drive, South Michigan Avenue and East Jackson Drive.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, van Gisbergen remained as the leader by a second over Gibbs while Larson, Kligerman and Love trailed in the top five by under five seconds. With Gibbs unable to close the deficit for a final lap and through 12 sets of turns, van Gisbergen smoothly navigated his No. 97 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro through each turn before he made a hard right-hand turn to the frontstretch victorious for the third time of his career and of the 2024 season.
With the victory, van Gisbergen joined Terry Labonte and AJ Allmendinger as the only competitors to notch their first three career Xfinity Series victories on road-course events, with the New Zealander winning for the first time since Sonoma Raceway in June.
Van Gisbergen’s victory at Chicago also made him the first three-time Xfinity race winner of the 2024 season and the first competitor to win two NASCAR national touring series events on the streets of Chicago as he will attempt to sweep the weekend with Sunday’s Cup Series action at Chicago. Van Gisbergen won the inaugural Cup Series’ Chicago Street Race event in his premier series debut while driving for Trackhouse Racing.
While van Gisbergen’s victory marks the third win of the season for Kaulig Racing and the team’s No. 97 Chevrolet entry led by crew chief Bruce Schlicker, the win was the 11th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate.
“That’s awesome! What a great race. It was pretty wild there at the end,” van Gisbergen, who kicked another rugby football into the frontstretch’s crowd, said on NBC. “I can’t thank [the] Kaulig Racing guys enough. [The] WeatherTech Camaro was amazing. Great race at the start with Kyle [Larson]. He was really good on the restarts and we made our car better for the second set of tires. That was fun at the end, passing all those guys. I had some great racing with everyone. [It was] Really cool. [I] Learnt a lot. [Larson] probably learned a lot off me, but hope to race him again for the win tomorrow [for the Cup Series event.
“It’s a privilege to race here [at Chicago],” van Gisbergen added. “This event is amazing. What NASCAR’s done here, what a show. Pretty cool feelings. Hopefully, we can repeat tomorrow.”
Ty Gibbs settled in second place for his first top-two result of the 2024 season, which occurred in his fifth start of the season, while Kyle Larson, who led 12 laps, ended up in third place for his second top-three result of the season and his first since winning at Circuit of the Americas in March.
Despite setting in third place in his second and final Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season, Larson noted the on-track benefits he gained amid his battles with van Gisbergen that would place him in an advantage to be competitive for Sunday’s Cup Series event at Chicago.
“[van Gisbergen] was obviously way faster than me and I think he was having fun, just playing with me,” Larson said. “I wanted to use this race to learn…That was big on my agenda and I felt like I learned quite a bit battling [van Gisbergen] and create different angles and all that. I think today was a success. Obviously, [I] would like to win, but our car just wasn’t quite as good as his.”
Parker Kligerman came home in fourth place while Jesse Love, who also led a race-high 14 laps with van Gisbergen, settled in fifth place for his fifth top-five result in his Xfinity rookie campaign.
Connor Mosack, Austin Hill, Joey Logano, Justin Allgaier and Austin Green completed the top 10 in the final running order.
There were nine lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 16 laps. In addition, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 18th event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Cole Custer leads the regular-season standings by 38 points over Justin Allgaier, 39 over Chandler Smith, 60 over Austin Hill and 109 over rookie Jesse Love.
Results.
1. Shane van Gisbergen, 14 laps led, Stage 1 winner
2. Ty Gibbs
3. Kyle Larson, 12 laps led
4. Parker Kligerman
5. Jesse Love, 14 laps led
6. Connor Mosack
7. Austin Hill, eight laps led, Stage 2 winner
8. Joey Logano
9. Justin Allgaier
10. Austin Green
11. AJ Allmendinger
12. Josh Williams
13. Sammy Smith, two laps led
14. Kyle Weatherman
15. Jeb Burton
16. Ryan Sieg
17. Brandon Jones
18. Cole Custer
19. Sam Mayer
20. Brennan Poole
21. Ryan Ellis
22. Kyle Sieg
23. Matt DiBenedetto
24. Blaine Perkins
25. John Hunter Nemechek
26. Sheldon Creed
27. Daniel Suarez
28. Riley Herbst – OUT, Overheating
29. Alex Labbe, five laps down
30. Anthony Alfredo, five laps down
31. Leland Honeyman – OUT, Accident
32. Preston Pardus – OUT, Electrical
33. Sage Karam – OUT, Accident
34. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident
35. Andre Castro – OUT, Accident
36. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident
37. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Accident
38. Chandler Smith – OUT, Engine
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, for the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, July 13, and air at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
