Tag: Sheldon Creed

  • Jonathan Toney, Jason Trinchere named Haas Factory Team’s Xfinity crew chiefs in 2025

    Jonathan Toney, Jason Trinchere named Haas Factory Team’s Xfinity crew chiefs in 2025

    Jonathan Toney and Jason Trinchere have been named crew chiefs for Haas Factory Team’s NASCAR Xfinity Series two-car program in 2025.

    Toney, the 2023 Xfinity championship-winning crew chief from Newton, North Carolina, will remain with the No. 00 Ford Mustang team and be paired with the organization’s newest competitor, Sheldon Creed. Jason Trinchere, a native of Easton, Pennsylvania, will join the team and be paired with driver Sam Mayer, the latter of whom is also new to the Haas organization as he will be piloting the No. 41 Ford Mustang entry.

    The news of Haas Factory Team’s crew chief lineup for the 2025 Xfinity season was made on December 10 on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio by Joe Custer, president of the organization that has been restructured from Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR). This past season, SHR notched four Xfinity victories, including the 2024 finale at Phoenix Raceway, between its former competitors Cole Custer and Riley Herbst, both of whom have been elevated to the Cup Series for Haas Factory Team and 23XI Racing, respectively, for the 2025 season.

    During the crew chief reveal, Custer also announced that the organization has retained a majority of its employees since being restructured and that Adam Gravitt has been elevated from engineering manager to competition director for the Xfinity program. In addition, the Haas Factory Team will maintain a technical alliance with AM Racing and RSS Racing. The retention of the organization’s staff and alliances comes as Custer anticipates extending the on-track momentum from the 2024 season towards the upcoming 2025 season under a new Haas identity.

    “[The Haas Factory Team] whole program is looking very similar, and we believe we’ll be starting where we left off [from 2024],” Custer said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “We finished half the deal at Phoenix [Raceway in November] with winning the race and the championship slipped through our fingers, which was disappointing, but we were there. We led a lot of laps, we had a lot of speed. We’re optimistic about next year at Phoenix, putting our two drivers into that final race.”

    Toney, who first joined the Haas organization before the 2004 season and was a former Cup Series lead engineer for three-time champion and former Haas co-owner Tony Stewart, made his crew chief debut in 2023 when he was paired with Cole Custer. By then, Custer had returned to the Xfinity division on a full-time basis following a three-year campaign in the Cup division.

    In their first season together, Toney and Custer notched three victories, six poles, with 19 top-10 results and transferred to the Championship 4 round, where they won the championship after Custer prevailed in an overtime shootout to also win the finale at Phoenix. The 2023 championship would also be the first ever for the Haas organization in the Xfinity circuit. This past season, Toney and Custer notched two victories and the 2024 Xfinity Series regular-season title. Despite returning to the Championship 4 round, the duo ended up in second place in the final standings.

    Through 64 appearances as an Xfinity crew chief, Toney has achieved five victories, nine poles, 27 top-five results and 42 top-10 results, all of which occurred with Custer, as he prepares to embark on his first campaign with Sheldon Creed, the latter of whom has notched 13 runner-up results through 103 Xfinity starts.

    Meanwhile, Trinchere’s transition to Haas Factory Team occurs as the Pennsylvania native spent the 2024 season as a Craftsman Truck Series crew chief for Spire Motorsports and Chase Purdy, the latter of whom notched a pole at Kansas Speedway, six top-10 results and a 15th-place result in the final driver’s standings. Previously, Trinchere spent three seasons as an Xfinity crew chief at Kaulig Racing, where he notched five victories and made the Championship 4 round with driver AJ Allmendinger in 2021.

    Through 99 appearances as an Xfinity crew chief, Trinchere has recorded five victories, one pole, 27 top-five results and 51 top-10 results while working with seven different competitors. The 2025 season will mark Trinchere’s first with Sam Mayer, the latter of whom has notched seven Xfinity victories and spent the previous four seasons at JR Motorsports.

    In addition to the Xfinity Series, the Haas Factory Team will also field a single full-time entry in the Cup Series for Cole Custer, the latter of whom was announced to be driving the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse entry on July 20. Nearly a month later, Aaron Kramer, a former lead engineer at Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, was revealed as Custer’s Cup crew chief for the 2025 season.

    The 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series season for the Haas Factory Team is scheduled to commence at Daytona International Speedway on February 15 at 5 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Justin Allgaier perseveres for first Xfinity championship; Riley Herbst wins 2024 finale at Phoenix

    Justin Allgaier perseveres for first Xfinity championship; Riley Herbst wins 2024 finale at Phoenix

    As Riley Herbst sent Stewart-Haas Racing off on a winning note in the organization’s final NASCAR Xfinity Series event by winning the 2024 season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, November 9, Justin Allgaier emerged as the biggest winner of the night by rallying from starting at the rear of the field in a backup car, being nabbed with a pair of midrace penalties that pinned him a lap down and muscling his way back to the front through two overtime attempts to capture his first elusive NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.

    The 40-year-old Allgaier from Riverton, Illinois, commenced the finale weekend on a sour note after he was one of several competitors who slid and wrecked against the Turn 1 outside wall during Friday’s practice session after he slipped up into Brennan Poole’s spilled oil, the latter of which suffered a mechanical issue. Despite taking the green flag in 37th place of the 38-car field, Allgaier methodically carved his way up through the leaderboard and emerge in sixth place when the first stage period concluded on Lap 45. Amid two caution periods and ensuing restarts throughout the second stage period, Allgaier, who made multiple on-track contacts with Riley Herbst in the closing laps of the stage period that resulted with the Illinois veteran potentially having a left-rear tire going flat, managed to cap off the stage in 10th place.

    Then during the start of the final stage period with 100 laps remaining, Allgaier, who restarted in the top-14 mark, was assessed a restart violation penalty for steering his No. 7 BRANDT/JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro below the frontstretch’s apron and pulling out of line from the field prior to reaching the start/finish line. As Allgaier served a pass-through penalty through pit lane, things went from bad to worse when he was penalized a second time, this time for speeding on pit road. Losing a lap to the leaders, Allgaier would spend a majority of the final stage period trying to emerge as the first competitor scored a lap down and place himself in the free pass position.

    As a late cycle of green flag pit stops commenced with 55 laps remaining, Allgaier, who opted to remain on the track with a different pit strategy from the leaders and cycled back on the lead lap, thrusted himself back into the championship battle after Anthony Alfredo wrecked with 46 laps remaining. Pitting during the caution period, Allgaier, who restarted within the top-12 mark, used the following restart period and fresh tires with 38 laps remaining to march his way to the front. Thirty-two laps later, Allgaier overtook title contender Cole Custer to assume the lead in the championship battle.

    Despite being overtaken by Custer on pit road and dropping to fifth place on the track amid a late-race caution with three laps remaining and sent the finale into overtime, Allgaier reassumed the top spot in the championship battle back from Custer, who was being blocked by title contender Austin Hill, before another late-race incident sent the finale into a second overtime attempt. During the latest attempt, Allgaier rubbed fenders with rookie Jesse Love to assume the lead in the race as he also retained the lead in the championship standings. Despite being overtaken by Herbst on the final lap for the race win, Allgaier managed to nurse his car to a runner-up result, which was enough to claim his long-awaited first championship in his 14th season competing in the Xfinity Series division.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, William Sawalich claimed his first Xfinity career pole position in his third series start after he posted a pole-winning lap at 134.168 mph in 26.832 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Sheldon Creed, who posted his best qualifying lap at 133.432 seconds. The four Championship 4 contenders that include Austin Hill, Cole Custer, AJ Allmendinger and Justin Allgaier are set to start fifth, seventh, ninth and 37th, respectively.

    Prior to the event, the following names that include Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Aric Almirola and Parker Kligerman dropped to the rear of the field in backup cars after all wrecked their primary cars during Friday’s practice session. Sammy Smith also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change along with Allmendinger, the latter of which due to unapproved adjustments.

    When the green flag waved and the finale commenced, the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg as teammates William Sawalich and Sheldon Creed dueled for the lead entering the first two turns. As Championship 4 contender Austin Hill was trying to battle Chandler Smith for fourth place while also trying to fend off teammate Jesse Love, Sam Mayer and title rival Cole Custer through the backstretch, Creed muscled his No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota Supra ahead to lead the first lap.

    Over the next four laps, Creed stretched his early advantage to as high as nearly half a second as Riley Herbst made his way into the runner-up spot. Behind, Chandler Smith moved up to third place in front of Sawalich and Hill while Mayer, Love, Custer, Daniel Dye and Connor Zilisch were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Championship 4 contenders AJ Allmendinger and Justin Allgaier were up to 19th and 25th, respectively, as both continued their early march from the rear of the field.

    Through the first 10-scheduled laps, Herbst, who overtook Creed for the lead a lap earlier, was leading in his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang by three-tenths of a second over a side-by-side battle between teammates Creed and Chandler smith while Sawalich and Hill were in the top five ahead of Love, Mayer, Custer, Zilisch and Dye. Behind, Allgaier and Allmendinger were in 18th and 19th, respectively, while Parker Retzlaff, Anthony Alfredo, Matt DiBenedetto, Jeffrey Earnhardt and rookie Shane van Gisbergen were racing in the top 15.

    Just past the Lap 20 mark, Herbst stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Chandler Smith while third-place Creed trailed by more than four seconds. Herbst would proceed to stabilize his lead to more than a second by the Lap 30 mark as both Smith and Creed retained second and third, respectively. Meanwhile, Hill continued to race as the highest-running Championship 4 contender on the track in fourth place while his closest-title rival Custer was mired in seventh place behind Sawalich and Mayer. By then, Allgaier cracked the top 10 as he was up to ninth place while Allmendinger was mired in 18th place.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Herbst claimed his third Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Chandler Smith, Creed, Hill and Sam Mayer were scored in the top five while Allgaier, Custer, Sawalich, Aric Almirola and Jesse Love followed suit in the top 10. By then, Allmendinger was still mired in 18th place and as the lowest Championship 4 contender on the track.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Herbst pitted for a first round of pit service. Following the pit stops, Herbst retained the lead after he exited pit road first as he was followed by Hill, Custer, Creed, Chandler Smith, Love, Mayer, Almirola, Sawalich and Allgaier. Amid the pit stops, Shane van Gisbergen was penalized for speeding while entering pit road.

    The second stage period started on Lap 54 as Herbst and Hill occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out through the frontstretch’s dogleg as both Herbst and Hill dueled for the lead in front of a three-wide battle for third place between Custer, Creed and Chandler Smith entering the first two turns. Then as Hill tried to make a move beneath Herbst for the lead through the turns, Custer used the outside lane to overtake both entering the backstretch. Custer would proceed to navigate his No. 00 Haas/Andy’s Frozen Custard Ford Mustang back to the frontstretch and lead the following lap as he was followed by teammate Herbst, Hill, Mayer, Chandler Smith and Allgaier. With Allmendinger making his way into the top 12, Custer led the next lap and teammate Herbst retained second while Hill was trying to fend off Mayer, Allgaier and Chandler Smith for third place.

    At the Lap 60 mark, Herbst, who overtook teammate Custer for the lead a lap earlier, was leading by three-tenths of a second while Mayer, Hill and Allgaier followed suit in the top five. The caution would then return two laps later after Anthony Alfredo, who was battling Stefan Parsons for 20th place, got squeezed into the frontstretch’s outside wall by Parsons, which resulted with Alfredo turning left, clipping and sending Parsons into the outside wall as the latter wrecked while Greg Van Alst spun behind Parsons’ carnage. Following the incident, Alfredo was assessed a two-lap penalty for reckless driving.

    The start of the next restart period on Lap 74 featured the leaders and the field fanning out to multiple lanes through the frontstretch’s dogleg as Herbst barely fended off teammate Custer to retain the lead through the first two turns. With Mayer making his way into the runner-up spot behind Herbst entering the backstretch, Allgaier muscled through into third place while Custer was trying to fend off Hill for fourth place. As Herbst led the following lap, Hill was overtaken by Almirola, Creed and Chandler Smith through the frontstretch while Custer battled and overtook Allgaier for third place on the track and the lead in the championship battle. The caution then returned on Lap 76 when Chandler Smith, who was racing in seventh place, made contact and got loose underneath teammate Creed in Turn 1 as he spun his No. 81 QuickTie Toyota Supra from the top to the bottom of the track.

    During the caution period, some including Creed, Love, Allmendinger, Jeb Burton, Dylan Lupton, Daniel Dye, Matt DiBenedetto, Brandon Jones, Brennan Poole and van Gisbergen remained on the track while the rest led by Herbst pitted.

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 82, Creed and Love dueled for the lead in front of the field through the frontstretch. Creed and Love remained dead even for the lead in front of Allmendinger and Jeb Burton through the backstretch while the rest of the field behind fanned out to four and five lanes as a bevy of competitors who either pitted or did not pit during the previous caution period scrambled for positions. As Creed led the following lap, Allmendinger remained as the highest-running Championship 4 contender in third place while Allgaier and Custer, both of whom were racing on fresh tires, carved their way up to sixth and seventh, respectively. Meanwhile, Hill was trapped outside the top-10 mark and trying to navigate his way back to the front.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Herbst, who made multiple on-track contacts with Allgaier five laps earlier, overtook Creed a lap prior to claim his fourth Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season and second in the finale. Creed settled in second ahead of Almirola, Love and Custer while Zilisch, Allmendinger, Mayer, Sawalich and Allgaier, the latter of whom nursed his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro to the finish with a potentially flat left-rear tire, settled in the top 10. By then, Custer emerged as the highest-running Championship contender while Hill was the lowest Championship 4 contender on the track in 14th place.

    During the stage break, some including Creed, Love, Allmendinger, Allgaier, Jeb Burton, DiBenedetto, Dye, Dylan Lupton, Brandon Jones, van Gisbergen and Poole pitted while the rest led by Herbst and including Custer and Hill remained on the track.

    With 100 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as Herbst and Almirola occupied the front row. At the start, Herbst rocketed his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang away from Almirola and teammate Custer through the frontstretch’s dogleg. As the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch, Herbst proceeded to lead the following lap while Mayer made his way up to third place behind Custer. By then, Hill and Allmendinger were in the top 10 and Allgaier was in 12th place.

    Shortly after, however, Allgaier was penalized for diving his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro below the frontstretch’s apron prior to reaching the start/finish line to start the final stage period. As Allgaier served his drive-through penalty, Herbst retained the lead over teammate Custer with 95 laps remaining. Not long after serving his drive-through penalty to serve his restart violation penalty, Allgaier was assessed a second drive-through penalty for speeding on pit road while serving his first. Compared to the first penalty, the second one caused Allgaier to drop out of the lead lap category as Herbst retained the race lead with less than 90 laps remaining. By then, Custer, who was in second place, was leading the championship battle as he was five spots ahead of Allmendinger and 13 spots ahead of Hill.

    With 80 laps remaining, Herbst was leading by nearly three seconds over teammate Custer while Mayer, Creed and Zilisch were in the top five ahead of Love, Allmendinger, Almirola, Chandler Smith and Sawalich. As Hill was mired in 16th place, Allgaier was scored the second competitor a lap down in 29th place as he was trying to catch Jeremy Clements to be the first competitor scored a lap down.

    Fifteen laps later, Herbst continued to lead the race by more than four seconds over teammate Custer, the latter of whom continued to lead the championship battle, while Creed, Mayer and Love were scored in the top five on the track. Meanwhile, Allmendinger, Custer’s closest championship rival, was scored in seventh place on the track and trailing the championship lead by less than six seconds while Zilisch, Chandler Smith, van Gisbergen and Almirola were in the top 10. Behind, Hill was scored in 15th place while Allgaier was scored the second competitor a lap down behind Ryan Sieg and in 27th place.

    Another 10 laps later, a late cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as the leader Herbst pitted. Love, Chandler Smith and Brandon Jones would also pit before Sawalich, Hill, Allmendinger, Zilisch, Mayer, Almirola, Josh Williams, Custer and van Gisbergen pitted over the next four laps. As more names including Creed pitted with 50 laps remaining, Dye was leading ahead of Parker Kligerman. By then, both along with Allgaier, the latter of whom cycled back on the lead lap, have yet to pit while Herbst carved his way up to third place.

    With 46 laps remaining, however, the caution flew when Alfredo blew a right-front tire and went dead straight into the outside wall in Turn 1 hard. Alfredo’s incident served as a pivotal moment for Allgaier, who was scored on the lead lap despite not having yet pitted while Kligerman, who had pitted shortly before Alfredo wrecked, lost a lap in the process. During the caution period, select names including Allgaier, Hill, Mayer and Brandon Jones pitted while the rest led by Herbst remained on the track.

    Down to the final 38 laps of the event, Herbst rocketed away from Love to retain the lead through the frontstretch and the first two turns as the field behind fanned out. As Custer battled Zilisch for third place, his title rivals Allmendinger, Hill and Allgaier were battling within the top 10. A few laps later, Allmendinger, Allgaier and Hill were racing eighth to 10th, respectively, while Custer retained third place on the track and the lead in the championship battle. Meanwhile, teammate Herbst continued to lead the race by seven-tenths of a second over Love with 35 laps remaining.

    With 25 laps remaining, Herbst continued to lead the race by more than two seconds over Love as third-place Custer, who retained the lead in the championship battle, started to close in on Love for the runner-up spot. Meanwhile, Allgaier carved his way up to sixth place as he trailed Custer for three spots and Hill was mired in eighth place on the track behind Creed while Allmendinger was racing in 11th place behind Almirola and Brandon Jones.

    Two laps later, Custer engaged in a side-by-side battle with Love for the runner-up spot on the track in an effort to generate a gap between himself and Allgaier for the championship battle. Love, however, would not yield the spot to Custer, which allowed Zilisch and Mayer, Allgaier’s teammates at JR Motorsports, to join the battle while Allgaier was slowly narrowing the deficit to Custer. Love would continue to retain second place over Custer as both Zilisch and Mayer would begin to challenge Custer for third place while Allgaier was trying to gain ground on teammate Mayer with 20 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Herbst stabilized his race lead to more than three seconds over Love while Custer retained third place ahead of Zilisch and Mayer. Meanwhile, Allgaier, who retained sixth place, trailed Custer by nearly a second while Hill was up to seventh place and trailing Allgaier by a second. By then, Allmendinger was strapped in 11th place.

    Two laps later, Allgaier overtook teammate Mayer for fifth place on the track. By then, he still trailed Custer on the track for the championship battle by a second as Custer continued to fend off Zilisch for third place. Hill then started to close in on Mayer for sixth place on the track and he also had Allgaier within his sights while Herbst grew his lead to four seconds with 10 laps remaining.

    Then with eight laps remaining, the battle for the championship brewed as Zilisch overtook Custer for third place on the track. As Custer fought back through the backstretch, Zilisch then got loose underneath Custer and made slight contact with the latter, which caused both to briefly fall off the pace entering Turns 3 and 4 as Allgaier zipped by teammate Zilisch for fourth place on the track with seven laps remaining. Allgaier then proceeded to drive up to Custer’s rear bumper through the first two turns and the backstretch before he made his move beneath Custer and overtook him through Turns 3 and 4. By then, Allgaier assumed the lead in the championship standings over Custer with six laps remaining.

    Over the next three laps, Allgaier started to generate a reasonable gap between himself and Custer as he also started to battle Love for the runner-up spot on the track while Herbst maintained a healthy advantage on the track.

    Then with three laps remaining, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime due to an incident involving Leland Honeyman in Turn 4. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Herbst pitted. Following the pit stops, Hill, who pitted for only two scuff tires for his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro, exited first as he was followed by Love, Herbst, Custer, Allgaier, Almirola, Chandler Smith, Mayer, Zilisch and Creed. Amid the pit stops, Allgaier endured a slow pit service, which allowed Custer to overtake him on pit road.

    The start of the first overtime attempt did not last long as Parker Retzlaff spun and wrecked in Turn 2. Prior to Retzlaff’s incident, Love had assumed the race lead and Allgaier, who restarted in fifth place, bolted his way up to second place on the track and first in the championship battle while Hill, who created a roadblock for Custer while trying to launch on his two scuff tires, had dropped to sixth place. By then, Custer had dropped to seventh place while Allmendinger was mired in 10th place. With Retzlaff’s incident, the event was sent into a second overtime attempt.

    The start of the second overtime attempt featured Allgaier and Love dueling for the lead through the frontstretch’s dogleg before Allgaier went up the track and made contact against Love’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro, which resulted with both rubbing against one another in smoke and Herbst getting squeezed towards the outside wall entering the first turn. Amid the contact, Allgaier muscled ahead and barely fended off Herbst, Almirola and Hill through the first two turns to muscle ahead entering the backstretch while Love was trying to regain ground. By then, Hill, who got loose after making contact with Almirola, had dropped to seventh place on the track as he was losing ground of Allgaier for the championship battle. Both Custer and Allmendinger were also losing ground of Allgaier on the track.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier remained in the lead in both the race and the championship battle while runner-up Herbst closed in on him despite developing a left-rear tire rub. Amid the tire smoke, Herbst would then gain a run beneath Allgaier, who had all the markings on his left-rear tire rubbed off, through the backstretch and overtake him for the race lead. As Herbst proceeded to claim the checkered flag to win the finale, Allgaier would have enough muscle to finish in second place and claim the championship over Custer, Allmendinger and Hill.

    With the title, Allgaier, a 25-time race winner in the Xfinity Series who is in his 14th season as a full-time Xfinity competitor and who quietly clinched a Championship 4 round berth by points a week ago at Martinsville Speedway, became the 34th competitor overall to win a championship in the Xfinity Series and the first Illinois native to accomplish the feat. He also delivered the fourth driver’s championship and the first owner’s championship in the Xfinity division for JR Motorsports, the latter of which achieved its first Xfinity title since the 2018 season with Tyler Reddick. The 2024 Xfinity championship was also a first for crew chief Jim Pohlman.

    Overall, the 2024 season marks the eighth time in nine seasons where the current Playoff-elimination format featured a first-time champion in the Xfinity Series as Allgaier, who made his seventh Championship 4 appearance as a title contender, previously finished a career-best runner up in the final standings during the 2020 and 2023 seasons.

    As he celebrated with his pit crew, team owners, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., and family on the frontstretch, Allgaier was asked if he had counted himself out of the championship battle amid his pair of on-track obstacles that pinned him a lap down and way behind his title rivals.

    “Yeah, [I counted myself out] like 10 times,” Allgaier, who fought tears of emotions, said on the CW Network. “You fans are awesome. I don’t think I have a voice left because I was yelling. I’ve been doing this a long time and these people that are standing around me. There’s no words. It’s understated what [Hendrick engine shop and Chevrolet] what they’ve done. [My family] have given up so much for me to come do this job and God’s good, man. I said it all weekend, I don’t know what the plan is. I don’t know what that looks like, but He’s got a reason for everything and tonight is truly that. It’s mind-blowing.”

    No. 7 BRANDT/JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro
    Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “This team never gave up,” Allgaier, who will return to JR Motorsports and attempt to defend his series title in 2025, added. “[Crew chief] Jim Pohlman, his leadership skills are second and none. He told me all weekend that we were going to have a chance. Man, we tried to give it away every which way we could. I was as fast as Xfinity Internet, but on pit road, not on the racetrack where I needed to be. I just wanted to make it exciting for all you fans, all you fans at home. All the men and women, all five of our race teams [at JR Motorsports], just the effort that we’ve put in. I’m at a loss for words and we’re going to celebrate this one, for sure. It’s unbelievable. I just cannot say thank you enough to everybody that’s ever helped me in my career to get to this point. Seven times in the Championship 4 and we finally got it done.”

    As Allgaier proceeded to celebrate his first championship on the championship stage, Cole Custer, the reigning Xfinity Series champion, could only manage a smile on pit road as he settled in eighth place in the final running order of the finale and in the runner-up spot in the final standings. Despite coming up one spot short of defending his series title, Custer is set to move back up to the Cup Series and drive for the newly formed Haas Factory Team in 2025.

    “I think any driver can do something a little bit different,” Custer said. “I tried to go high, tried to go to the middle, tried to go everywhere I could. But [Hill] made his car pretty wide, which is his right. We’re all going for a championship. It just sucks that it ended up screwing us over worse than it did [Allgaier] and he was able to slip by. Man, I can’t say congratulations enough to Justin and all those guys. He’s definitely a deserving champion. They were fast all night. I hate it came down to tire strategies and stuff like that, but man, I can’t say enough about our group. Everything they’ve done over the last two years, [crew chief Jonathan Toney], everybody in [the Stewart-Haas Racing] shop works so hard. I wish we could have ended up with a championship for [Stewart-Haas Racing], but it just wasn’t meant to be on those restarts.”

    Meanwhile, AJ Allmendinger, who clinched a Championship 4 berth by winning the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway three weeks ago, managed a ninth-place result in the finale and settled in third place in the final standings. Austin Hill, who made his first Championship 4 appearance as a title contender, fell back to 10th place in the final running order as he was relegated to fourth place in the final standings. While Hill is set to return to Richard Childress Racing for another full-time Xfinity campaign in 2025, Allmendinger is set to move back up to the Cup Series with Kaulig Racing next season.

    “We just struggled all night,” Allmendinger said. “First off, congrats to Justin [Allgaier], Dale [Earnhardt Jr.] and the No. 7 crew. Justin’s been working at it for a long time. Really cool that he got [the title]. [I] Wished that we could’ve been, at least, in the fight for [the title]. We were off from the start, loose the whole time. I didn’t know what else to do to try to make [the car] faster. Just disappointing that we never really were in the fight. I thought strategy-wise, we could, kind of, steal it, maybe, or the team championship. Disappointing, but proud to be here at least.”

    “We had to try something [strategy-wise],” Hill added. “Lot of hard racing out there. I want to say congrats to the No. 7 team. Justin Allgaier’s being doing this a really long time. To see him finally get it done, I’m very happy for him. He’s a great guy to be around. Hats off to JR Motorsports for getting it done.”

    Amid the championship battle, Riley Herbst, who led a race-high 167 of the 213 over-scheduled laps, celebrated a race victory as he notched his third career win in the Xfinity Series, second of the 2024 season and his first since winning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. The victory was also the last for the Stewart-Haas Racing organization as the team will be rebranded to Haas Factory Team in 2025. It also comes as Herbst’s 2025 racing plans remain to be determined.

    Riley Herbst
    Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “I’ve been telling people since Daytona that if we got to Phoenix, we’d be the champion,” Herbst, who finished seventh in the final standings, said in Victory Lane. “Everybody looked at me like I was crazy. That’s gone now. We didn’t make [the Championship 4 round], but I’m just so proud of all these guys, everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. It was a really, really tough week last week. We had a lot of emotional people at the shop. [Stewart-Haas Racing] was home for me for four years. It’s built me to what I am now and that’s a winning racecar driver in the Xfinity Series. So proud of [crew chief] Davin [Restivo] and all the guys on the No. 98 team. It’s been a hell of a run the last four years. Thank you so much to every man and woman at Stewart-Haas Racing. I love you guys all so much. We’ll see what next year holds.”

    Aric Almirola, who was contending for the owner’s championship for Joe Gibbs Racing’s NO. 20 Toyota team, settled in third place on the track as he fell one spot short to Allgaier in the category. Connor Zilisch and Chandler Smith finished in the top five while Rookie-of-the-Year recipient Jesse Love, Sheldon Creed, Cole Custer, AJ Allmendinger and Austin Hill completed the top 10.

    There were 21 lead changes for eight different leaders. The finale featured seven cautions for 53 laps. In addition, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Riley Herbst, 167 laps led

    2. Justin Allgaier, four laps led

    3. Aric Almirola

    4. Connor Zilisch

    5. Chandler Smith

    6. Jesse Love, six laps led

    7. Sheldon Creed, 20 laps led

    8. Cole Custer, seven laps led

    9. AJ Allmendinger

    10. Austin Hill, five laps led

    11. Sam Mayer

    12. Shane van Gisbergen

    13. William Sawalich

    14. Parker Kligerman, two laps led

    15. Sammy Smith

    16. Jeb Burton

    17. Daniel Dye, two laps led

    18. Brandon Jones

    19. Dylan Lupton

    20. Jeremy Clements

    21. Josh Bilicki

    22. Blaine Perkins

    23. Ryan Sieg

    24. Brennan Poole

    25. Ryan Ellis

    26. Matt DiBenedetto

    27. Joey Gase

    28.  Patrick Emerling, one lap down

    29. Kyle Sieg, one lap down

    30. Garrett Smithley, one lap down

    31. Leland Honeyman, three laps down

    32. Dawson Cram, four laps down

    33. Josh Williams, five laps down

    34. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident

    35. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Engine

    36. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    37. Greg Van Alst – OUT, Suspension

    38. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates championship finalists

    Final standings

    1. Justin Allgaier

    2. Cole Custer

    3. AJ Allmendinger

    4. Austin Hill

    5. Chandler Smith

    6. Sheldon Creed

    7. Riley Herbst

    8. Jesse Love

    9. Sam Mayer

    10. Parker Kligerman

    11. Sammy Smith

    12. Shane van Gisbergen

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series teams and competitors enter an off-season period before returning to action at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, on February 15, 2025, for a new season of competition.

  • William Sawalich wins first Xfinity pole for 2024 finale at Phoenix

    William Sawalich wins first Xfinity pole for 2024 finale at Phoenix

    William Sawalich notched his first NASCAR Xfinity Series career pole position for the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, November 9.

    The two-time ARCA Menards Series East champion from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, posted his best qualifying lap at 134.168 mph in 26.832 seconds, which was enough to claim the top-starting spot over teammate Sheldon Creed, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 133.432 mph in 26.980 seconds.

    With the pole position, Sawalich, who is set to make his third career start in the Xfinity circuit and in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 “all-star” Toyota Supra entry, will lead the field to the green flag for Saturday’s 2024 finale at Phoenix. He is set to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing on a full-time Xfinity basis in 2025, where he will be piloting the No. 18 Toyota Supra entry.

    Speaking of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota entry, Sheldon Creed, who is making his final start with the Gibbs organization before he transitions to the Haas Factory Team in 2025, will share the front row with teammate Sawalich. The 2024 Xfinity finale is set to mark Creed’s fifth time starting on the front row this season as he aims to capture his first elusive victory in the series.

    Riley Herbst and Chandler Smith will start third and fourth, respectively, while Austin Hill will be the highest-starting Championship- 4 contenders in fifth place as he strives to win his first Xfinity Series championship.

    Rounding out the top-10 starting spots are rookie Jesse Love, Championship 4 finalist Cole Custer, Sam Mayer, Championship 4 finalist AJ Allmendinger and Parker Retzlaff.

    Notably, Justin Allgaier, the fourth Championship 4 finalist, will start in 37th place of the 38-car field and in a backup car. This is a result of Allgaier wrecking his primary car during Friday’s practice session after he ran over spilled fluid from Brennan Poole’s entry, slid and pounded the outside wall hard against Turns 1 and 2. Aric Almirola, who is contending for the 2024 Xfinity owner’s championship for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota team, was also involved in the practice carnage as he will start in 38th place, dead last, in a backup car.

    All 38 competitors entered for Saturday’s finale at Phoenix earned a starting spot.

    Qualifying position, best speed, best time:

    1. William Sawalich, 134.168 mph, 26.832 seconds
    2. Sheldon Creed, 133.432 mph, 26.980 seconds
    3. Riley Herbst, 132.989 mph, 27.070 seconds
    4. Chandler Smith, 132.915 mph, 27.085 seconds
    5. Austin Hill, 132.523 mph, 27.165 seconds
    6. Jesse Love, 132.343 mph, 27.202 seconds
    7. Cole Custer, 132.270 mph, 27.217 seconds
    8. Sam Mayer, 132.178 mph, 27.236 seconds
    9. AJ Allmendinger, 132.139 mph, 27.244 seconds
    10. Parker Retzlaff, 132.042 mph, 27.264 seconds
    11. Matt DiBenedetto, 131.868 mph, 27.300 seconds
    12. Anthony Alfredo, 131.690 mph, 27.337 seconds
    13. Daniel Dye, 131.651 mph, 27.345 seconds
    14. Stefan Parsons, 131.454 mph, 27.386 seconds
    15. Sammy Smith, 131.372 mph, 27.403 seconds
    16. Jeb Burton, 131.324 mph, 27.413 seconds
    17. Shane van Gisbergen, 131.081 mph, 27.464 seconds
    18. Jeffrey Earnhardt, 130.976 mph, 27.486 seconds
    19. Josh Williams, 130.957 mph, 27.490 seconds
    20. Ryan Ellis, 130.785 mph, 27.526 seconds
    21. Connor Zilisch, 130.766 mph, 27.530 seconds
    22. Jeremy Clements, 130.657 mph, 27.553 seconds
    23. Ryan Sieg, 130.577 mph, 27.570 seconds
    24. Dylan Lupton, 130.572 mph, 27.571 seconds
    25. Blaine Perkins, 130.482 mph, 27.590 seconds
    26. Leland Honeyman, 130.359 mph, 27.616 seconds
    27. Dawson Cram, 130.086 mph, 27.674 seconds
    28. Brennan Poole, 129.767 mph, 27.742 seconds
    29. Kyle Sieg, 129.534 mph, 27.792 seconds
    30. Patrick Emerling, 129.450 mph, 27.810 seconds
    31. Parker Kligerman, 129.231 mph, 27.857 seconds
    32. Josh Bilicki, 128.834 mph, 27.943 seconds
    33. Brandon Jones, 128.599 mph, 27.994 seconds
    34. Joey Gase, Owner Points
    35. Greg Van Alst, Owner Points
    36. Garrett Smithley, Owner Points
    37. Justin Allgaier, Owner Points
    38. Aric Almirola, Owner Points

    The 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway is set to occur on Saturday, November 9, and air at 7 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Aric Almirola clinches owner’s championship berth for No. 20 team with a dominant victory at Martinsville

    Aric Almirola clinches owner’s championship berth for No. 20 team with a dominant victory at Martinsville

    With two vacant spots to this year’s Championship 4 round on the line amongst eight NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff contenders, Aric Almirola motored his way to a dominant victory for his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team in the National Debt Relief 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, November 2.

    The 40-year-old Almirola from Tampa, Florida, led five times for a race-high 150 of 250-scheduled laps in an event where he started in ninth place and muscled through four early caution periods to claim the first stage victory in a photo finish over Playoff contender Cole Custer. Then after racing his way to win the second stage period, Almirola survived a bevy of caution periods and ensuing restart periods, including the final one with 16 laps remaining where he was leading, to fend off Playoff contenders Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith to capture his third Xfinity victory of the 2024 season and clinch a spot to this year’s Xfinity owner’s championship battle for Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 team for next weekend’s finale at Phoenix Raceway.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, November 1, Parker Retzlaff notched his second Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season and his career with a pole-winning lap at 95.151 mph in 19.901 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Anthony Alfredo, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 95.094 mph in 19.913 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that include Parker Kligerman, William Sawalich and Kyle Sieg 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, Parker Retzlaff and Anthony Alfredo briefly dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Retzlaff muscled his No. 31 The Visual Pak Companies Chevrolet Camaro ahead with both lanes under his control through the backstretch. As the field slowly began to fan out to three lanes, Retzlaff led the first lap as Playoff contender Chandler Smith overtook Alfredo for the runner-up spot. Behind, Aric Almirola made a bold three-wide move beneath Playoff contenders Sammy Smith and Austin Hill as he made his way up to sixth place.

    Over the next four laps, Retzlaff would proceed to stabilize his early advantage to four-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith as Playoff contender Justin Allgaier, Alfredo and Playoff rookie Jesse Love followed suit in the top five. Behind, Almirola retained sixth place ahead of Playoff contender Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed while Playoff contenders AJ Allmendinger and Sammy Smith pursued in the top 10.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps and amid a series of early jostling for spots within the field, Retzlaff retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith while Allgaier and Alfredo followed suit. Behind, Almirola made his way into fifth place over Love and Hill while Creed, Allmendinger and Playoff contender Cole Custer were in the top 10. As both Custer and Allmendinger bumped one another while battling for 10th place, Riley Herbst, Playoff contender Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones and Bubba Pollard were in the top 15.

    On Lap 12, the event’s first caution flew after Allmendinger, who had fiercely bumped and rubbed with Custer for a top-10 spot over the last few laps, blew a right-front tire amid another round of contact with Custer entering the backstretch and went dead straight into the outside wall in Turn 3. The incident was enough to end Allmendinger’s event early, but it did not affect his secured spot to this year’s Championship 4 round after he had won the Playoff’s Round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks earlier.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 18, Chandler Smith dueled with Retzlaff for the lead through the first two turns before he muscled ahead and cleared Retzlaff through the backstretch. Smith would proceed to lead the following lap as Allgaier followed suit in third place. Behind, Almirola muscled his way up to fourth place while Alfredo was pinned in a tight three-wide battle for a top-10 spot that involved Herbst and Creed as both Custer and Sammy Smith joined the battle. With Love and Hill moving up to fifth and sixth on the track, Chandler Smith retained the lead just past the Lap 20 mark.

    At the Lap 25 mark, Chandler Smith was leading by six-tenths of a second over Retzlaff while Allgaier, Almirola and Love followed suit in the top five ahead of Hill, Herbst, Custer, Alfredo, and Creed. Over the next five laps, Allgaier and Almirola dueled fiercely for third place while Stewart-Haas Racing’s Herbst and Custer battled for seventh place in front of Sam Mayer. In the process, Almirola stabilized his lead to nearly eight-tenths of a second.

    On Lap 36, the event’s second caution flew after Myatt Snider, who was racing in 18th place, was bumped and sent for a spin by Ryan Sieg entering Turns 3 and 4. During the caution period, some led by Chandler Smith and including Allgaier, Hill, Love and Sammy Smith pitted while the rest led by Retzlaff and including Custer and Sam Mayer remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Ryan Ellis was penalized for vehicle interference while Hill endured a slow pit service after he had to reverse to avoid hitting Dawson Cram while exiting his pit stall.

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 43, Retzlaff and Custer dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Custer used the outside lane to assume the lead through the backstretch. Behind, Retzlaff fended off rookie Shane van Gisbergen through Turns 3 and 4 to retain second place before the latter crossed over and reignited his challenge for the spot. Behind, a series of jostles for spots between competitors with fresh tires versus those with worn tires ensued as Custer continued to lead. The caution, however, would return on Lap 47 after Leland Honeyman spun in Turn 2 from the top 20 after getting hit by Blaine Perkins.

    The start of the next restart period on Lap 53 did not last long as Retzlaff, who restarted on the front row with Custer, was shoved dead straight into the outside wall in Turn 1 by Mayer as Retzlaff emerged with significant front-end damage to his pole-winning car. The incident was enough to knock Retzlaff out of contention while Mayer continued.

    With the event restarting under green with a single lap remaining to the first stage period, Custer and Almirola dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. They continued to battle dead even against one another through Turns 3 and 4 as they crossed the start/finish line in a photo finish to complete the first stage. At the line, Almirola emerged with the stage victory by a nose for the fifth time in the 2024 Xfinity Series season. Custer settled in second followed by Allgaier, Chandler Smith, Love, Herbst, Josh Williams, Sammy Smith, Creed and Jeb Burton. By then, five of seven remaining Playoff contenders on the track recorded the event’s first round of stage points as the list did not include Mayer or Hill.

    Under the stage break, some led by Custer and including Williams, Jeremy Clements, Patrick Emerling, Mason Maggio and Logan Bearden pitted while the rest led by Almirola remained on the track.

    The second stage period started on Lap 70 as teammates Almirola and Chandler Smith started on the front row. At the start, Almirola gained the advantage from the inside lane as he muscled away with the lead entering the backstretch. Almirola proceeded to lead the following lap while Chandler Smith fended off Allgaier for the runner-up spot. Allgaier would then be challenged by Love and Herbst for third place as Smith started to close in on Almirola for the lead.

    Towards the Lap 80 mark, Almirola retained a steady advantage over teammate Chandler Smith, with the latter bumping and intimidating his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota teammate through every corner and straightaway. Smith would then make his way beneath Almirola’s No. 20 He Gets Us Toyota Supra through the first two turns and muscle his No. 81 QuickTie Toyota Supra into the lead through the backstretch on Lap 81. With Smith leading, Allgaier trailed in third place by six-tenths of a second while Love, Sammy Smith and Herbst trailed by more than two seconds.

    On Lap 85, Herbst bumped and nearly turned Love’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro in a fierce battle for fifth place in Turn 3. The contact dropped Love to ninth place as Herbst proceeded to fend off Sheldon Creed for fifth place. In the process, Chandler Smith continued to lead by within a tenth of a second over teammate Almirola. Almirola, however, would gain a run beneath Smith through the first two turns and reassume the lead on Lap 94.

    At the Lap 100 mark, Almirola stretched his advantage to a second over teammate Chandler Smith as Sammy Smith would proceed to overtake Chandler Smith for the runner-up spot during the following lap. Behind, Allgaier trailed in fourth place by two seconds while Herbst, Creed, Sawalich, Ryan Sieg, Alfredo and Jeb Burton followed suit in the top 10.

    Following a caution period on Lap 102 as Mason Maggio spun in Turn 1 just in front of the leaders, some led by Ryan Sieg and including Myatt Snider, Brennan Poole and Garrett Smithley remained on the track while the rest led by Almirola pitted. Amid the pit stops, Chandler Smtih endured a slow pit service.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 110, Ryan Sieg and Poole dueled for the lead in front of a stacked field as Sieg proceeded to muscle ahead through the backstretch. By the following lap, Almirola, who was racing on fresh tires, had carved his way up to third place. Almirola would proceed to duel and overtake Poole for the runner-up spot during the next lap as teammate Sheldon Creed was also muscling his way towards the top five.

    Then with three laps remaining in the second stage period, Almirola caught and made his move beneath Ryan Sieg for the lead entering the first two turns. Almirola and Sieg would then duel for the lead through the backstretch as Sieg refused to surrender the spot. With both continuing to battle dead even for the lead during the following lap, Almirola would muscle ahead of Sieg through Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 118.

    During the final lap of the second stage period, Ryan Sieg tried to execute a crossover move beneath Almirola through the frontstretch, but Almirola muscled away with his fresh tires and teammate Creed began to challenge Sieg for the runner-up spot. Amid the battles within the field, Almirola proceeded to capture his sixth Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season and second of the day. Sieg fended off Creed for the runner-up spot while Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Chandler Smith, Custer, Herbst, Sawalich and Poole were scored in the top 10. With four of seven Playoff contenders on the track racking up the event’s second round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders including Mayer and Hill did not achieve points.

    During the stage break, Logan Bearden was the only competitor who pitted as the rest led by Almirola remained on the track.

    With 120 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced as teammates Almirola and Creed occupied the front row. At the start, Almirola rocketed away with the lead through the first two turns and he would retain the lead for the following lap. Behind, a series of on-track battles ensued as Allgaier made his way to fourth place behind Ryan Sieg while Custer fended off Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith for fifth place. The caution would return with 117 laps remaining as William Sawalich spun and slapped into the outside wall in Turn 1 amid contact with Alfredo.

    During the start of the next restart period with 110 laps remaining, Almirola dueled with teammate Creed for the lead for a full lap as Creed managed to lead the first lap by a hair from the outside lane. Creed would then clear Almirola to have both lanes under his control entering the first two turns while Allgaier was trying to fend off Custer and Ryan Sieg for third place. Shortly after, Custer moved his No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang into third place over Allgaier and Chandler Smith followed in close pursuit in fifth place.

    Down to the final 100 laps of the event, Creed continued to lead by a tenth of a second over teammate Almirola, who spent the last several laps dueling and challenging Creed for the top spot through every corner. Almirola would then prevail in the heated battle with teammate Creed with 96 laps remaining as he bumped and muscled ahead of the latter with the top spot. Meanwhile, third-place Custer trailed by a second. Creed then went wide entering Turn 1 during the following lap, which allowed Custer to battle him for the runner-up spot as Almirola stretched his advantage to more than a second.

    With 85 laps remaining, Almirola retained the lead over both Custer and Creed as Logan Bearden pitted with his right-front hub on fire. Amid Bearden’s incident, the event remained under green flag conditions. The caution would then fly with 77 laps remaining due to Preston Pardus spinning in Turn 3. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Almirola pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Almirola retained the lead after he exited pit road first as he was followed by Creed, Custer, Allgaier, Herbst, Chandler Smith, Mayer, Burton, Alfredo and Sammy Smith. Amid the pit stops, Creed was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The start of the next restart period with 68 laps remaining featured Almirola fending off Custer through the first two turns to lead the field through the backstretch. Just before Almirola could reach the start/finish line to lead the following lap, the caution returned when Dawson Cram, who was racing outside the top 20, received a bump from Love that sent him spinning and backing into the outside wall in Turn 3.

    As the race restarted under green with 60 laps remaining, Almirola used the inside lane to fend off Custer through the first two turns as he retained a steady lead through the backstretch, Despite getting bumped in the rear by Custer through Turns 3 and 4, Almirola led the following lap ahead of Custer as he had Allgaier, Herbst, Chandler Smith and Jeb Burton all following in close pursuit. With the latter four bumping and dueling against one another for position, Allgaier would retain third place ahead of Chandler Smith and Burton over the next four laps while Mayer and Sammy Smith made their way past Herbst for sixth and seventh, respectively. The caution would then return with 54 laps remaining as Creed bumped Blaine Perkins into Josh Williams, all of whom were battling for a top-15 spot, which sent the latter for a spin towards the outside wall in Turn 2.

    The start of the next restart period with 48 laps remaining featured Almirola muscling ahead with a slight advantage over Custer as he proceeded to motor past him through the first two turns and retain the top spot through the backstretch. With Almirola leading the following lap, Custer retained second as Allgaier and Chandler Smith dueled for third place in front of Burton. Behind, teammates Mayer and Sammy Smith dueled for sixth place in front of Herbst, Alfredo and Kligerman as Almirola proceeded to lead with 45 laps remaining.

    With less than 40 laps remaining, Almirola stretched his advantage to more than a second over Custer, who had Chandler Smith and Allgaier pressuring him for the runner-up spot through every corner and straightaway. Custer would retain the runner-up spot from both Smith and Allgaier over the next five laps as Almirola’s advantage also stabilized to more than a second.

    Not long after, the caution returned with 31 laps remaining when Brandon Jones slid and wrecked his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro against the Turn 1 outside wall from 13th place after he got bumped by Creed entering the turn. The incident occurred shortly after Chandler Smith had bumped Custer out of the racing groove for the runner-up spot in Turn 1.

    Just as the event was restarting under green with 24 laps remaining, a stack-up ensued from the front of the field that left Mayer, who restarted in seventh place, with a dented hood and Burton attempting to fan out beneath Mayer. Then entering Turns 1 and 2, Custer returned the favor to Chandler Smith by bumping the latter into the turn as both went up the racetrack through the first two turns. Despite Smith managing to remain in front of Custer, both dropped to fifth and seventh, respectively, through the backstretch. In the process, Mayer, who had a tire rub, continued in sixth place with a dented hood while Almirola pulled away with the lead ahead of Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Herbst.

    On the following lap, the caution returned as both Ryan Sieg and van Gisbergen wrecked in Turn 4. During the caution period, Mayer, who pitted to have the damage addressed, had his No. 1 10X Health Chevrolet Camaro pushed behind the wall as his event came to a late end. Mayer’s retirement also ended his hopes of returning to the Championship 4 round for a second consecutive season.

    Down to the final 16 laps remaining, the race restarted under green as Almirola and Sammy Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Almirola muscled away from Smith’s No. 8 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet Camaro and the field to lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. As Almirola led the following lap, Smith followed suit in second while Allgaier was trying to fend off Herbst, Chandler Smith, Custer and Jeb Burton for third place. During the following lap, Chandler Smith got Herbst loose entering Turn 3, which allowed Smith to draw himself alongside Allgaier for third place as Custer tried to follow suit. Custer would then grab fifth place from teammate Herbst while Almirola continued to lead over Sammy Smith with 14 laps remaining.

    With 10 laps remaining, Almirola retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Sammy Smith while Chandler Smith trailed the lead by more than a second. By then, both of the Smith competitors were placed in “must-win” situations to maintain their Playoff hopes. Behind, Custer, who currently occupied the fourth and transfer spot to the Championship 4 round, made his way up to fourth place over Allgaier, who held the other vacant spot to the final Playoff round, while Creed was up to sixth place.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Almirola continued to lead by four-tenths of a second over Sammy Smith as third-place Chandler Smith followed suit by a second. Over the next four laps, Almirola would stabilize his advantage over both Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith, with the latter two unable to close in despite charging their respective cars through every corner and straightaway.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Almirola remained in the lead by half a second over Sammy Smith and by more than a second over Chandler Smith. With the two Smiths unable to narrow the deficit for a final lap charge, Almirola coasted his No. 20 Toyota smoothly around the Martinsville circuit for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and for his third Xfinity checkered flag of the 2024 season.

    With the victory, Almirola, who won at Martinsville in April, notched his seventh career win in his 117th start in the Xfinity circuit and 13th of the 2024 season. The victory was the 11th of the season for both the Toyota nameplate and Joe Gibbs Racing, with the organization’s No. 20 team winning for the ninth time overall.

    As a result of the victory, Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota team will contend for the 2024 Xfinity Series owner’s championship as Almirola will compete against Austin Hill, AJ Allmendinger and Justin Allgaier for the title during next weekend’s season-finale event at Phoenix Raceway.

    Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Wow, what an amazing race car,” Almirola said on the CW Network. “So proud of [crew chief] Tyler [Allen] and all the guys on this team. We had an amazing car here in the spring. We made a few tweaks to it because I wasn’t totally happy with it, honestly, in the spring. We showed up yesterday and we were awful. I was like, ‘Oh no. What did we do?’ [The team] went to work last night and came up with a lot of changes to make to the car. It was so hooked up today. It would just do everything I wanted it to. Man, this is such a special place, This is, by far, my favorite racetrack and I’m just so thankful to Coach [Gibbs], everybody at Toyota. There’s so much more to it than just me and this race team. I’m just so lucky and blessed to have this opportunity with so many great partners. What an amazing race car. Just so proud, so, so proud and we’re going to go race for an owner’s championship in Phoenix.”

    As Almirola celebrated the Martinsville race victory, teammate Chandler Smith, who settled in third place on the track was left heated over Custer, who finished fourth, following their pair of bumps and on-track contact that took them both out of contention for the race victory as Smith also failed to make the Championship 4 field by 28 points. Once Smith parked his car on pit road at the event’s conclusion, he confronted Custer and both exchanged words before Smith attempted to throw a punch across Custer’s face before both were separated by NASCAR officials and their respective crew members.

    Ironically, this marks the second run-in and post-race confrontation between Custer and Chandler Smith after the former had confronted the latter during the Playoff opener at Kansas Speedway in late September, where he criticized Smith for costing both the victory from Almirola following a late duel on the track.

    “I was planning to do a lot more than [throwing a punch], to be completely frank with you,” Smith, whose racing status for 2025 remains unknown, said. “I was extremely pissed off. I gave him five laps before that caution came out and beat his bumper off and never shipped him or anything like that. Then finally, it’s like all right, the laps are winding down, I’m in a must-win [situation]. [Almirola]’s starting to drive away. He was really good all day. I can’t waste any more time with [Custer], so I finally had a good enough run and pushed him up the racetrack and went on our way, but I gave him a chance for five laps before that…He didn’t even give me a chance to make the corner when we got to Turn 1. It is what it is. He can think we’re even and all, but he’s the one that’s got more stakes than I do next weekend.”

    Meanwhile, Custer, who was initially left frustrated with Smith, was also left pleased on pit road as he claimed a Championship 4 berth to next weekend’s finale at Phoenix as he will attempt to defend his title before moving back up to the Cup Series with the rebranded Haas Factory Team in 2025.

    “[Chandler Smith]’s not happy, but at the end of the day, he’s put us in the wall a few times this year and his mistakes caught up with him,” Custer said. “He used the bumper on me, I used the bumper on him. What comes around goes around in this deal. I’m so proud of this team. We brought out everything we had today. [The team] Kept us in the fight, but [crew chief Jonathan Toney] and the guys did a great job all year maximizing everything we had. [I] Can’t wait to go to Phoenix now and see what we can do.”

    Overall, Custer joins AJ Allmendinger, Austin Hill and Justin Allgaier, the latter of whom finished fifth at Martinsville, as the four Playoff contenders who will contend for the 2024 Xfinity Series championship next weekend at Phoenix. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith joins Martinsville runner-up finisher Sammy Smith, rookie Jesse Love and Sam Mayer as the bottom four Playoff contenders in the standings who did not make the Championship 4 round.

    There were 12 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured 13 cautions for 84 laps. In addition, 26 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Aric Almirola, 150 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner

    2. Sammy Smith

    3. Chandler Smith, 34 laps led

    4. Cole Custer, 17 laps led

    5. Justin Allgaier

    6. Sheldon Creed, 13 laps led

    7. Anthony Alfredo

    8. Parker Kligerman

    9. Jeb Burton

    10. Myatt Snider

    11. Riley Herbst

    12. Jesse Love

    13. Brennan Poole

    14. Austin Hill

    15. Ryan Sieg, 13 laps led

    16. Matt DiBenedetto

    17. Josh Williams

    18. Ryan Ellis

    19. Blaine Perkins

    20. Dylan Lupton

    21. Kyle Sieg, three laps led

    22. Mason Maggio

    23. Patrick Emerling

    24. Preston Pardus

    25. Dawson Cram

    26. Greg Van Alst

    27. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

    28. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down

    29. Brandon Jones – OUT, DVP

    30. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

    31. Bubba Pollard, 27 laps down

    32. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Ignition

    33. William Sawalich – OUT, Suspension

    34. Logan Bearden – OUT, Brakes

    35. Leland Honeyman – OUT, Accident

    36. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident, 20 laps led

    37. Carson Ware – OUT, Brakes

    38. AJ Allmendinger – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Austin Hill – Advanced

    2. AJ Allmendinger – Advanced

    3. Justin Allgaier – Advanced

    4. Cole Custer – Advanced

    5. Chandler Smith – Eliminated

    6. Jesse Love – Eliminated

    7. Sam Mayer – Eliminated

    8. Sammy Smith – Eliminated

    The 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is set to conclude at Phoenix Raceway, where a champion will be crowned. The finale is set to occur next Saturday, November 9, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Austin Hill clinches first Championship 4 berth with dominant victory at Homestead

    Austin Hill clinches first Championship 4 berth with dominant victory at Homestead

    Austin Hill spent the previous four of five seasons falling one Playoff round short of reaching the Championship 4 round between two of NASCAR’s top three national touring series. But he is now bound for the Xfinity Series championship battle in 2024 after capping off a dominant run with a victory in the Credit One NASCAR AMEX Credit 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 26.

    The 30-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led three times for a race-high 82 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started 16th but quickly carved his way through the field. After assuming the lead for the first time on Lap 41, Hill captured the first stage victory on Lap 45. He retained the lead for the entire second stage period and racked up an additional 10 crucial stage points towards his quest to remain above the top-four cutline in the Playoff standings by claiming another stage victory of the day.

    Then after flirting between challenging Playoff contender Cole Custer for the lead to trying to remain within sight of the lead for the majority of the final stage period, Hill executed his race-winning pass on Custer with 12 laps remaining following a late cycle of green flag pit stops that started with 43 laps remaining. With the clean air to his advantage, Hill proceeded to muscle away from Custer and lead the rest of the way before he emerged triumphant for his fourth Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season to earn a one-way ticket to his first opportunity to contend for his first Xfinity title in this year’s finale.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, October 25, Playoff contender Chandler Smith notched his third Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 163.305 mph in 33.067 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Sheldon Creed, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 162.822 mph in 33.165 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that include Anthony Alfredo, Jeremy Clements, Matt DiBenedetto and rookie Shane van Gisbergen dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. In addition, DiBenedetto was assessed a pass-through penalty through pit road on the first lap due to his RSS Racing encountering multiple inspection failures.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, the field slowly fanned out through the frontstretch as teammates Chandler Smith and Sheldon Creed dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. With the outside lane to his advantage, Smith would muscle his No. 81 QuickTie Toyota Supra ahead with the lead entering Turn 3 and he would proceed to lead the first lap while Playoff contender Cole Custer and Aric Almirola challenged Creed for the runner-up spot.

    Over the next four laps and amid a series of early on-track battles, Chandler Smith extended his advantage to one second over teammate Almirola, who prevailed in his early three-car battle for the runner-up spot, while Custer prevailed in his early battle with Creed to move his No. 00 NXT Ford Mustang into third place. Behind, Playoff contender AJ Allmendinger was in fifth place ahead of Riley Herbst while Playoff contenders Sam Mayer, rookie Jesse Love and Justin Allgaier followed suit in the top nine. Behind, Parker Kligerman occupied 10th place as he was ahead of Playoff contenders Austin Hill and Sammy Smith while newcomer, William Sawalich, Ryan Sieg and Connor Zilisch were in the top 15.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Chandler Smith retained his early advantage to more than a second over Custer and Almirola as Allmendinger and Herbst were in the top five. Behind, Mayer, Love, Hill and Allgaier followed suit while Creed had dropped to 10th place and was prepared to lose the spot to Kligerman for the following lap. Meanwhile, Sammy Smith was the lowest-running Playoff contender in 13th place.

    Ten laps later, Chandler Smith stabilized his advantage to a second over Custer while Allmendinger, who carved his way up to third place, trailed by two seconds. Behind, Almirola settled in fourth place ahead of Mayer, Herbst and Hill while Love, Allgaier and Creed followed suit in the top 10 ahead of Kligerman, Ryan Sieg, Sawalich, Zilisch and Sammy Smith.

    Another 10 laps later, Chandler Smith’s advantage decreased to a tenth of a second over Custer, with the latter intimidating the former through every turn and straightaway. This left Smith to navigate through various lanes around Homestead to try to defend the top spot and as he was navigating through lapped traffic.

    A lap later, however, Custer used the outside lane to duel with Smith as he led a lap for himself by 0.001 seconds. He then muscled ahead through the first two turns and the backstretch from the outside lane to clear Smith and pull away from the latter, where he would proceed to lead the next lap. As Allmendinger started to close in on Smith for the runner-up spot, Custer retained the lead by eight-tenths of a second at the Lap 35 mark. Custer’s advantage then slightly decreased to two-tenths of a second over the new runner-up competitor Allmendinger as both were navigating through lapped traffic. Behind, Almirola would make his way into third place while Chandler Smith dropped to fourth place.

    Shortly after, Playoff contender Sammy Smith pitted his No. 8 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet Camaro after he made contact with the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2, where he then sustained a flat tire. Back on the track and as the leaders were mired in heavy lapped traffic, Almirola charged his No. 20 Samaritan’s Purse Toyota Supra into the lead on Lap 41. A three-wide battle for the lead then ensued between Custer, Almirola and Hill through the frontstretch for the following lap until Almirola briefly muscled back ahead through the first two turns. Hill then overtook and slid his No. 21 Bennett Chevrolet Camaro in front of Almirola’s Toyota entering the frontstretch to assume the lead on Lap 43 while Custer tried to challenge Almirola for the runner-up spot.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Hill, who came into Homestead eight points below the top-four cutline to make the Championship 4 field, captured his fifth Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Almirola settled in second ahead of Creed, Allgaier and Custer while Mayer, Allmendinger, Herbst, Chandler Smith and Ryan Sieg were scored in the top 10. With six of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of stage points by finishing in the top 10, the remaining Playoff contenders that include Love and Sammy Smith were mired in 11th and 36th, respectively.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hill pitted for a first round of pit service. Following the pit stops, Hill retained the lead as he exited pit road first ahead of Almirola, Custer, Creed and Herbst while Allmendinger, Mayer, Allgaier, Love, Ryan Sieg and Chandler Smith followed suit. Amid the pit stops, Parker Retzlaff was penalized for speeding while exiting pit road.

    The second stage period started on Lap 52 as Hill and Almirola occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out through the frontstretch as Almirola and Hill dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch in front of Custer. Hill would then use the inside lane to muscle ahead of Almirola through Turns 3 and 4, where he would lead the following lap. Hill would maintain a reasonable lead over Almirola just past the Lap 55 mark while Custer, Allmendinger and Ryan Sieg followed suit in the top five.

    At the Lap 60 mark, Hill was leading by four-tenths of a second over Custer while Almirola, Allmendinger and Ryan Sieg continued to race in the top five. Behind, Love was in sixth place ahead of Chandler Smith, Creed, Allgaier and Kligerman as Herbst, Zilisch, Mayer, Brandon Jones and Sawalich were in the top 15. As Josh Williams, Ryan Truex, Kyle Weatherman, Jeb Burton and Kyle Sieg were mired in the top 20, Sammy Smith was scored in 27th place and on the lead lap.

    Six laps later, Herbst pitted his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang from 10th place after he scrubbed the outside wall and sustained right-side damage to his car. By then, Hill had fended off Custer to retain the lead. Hill’s advantage over Custer would stand to be at seven-tenths of a second at the Lap 70 mark while third-place Allmendinger trailed by a second. Meanwhile, as Almirola and Ryan Sieg were in the top five, teammates Chandler Smith and Creed battled for sixth place while Allgaier, who scrubbed the outside wall through Turns 3 and 4, was being pressured by Love for eighth place.

    By Lap 80, Hill extended his advantage to nearly two seconds over Custer while third-place Allmendinger trailed by two seconds and by three-tenths of a second to Custer. As Ryan Sieg and Almirola were in the top five, Creed retained sixth ahead of Allgaier, Chandler Smith, Love and Sawalich.

    Six laps later, the caution flew as Nick Leitz, who was racing within the top-25 mark, spun his No. 92 DGM Racing Chevrolet Camaro in Turn 2. The incident occurred not long after Leland Honeyman pitted due to hitting the wall. Leitz’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 90 to officially conclude under caution as Hill captured his sixth Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season and second of the day. Allmendinger muscled his way into second place ahead of Custer, Ryan Sieg and Almirola while Creed, Allgaier, Chandler Smith, Love and Sawalich were scored in the top 10. With six of eight Playoff contenders racking up the event’s second round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Mayer and Sammy Smith were mired in 14th and 26th, respectively.

    During the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hill returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hill retained the lead after he exited pit road first as he was followed by Custer, Almirola, Allmendinger, Love, Ryan Sieg, Creed, Chandler Smith, Sawalich and Allgaier. Amid the pit stops, Kyle Weatherman was penalized for speeding on pit road while Dylan Lupton was also penalized for pitting outside of his pit box.

    With 105 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as Hill and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Hill and Custer dueled for the lead in front of Almirola and Allmendinger as Hill assumed a brief lead entering the first turn. Custer then used the outside lane to regain the ground and draw even with Hill through the backstretch and the frontstretch, with Hill leading the next lap. Custer then tried to muscle ahead through the first two turns and the backstretch, but Hill pulled ahead of Custer. Custer then pulled a crossover move on Hill during the next lap and he moved his No. 00 NXT Ford into the lead while Hill was being challenged by Almirola for the runner-up spot. With Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, Love and Chandler Smtih all closing ground towards the battle for the lead, Custer retained the lead with 102 laps remaining. Custer would proceed to lead the halfway mark with 100 laps remaining as Almirola, Hill, Sieg and Allmendinger followed suit.

    With 90 laps remaining, the battle for the lead between Custer and Hill that occurred a few laps earlier continued as the former maintained the preferred outside lane towards the outside wall to retain the top spot over the latter, who was trying to use the inside lane to gain a run through all corners. As Custer maintained a reasonable lead of two-tenths of a second over Hill, Almirola trailed in third place while Allmendinger was battling Love for fourth place. As Ryan Sieg, Allgaier, Chandler Smith, Mayer and Kligerman followed suit in the top 10, Sammy Smith was mired in 28th place and scored a lap down.

    Two laps later, Hill used the inside lane to execute another move beneath Custer and he managed to muscle ahead and reassume the lead. Hill proceeded to pull away with the lead by more than two seconds over Custer with 80 laps remaining while Almirola, Allmendinger and Love were scored in the top five.

    Then with 79 laps remaining, the caution flew when Josh Williams, who was racing in the top 15, blew a right-front tire entering Turn 1 and ran dead straight into Ryan Truex as Truex spun the No. 26 Toyota Genuine Parts Supra below the track. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Hill returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hill retained the lead after he exited pit road first and was followed by teammate Love, who gained three spots following a quick pit service from the No. 2 team. Custer, Almirola, Ryan Sieg, Creed, Chandler Smith, Allgaier, Mayer and Sawalich followed suit in the top 10. In the midst of the caution period, Sammy Smith received the free pass due to being the first competitor scored a lap down.

    The start of the next restart period with 73 laps remaining featured Hill muscling away from the field to retain the lead while Custer challenged Love for the runner-up spot through the backstretch. As the field behind fanned out to multiple lanes, Custer then proceeded to make a move beneath Hill through Turns 3 and 4 as he returned atop the leaderboard for the following lap. As the event reached its final 70-lap stretch, Custer retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over Hill before teammate Love overtook him for the spot a lap later. Ryan Sieg would overtake Hill for third place during the next lap as Love started to slowly close in on Custer for the lead.

    With 55 laps remaining, Custer stretched his advantage to two-and-a-half seconds over Love while third-place Ryan Sieg trailed by three-and-a-half seconds. Meanwhile, Hill retained fourth place ahead of Almirola and Allmendinger while Creed, Chandler Smith, Allgaier and Mayer were in the top 10 ahead of Herbst, Kligerman, Brandon Jones, Sawalich, Zilisch and Shane van Gisbergen. In the process, Sammy Smith was mired in 23rd place. A few laps later, Sawalich pitted under green with a flat tire after he slapped the outside wall.

    Ten laps later, Custer added another second to his lead as he was leading by three seconds over Love and he would grow his lead to four seconds for the following lap. Meanwhile, Hill trailed by more than four seconds in third place as Creed and Almirola were in the top five ahead of Allmendinger, Ryan Sieg, Allgaier, Mayer and Herbst.

    With 43 laps remaining, a cycle of green flag pit stops commenced as Almirola pitted from the top five. The leader Custer along with Hill, Love, Ryan Sieg, Zilisch, Ryan Truex and Jeb Burton pitted during the following lap before Sammy Smith pitted with 40 laps remaining. Shortly after and with more names pitting, Chandler Smith endured a slow pit service due to a jack issue during his green flag pit stop as teammate Creed, who was among several who had yet to pit, was leading.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Creed continued to lead by two seconds over Allmendinger as Mayer, Kligerman, Jones and van Gisbergen, all of whom had yet to pit, were racing in the top six. Meanwhile, Custer, the first competitor who pitted, trailed the lead by 17 seconds in seventh place as Hill, Almirola and Love were in the top 10. Creed and Mayer, the latter of whom scraped the outside wall in Turns 1 and 2, then pitted during the following lap as Allmendinger cycled into the lead. With Kligerman then pitting not long after, Custer cycled his way up to third place as Allmendinger retained the lead.

    Five laps later, Custer overtook Jones for the runner-up spot as he trailed Allmendinger for the lead by nine seconds. Soon after, Hill would make his way up to third place as he trailed Custer for two seconds on the track while Allmendinger remained in the lead by seven seconds.

    Then with 21 laps remaining, Allmendinger pitted his No. 16 Modern Day Garage Chevrolet Camaro from the lead. This allowed Custer to cycle back into the lead, where he was ahead of Hill by more than a second while Almirola, Love and Jones were in the top five. Over the next six laps, Hill would steadily decrease Custer’s advantage as he was trailing Custer by seven-tenths of a second with 15 laps remaining.

    With 12 laps remaining and the leaders mired in lapped traffic, Hill, who gained a big run on Custer through the frontstretch and had been gaining ground using the inside lane, went to the outside lane entering Turns 1 and 2 as he battled dead even with Custer through the backstretch. Hill then used the outside lane to shoot his No. 21 Bennett Chevrolet into the lead through Turns 3 and 4, where he led the following lap. Hill would proceed to extend his advantage to a second over Custer with 10 laps remaining while third-place Almirola trailed by four seconds.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Hill continued to extend his late advantage as he was leading by two-and-a-half seconds over Custer. Meanwhile, third-place Almirola trailed by four seconds while Love and Herbst were mired in the top five ahead of Ryan Sieg, Creed, Allgaier, Mayer and Zilisch.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill remained as the leader by more than three seconds over Custer. Navigating his way through a pair of lapped competitors, Hill was able to smoothly navigate his No. 21 Chevrolet around the Homestead circuit for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch victorious and for his fourth Xfinity checkered flag of the 2024 season.

    With the victory, Hill, who is in his third consecutive season as a full-time competitor of the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro entry for Richard Childress Racing, achieved his 10th career win in his 112th career start in the Xfinity Series, his first in the series at Homestead-Miami Speedway and his first since winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway in early September. Hill also recorded his first NASCAR national touring series victory at Homestead since winning the Craftsman Truck Series finale in 2019 as he delivered the 18th Xfinity victory of the 2024 season for the Chevrolet nameplate and the fifth for Richard Childress Racing.

    Above all, Hill, who spent four of the last five seasons having his Playoff berth end following the Round of 8 between the Truck and Xfinity divisions, clinched a berth into the Championship 4 round for the first time in his career. As a result, he joins AJ Allmendinger as the second competitor who will officially contend for the 2024 Xfinity Series championship at Phoenix Raceway two weeks from now.

    “I worked so hard at this,” Hill, who was emotional, said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “A lot of people doubted me, but I wake up every day to prove everyone wrong, that I deserve to be here. I deserve to race for a championship. This No. 21 team deserves it just as much as I do. They work their asses off each and every day just like I do. I got to give up to those guys. They just gave me a hell of a car. I didn’t have to go run the wall. I could run, really, wherever I wanted to. I can honestly say I’ve never cried coming to the start/finish line. I couldn’t even get my emotions together going into Turn 1 after the checkered.”

    “I just had to be on it,” Hill added. “I made some mistakes today, but we rebounded. Pit crew was badass like they always are. I knew once we got off pit road and we were in touch with [Custer], I just had to go to work and not burn my right front or right rear [tires] up and just save it for the long run. As soon as I saw him start backing up to me, it was game on. This is amazing. To be able to go to the Final Four, I’ve worked so hard for this. My dreams came true.”

    Cole Custer, who led 67 laps, settled in second place as he ended up one spot short of clinching his early spot into the Championship 4 round. Nonetheless, Custer, who earned a total of 14 stage points at Homestead, currently occupies the fourth and final transfer spot to the Championship 4 by 28 points over Chandler Smith entering next weekend’s Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway as he continues his pursuit to defend his series title.

    “Man, I thought that second-to-last run, we had it,” Custer said. “That last run, for whatever reason, we got pretty free and [Hill] seemed like they got way better than what they were the second-to-last run. Sold points day. We’ll move into Martinsville. We’ve had good runs there before. Just got to bring everything we got there because you never know who’s going to win.”

    Aric Almirola settled in third place while rookie Jesse Love and Sheldon Creed finished in the top five. Riley Herbst, Ryan Sieg, Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer and AJ Allmendinger completed the top-10 final running order.

    With six of eight Playoff contenders finishing in the top 10, the remaining two Playoff contenders that include pole-sitter Chandler Smith and Sammy Smith ended up 13th and 22nd, respectively. As a result, Allgaier is above the top-four cutline by 35 points while Chandler Smith, Love, Mayer and Sammy Smith are below the cutline.

    There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured three cautions for 19 laps. In addition, 16 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Austin Hill, 82 laps led, Stages 1 & 2 winner

    2. Cole Custer, 67 laps led

    3. Aric Almirola, one lap led

    4. Jesse Love

    5. Sheldon Creed, 12 laps led

    6. Riley Herbst

    7. Ryan Sieg

    8. Justin Allgaier

    9. Sam Mayer

    10. AJ Allmendinger, nine laps led

    11. Parker Kligerman

    12. Connor Zilisch

    13. Chandler Smith, 29 laps led

    14. Kyle Weatherman

    15. Anthony Alfredo

    16. Jeremy Clements

    17. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down

    18. Brennan Poole, one lap down

    19. Brandon Jones, one lap down

    20. Jeb Burton, one lap down

    21. Ryan Truex, one lap down

    22. Sammy Smith, one lap down

    23. Parker Retzlaff, one lap down

    24. William Sawalich, one lap down

    25. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

    26. Kyle Sieg, one lap down

    27. Josh Williams, three laps down

    28. Brad Perez, three laps down

    29. Austin Green, three laps down

    30. Leland Honeyman, three laps down

    31. Mason Maggio, three laps down

    32. Dylan Lupton, four laps down

    33. Dawson Cram, four laps down

    34. Blaine Perkins, five laps down

    35. Armani Williams, seven laps down

    36. Thomas Annunziata – OUT, Ignition

    37. Nick Leitz – OUT, Suspension

    38. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, Overheating

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. AJ Allmendinger – Advanced

    2. Austin Hill – Advanced

    3. Justin Allgaier +35

    4. Cole Custer +28

    5. Chandler Smith -28

    6. Jesse Love -35

    7. Sam Mayer -47

    8. Sammy Smith -95

    The Round of 8 in the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to conclude at Martinsville Speedway for the National Debt Relief 250, which will determine this year’s Championship 4 field. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, November 2, and air at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Sheldon Creed to make 100th Xfinity start at Las Vegas

    Sheldon Creed to make 100th Xfinity start at Las Vegas

    With four races remaining on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule, Sheldon Creed is scheduled to achieve a milestone start. By competing in this weekend’s Xfinity Playoff event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supra will make his 100th career start in the Xfinity circuit.

    A native of Alpine, California, Creed made his inaugural presence in the Xfinity Series at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in August 2017. By then, he had achieved back-to-back Stadium Super Truck championships (2016-17) and transitioned to stock car racing following his early success in SST and off-road competition. He had also made select starts within the ARCA Menards Series East and West divisions for MDM Motorsports and Jefferson Pitts Racing. Driving the No. 01 Chevrolet for JD Motorsports, Creed started 32nd and finished 34th in his Xfinity debut. He would return two races later at Road America, where he ended up in 38th place following an early vibration issue.

    From 2019 to 2021, Creed, who won the 2018 ARCA Menards Series championship, competed on a full-time basis in the Craftsman Truck Series for GMS Racing, where he won the 2020 series’ championship, accumulated eight victories and made the Playoffs during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. During the three-year span, he made two starts in the Xfinity Series. The first occurred at Daytona International Speedway in July 2019, where he drove the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports and ended up in 34th place after being involved in two separate multi-car wrecks. He then competed for BJ McLeod Motorsports during the 2021 finale at Phoenix Raceway, where he collected his first top-10 career finish by finishing in 10th place.

    In 2022, Creed graduated to the Xfinity Series on a full-time basis, where he replaced Myatt Snider as the driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing (RCR). Finishing sixth in his first start with RCR at Daytona in February, the Californian recorded nine top-10 results through 24 regular-season events as he spent the majority of the stretch mired outside of the top-12 cutline to make the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs. At Darlington Raceway in September, Creed attempted to pull a “video game” move on the final lap by scraping his No. 2 Chevrolet against the outside wall at full speed, but his momentum got stalled entering the frontstretch, which allowed Noah Gragson to overtake him for the victory as Creed, who had been battling Gragson and Kyle Larson for the victory, settled in a career-best runner-up result. After finishing 11th and 37th during the final two regular-season events on the schedule, he was unable to mount his way into the Playoffs. Recording another runner-up result at Martinsville Speedway in October along with a total of three top-10 results throughout the seven-race Playoff stretch, Creed ended up in 14th place in the final standings. Overall, he recorded four top-five results, 13 top-10 results, 155 laps led and an average-finishing result of 17.5 throughout his first full-time Xfinity campaign.

    Returning for a second full-time Xfinity campaign with RCR in 2023, Creed finished 34th and 23rd in the season’s first two events before notching five top-10 results, including a runner-up result at Talladega Superspeedway in April, during the next 10 events on the schedule. At Portland International Raceway in June, he notched his first career pole position and led a race-high 47 laps before ending in seventh place despite being spun by John Hunter Nemechek prior to the second stage’s conclusion and getting shuffled while battling for the lead amid a two-lap shootout. Despite finishing no higher than eighth during his next nine starts, Creed then recorded back-to-back runner-up results while contending for the victory. The first runner-up result occurred at Watkins Glen International in August after he assumed the lead during an overtime shootout before losing the lead to Sam Mayer after slipping out of the racing groove before the final lap. The second occurred at Daytona after he was edged by Justin Allgaier by 0.005 seconds. Concluding the regular-season stretch with an eighth- and third-place finish in two races, Creed earned a spot into the Xfinity Series Playoffs for the first time in his career.

    After finishing no lower than 11th throughout the Round of 12, he was able to earn the eighth and final transfer spot into the Round of 8 by two points over Daniel Hemric and four over Parker Kligerman. Then coming off a 15th- and 26th-place finish during the first two Round of 8 events, Creed placed himself in another opportunity to claim his first series victory during the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway. During an overtime shootout, however, Creed, who bumped and rubbed fenders with teammate Austin Hill on the final lap and entering the final two turns, managed to take the lead from Hill in Turn 3 before he locked up the tires and briefly fell off the pace, which resulted with Hill ramming into the rear of Creed’s No. 2 entry as Hill was involved in a last-lap multi-car wreck. Amid the carnage, Creed was then edged at the finish line by Allgaier by 0.032 seconds, which marked his sixth runner-up result in the Xfinity circuit, as both Creed and Hill were unable to transfer into the Championship 4 round. Despite receiving harsh comments and criticisms from Hill and the RCR organization, Creed proceeded to finish in the runner-up spot for a seventh time during the finale at Phoenix in November, which resulted in the Californian settling in seventh place in the final standings. By then, Creed had earned three additional top-five finishes and two additional top-10 results compared to the 2022 season. He had also led 35 extra laps from the previous season and improved his average finishing result from 17.5 to 13.5.

    After announcing his departure from Richard Childress Racing a month before the 2023 season’s conclusion, Creed was announced as the driver of the No. 18 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2024 Xfinity season in December. He commenced his first season with team owner Joe Gibbs by finishing in second place behind former teammate Hill. Despite enduring a winless stretch throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, the Californian notched two poles, a total of six runner-up results, 13 top-five results and 17 top-10 results, which were enough for him to make the 2024 Playoffs. Despite finishing fifth and fourth, respectively, during the first two events of the Round of 12, Creed was involved in a multi-car wreck just shy of the Round of 12’s finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. While trying to finish the event, Creed’s car stalled on the course and he retired in 35th place. As a result, he fell short of transferring into the Round of 8 by seven points.

    As Creed continues his pursuit for his first elusive victory in the Xfinity Series for the remaining four races on this year’s schedule, he is set to join Haas Factory Team, an organization rebranded from Stewart-Haas Racing, in 2025.

    Through 99 previous Xfinity starts, Creed has achieved three poles, 26 top-five results, 48 top-10 results, 453 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.1. To date, he holds the record for the most number of runner-up results without an Xfinity victory at 13. Currently, Creed’s 2024 stats in top fives (15), top 10s (19) and average-finishing result (12.3) are his best as he is also scored in 10th place in the standings.

    Sheldon Creed is scheduled to make his 100th Xfinity Series career start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Ambetter Health 302. The event is scheduled to occur this upcoming Saturday, October 19, and air at 7 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Sam Mayer capitalizes in overtime for wild Xfinity victory at Charlotte Roval; Playoff’s Round of 8 field set

    Sam Mayer capitalizes in overtime for wild Xfinity victory at Charlotte Roval; Playoff’s Round of 8 field set

    For a second consecutive season, Sam Mayer went from being scored below the cutline in the Playoff’s Round of 12 finale to leapfrogging his way into the Round of 8 by winning the Drive for the Cure 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (Roval) on Saturday, October 12, amid an overtime shootout.

    The 21-year-old Mayer from Franklin, Wisconsin, led three times for 13 of 72 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row alongside Playoff contender Shane van Gisbergen but was penalized for launching ahead of the latter prior to the start/finish line while not the control competitor. Despite serving a pass-through penalty through pit road during the second lap, Mayer blended back on the track inside the top-15 mark, carved his way back into the top 10 after pitting before the first stage’s conclusion, and settled in 11th place. Despite falling one spot short of accumulating crucial stage points following the first stage period, Mayer racked up eight points by settling in third place at the conclusion of the second stage period.

    After restarting on the front row for the start of the final stage period with 24 laps remaining, Mayer assumed the lead during the following lap. Despite pitting for fresh tires during a late caution period that started with 15 laps remaining, the Wisconsin native would use the tires to carve his way back up the leaderboard and up to second place as he tried to challenge Playoff contender Parker Kligerman for the victory in the closing laps.

    Initially poised to finish in second place behind Kligerman, which would have eliminated him from the Playoffs, Mayer was gifted an opportunity to reclaim the lead after Leland Honeyman wrecked in Turn 3. The caution occurred inches before Kligerman could start the final lap of the event and make the event official, and instead sent the field into overtime. During the overtime shootout, Mayer overtook Kligerman through the Roval’s newly configured Turn 7 and muscled away from the field for two laps to win and maintain his 2024 championship hopes for another three weeks.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Playoff rookie Shane van Gisbergen notched his third Xfinity Series pole position of the season and his career with a pole-winning lap at 97.110 mph in 84.523 seconds. Playoff contender Sam Mayer joined him on the front row was Playoff contender Sam Mayer, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 96.871 mph in 84.731 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Ed Jones and Thomas Annunziata 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, Sam Mayer rocketed his No. 1 QPS Employment Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Shane van Gisbergen and AJ Allmendinger from the inside lane through the frontstretch as he proceeded to lead through the first turn before he navigated his way through the infield turns, starting in Turn 2. The field, led by Mayer, would then navigate through a pair of right-hand turns in Turns 3 and 4 before entering a brief straightaway to another right-hand turn in Turn 5. Mayer retained the lead through the Roval’s new design turns from Turns 6 and 7 before making a sharp left-hand turn to return back to the main Charlotte oval course.

    As the field continued to jostle for early spots, Mayer proceeded to lead through the backstretch’s chicane before he was penalized by NASCAR for jumping the start while not the leader of the race. Amid the penalty, Mayer navigated his way through the final pair of turns before he returned to the frontstretch, drove through the chicane and led the first lap while being black-flagged by NASCAR.

    During the second lap, Mayer served a drive-through penalty through pit road, which allowed van Gisbergen to assume the lead as he was followed by teammate AJ Allmendinger, Sheldon Creed, Josh Bilicki and Austin Hill. Despite being pressured by his Kaulig Racing teammate of Allmendinger, van Gisbergen would navigate his way through the 17-turn course and lead the following lap. By the fourth lap, however, Allmendinger navigated his way past van Gisbergen through the frontstretch’s chicane. With Allmendinger leading, van Gisbergen would fend off Creed for the runner-up spot as Bilicki and Hill followed suit.

    Through the first five-scheduled laps, Allmendinger was leading by over teammate van Gisbergen as Creed, Bilicki and Austin Hill continued to trail in the top five ahead of rookie Jesse Love, Chandler Smith, Justin Allgaier, Connor Mosack and Riley Herbst. Behind, Aric Almirola trailed in 11th place ahead of Cole Custer, Parker Kligerman and Anthony Alfredo while Sam Mayer was mired in 15th place ahead of teammate Sammy Smith.

    Two laps later, van Gisbergen missed the backstretch’s chicane, where he locked up the front tires and drove off the course while running in second place. The on-track misfortune dropped the New Zealander to sixth place, where he had to come to a full stop before proceeding back on the racing surface, as Bilicki, Creed, Hill and Jesse Love all moved up the leaderboard. By then, Allmendinger was leading by more than three seconds.

    At the Lap 10 mark, eight of 12 Playoff contenders were racing inside the top 10 as Allmendinger continued to lead by more than two seconds over Bilicki. Behind, Creed, Hill and Love followed suit ahead of van Gisbergen, Allgaier, Chandler Smith and Almirola while Mayer carved his way back into the top 10. Meanwhile, Playoff contenders Kligerman, Herbst, Custer and Sammy Smith were racing inside the top 15 mark as Connor Mosack occupied 14th place.

    By Lap 15, Allmendinger stabilized his advantage to nearly four seconds over Bilicki while third-place van Gisbergen carved his way back up to third place in front of Creed, Hill and Love. Behind, Allgaier, Chandler Smith, Almirola and Mayer remained in the top 10 ahead of Kligerman and Herbst while Custer and Sammy Smith dropped to 16th and 17th, respectively.

    Not long after, Creed, who was racing in fourth place, spun in the Roval’s newly configured Turn 7 after he got hit by Love, who was trying to make a move beneath teammate Hill for a top-five spot. The incident dropped Creed out of the top-10 mark on the track as the event remained under green flag conditions.

    By Lap 17, select names led by Bilicki and including Chandler Smith, Almirola, Mayer, Kligerman, Austin Green, Brandon Jones, Custer, Anthony Alfredo, Sammy Smith, Josh Williams, Ed Jones, Alex Labbe and Ryan Sieg pitted under green. Parker Retzlaff had pitted a lap earlier as Allmendinger retained the lead by more than six seconds over teammate van Gisbergen.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Allmendinger cruised to his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate van Gisbergen followed suit in second ahead of Allgaier, Hill and Love while Creed, Mosack, Herbst, Bilicki and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10. With eight of 12 Playoff contenders racking up the event’s first round of stage points, the remaining Playoff contenders including Mayer, Kligerman, Custer and Sammy Smith were mired in 11th, 21st, 23rd and 26th, respectively.

    Under the stage break, some led by Allmendinger and including Playoff contenders van Gisbergen, Creed, Herbst, Allgaier, Hill and Love pitted while the rest led by Bilicki and Chandler Smith remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Love exited pit road first, ahead of Allmendinger, Creed, Hill, Herbst, Allgaier, van Gisbergen, Jeb Burton, Mosack and Sage Karam.

    The second stage period started on Lap 24 as teammates Bilicki and Chandler Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Bilicki and Chandler Smith both dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Bilicki muscled his No. 19 Insurance King Toyota Supra ahead through the infield turns. As the field behind jostled for spots, Bilicki retained the lead through the infield turns, including the tight, left-hand Turn 7, before returning to the main oval course. In the midst of the battles, van Gisbergen, who restarted outside the top 20, made contact with Creed in Turn 7 in his charge back to the front before Alex Labbe spun through the backstretch’s chicane amid contact with Ed Jones. Amid the on-track chaos, the race remained under green flag conditions as Bilicki led the following lap ahead of teammate Chandler Smith while Aric Almirola was up to third place.

    During an ensuing caution period that started on Lap 26 due to debris spotted in Turn 2, select names led by Creed and including Thomas Annunziata, Leland Honeyman and Blaine Perkins pitted while the rest of the field led by Bilicki remained on the track. Creed’s pit service was due to the driver reporting a shifter issue to his No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota Supra.

    With the field restarting under green on Lap 29, Bilicki fended off teammate Chandler Smith through the first two turns to retain the lead. Bilicki retained a steady advantage over Smith, Mayer, Almirola and Kligerman through the infield turns from Turns 3 to 7 as the field fanned out while navigating back onto Charlotte’s oval course. Then as the field navigated through the backstretch’s chicane before returning to the frontstretch, the caution returned due to Matt DiBenedetto crashing into the tire barriers just past Turn 6 and struggling to restart from his carnage scene.

    The start of the next restart period on Lap 32 featured Bilicki and Mayer occupying the front row, where both dueled for the lead through the first three turns before Mayer muscled ahead entering Turn 4. As the field behind fanned out, Mayer fended off Bilicki through the following three sets of infield turns before he returned to the oval course and continued to lead through the backstretch chicane. With Chandler Smith, Kligerman and Allmendinger trailing in the top five, Mayer led the following lap.

    Shortly after, the caution returned when Herbst, who was battling Alfredo amid close-quarters racing for 15th place, made contact with Alfredo through the frontstretch chicane that resulted in Herbst getting turned sideways off the front nose of Alfredo as both went straight into the outside wall and igniting a pileup that involved Josh Williams, Mosack, Ed Jones, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg, Dylan Lupton, Preston Pardus, Blaine Perkins, Brad Perez, Jeremy Clements, Brennan Poole and Creed. Despite sustaining damage to their respective cars, Herbst and Creed continued and remained on the lead lap.

    During the caution period and extensive cleanup period, a majority of the field led by Mayer pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.

    With the race restarting under green with three laps remaining in the second stage period, Allgaier and Sage Karam led the field to the restart zone, where Allgaier rocketed away from Karam and the field to lead through the infield turns as Leland Honeyman overtook Karam for second place. With Allgaier retaining the lead, the field fanned out while navigating through the infield turns, the oval turns and the backstretch’s chicane. As Allgaier proceeded to lead the following lap, more trouble struck for Creed, who was off the pace and limping his damaged car below the Charlotte oval’s apron. Creed would lose a lap as the field lapped him entering the backstretch.

    As Herbst was also falling off the pace in his damaged No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang and with a broken trackbar, the caution would then fly on the final lap of the second stage period due to Creed coming to a halt in the backstretch. The caution would officially conclude the second stage period scheduled for Lap 40 as Allgaier claimed his 15th Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammates Mosack and Mayer would follow suit in second and third, respectively, while Almirola, Honeyman, Allmendinger, van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith, Karam and Bilicki were scored in the top 10. With five of 12 Playoff contenders racking up a second round of stage points and both Herbst and Creed out of contention, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Kligerman, Love, Hill, Sammy Smith and Custer were mired inside the top 20.

    During the stage break, select names including Allgaier, Karam, Clements, Retzlaff and Honeyman pitted while the rest led by Mosack remained on the track.

    With 24 laps remaining, the final stage period commenced under green as teammates Mosack and Mayer occupied the front row. At the start, Mosack muscled ahead and cleared teammate Mayer through the first turn. As Mosack proceeded to lead in his No. 88 Apollo Pex Chevrolet Camaro through the ensuing infield turns, Mayer fended off Allmendinger to retain second while Almirola, van Gisbergen and Chandler Smith followed suit in the top six. With van Gisbergen diving his way up to fourth place through Turn 7, Mosack fended off teammate Mayer through both the backstretch and frontstretch chicanes to lead the following lap while teammates Hill and Love battled for ninth place.

    Then, as Almirola and Clements spun in Turn 7, Mayer overtook teammate Mosack through Turns 8 and 9 to assume the lead. Mayer would retain the lead for the following lap as teammate Mosack, Allmendinger, van Gisbergen and Chandler Smith followed suit in the top five.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Mayer was leading by more than a second over teammate Mosack as Playoff contenders Allmendinger, van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith, Kligerman and Hill followed suit in the top seven ahead of Bilicki, Austin Green and Love. Behind, Sammy Smith, Custer and Allgaier were scored in the top 15 along with Brandon Jones and DiBenedetto as 31 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Five laps later, Mayer continued to lead by more than a second over Allmendinger as van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith and Mosack followed suit in the top five. With Mayer, who came into the event scored below the top-eight cutline in the Playoff standings, leading, van Gisbergen currently occupied the eighth and final transfer spot to the top-eight cutline by two points over Allgaier, who overtook Custer for 12th place.

    Shortly after, the caution flew due to Thomas Annunziata driving his No. 35 NFPA Toyota entry head-on into the barriers entering Turn 1 due to a brake failure. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Mayer and including Playoff contenders Allmendinger, Hill, Kligerman, Allgaier, Custer and Sammy Smith pitted while the rest led by van Gisbergen remained on the track. In addition to van Gisbergen, Austin Green, Love, Preston Pardus and Nathan Byrd remained on the track.

    The start of the ensuing restart period with 11 laps remaining featured van Gisbergen rocketing his No. 97 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro away with the lead as the field fanned out entering the first turn. With van Gisbergen leading Love, Green, Mayer and Kligerman through the infield turns and back on the oval turns, the New Zealander retained the lead by a steady margin through the backstretch chicane as Kligerman battled and overtook Love for the runner-up spot.

    With 10 laps remaining, several competitors including Mosack and Alfredo spun through the frontstretch chicane while more including Sammy Smith served an on-track stop-and-go penalty in the frontstretch. At the front, van Gisbergen retained the lead over a hard-charging Kligerman while Mayer carved his way up to third place. Kligerman would cut van Gisbergen’s deficit through the infield turns before the former retained the advantage for the remaining turns.

    The following lap, Kligerman, who pitted for fresh tires during the previous caution period and is placed in a “must-win” situation to advance into the Playoff’s Round of 8, closed in to van Gisbergen’s rear bumper through the infield turns. Kligerman then made his move beneath van Gisbergen in Turn 7 to move his No. 48 Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet Camaro into the lead and he would retain the top spot through the oval turns and the following set of chicanes as Mayer overtook van Gisbergen for the runner-up spot. Van Gisbergen, whose tires were beginning to wear out, would then yield third place to teammate Allmendinger through the infield turns during the following lap as Kligerman retained the lead over Mayer.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Kligerman kept his lead to three-tenths of a second over Mayer, with the latter keeping pace and remaining within a striking zone of the former while Allmendinger tried to close in on the two leaders. Behind, van Gisbergen trailed by more than two seconds in fourth place ahead of Hill while Chandler Smith, Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Bilicki and Love were racing in the top 10.

    Then with four laps remaining, Mayer seized an opportunity and made his move beneath Kligerman entering the frontstretch chicane to assume the lead. With Mayer lightly bumping into Kligerman and retaining the lead through the chicane, Kligerman then executed a crossover move of his own as he made his move beneath Mayer and reassumed the lead through the frontstretch. With Kligerman fending off Mayer through the first three turns, Allmendinger joined the battle and van Gisbergen also tried to close in from fourth place. During the following lap, Mayer briefly lost his momentum through the oval’s backstretch, which allowed Allmendinger and van Gisbergen to challenge him for the runner-up spot. Mayer, however, defended his spot as Kligerman muscled away with the lead through every turn and straightaway.

    For the following lap, Kligerman’s steady advantage grew to nine-tenths of a second over Mayer as Allmendinger and van Gisbergen followed suit by less than two seconds. Despite Mayer trimming the gap to half a second towards the frontstretch, Kligerman remained in the lead.

    Then as Kligerman was inches away from crossing the start/finish line to take the white flag and start the final lap of the event, the caution flew and the event was sent into overtime due to Leland Honeyman wrecking and getting buried beneath the tire barriers in Turn 3. During the caution period, some including Love pitted while the rest led by Kligerman remained on the track

    The start of the first overtime attempt featured Kligerman and Mayer dueling for the lead through the first four turns before the former rubbed and fended his way back to the front to retain the lead. Kligerman would retain the lead for the following infield turns before Mayer pulled a crossover move beneath Kligerman in Turn 7 and assumed the lead entering the oval turns. Mayer would proceed to lead through the backstretch chicane while Kligerman was trying to fend off Allmendinger and van Gisbergen for the runner-up spot.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Mayer remained as the leader by a second over Allmendinger and van Gisbergen, who overtook Kligerman for second and third. By then, van Gisbergen was tied with Love for the final transfer spot to the Round of 8. As Love was trying to gain a spot within the middle of the pack, Mayer retained the lead from the infield turns to the backstretch. With both Allmendinger and van Gisbergen unable to close in from behind, Mayer would cycle back to the frontstretch and weave his way through the chicane before crossing the finish line in first place and notching his third Xfinity checkered flag of the 2024 season.

    With the victory, Mayer, who came into the Charlotte Roval event 13 points below the cutline after being disqualified due to his car failing to meet the height requirements during the post-race inspection process last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, notched his seventh career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series division, his third of the season and his first since winning at Iowa Speedway in June. The victory was also the 16th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate, with the manufacturer racking its sixth consecutive win at the Charlotte Roval, and the 88th overall for JR Motorsports.

    The second consecutive victory at the Charlotte Roval allowed Mayer and the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet team to automatically advance into the Round of 8, where the Wisconsin native continues his pursuit for his first Xfinity Series championship.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “Man, it’s all thanks to the good Lord above,” Mayer said on the CW Network. “He’s blessed me with a lot of issues this year, learning moments. To come out here to the Charlotte Motor Speedway [Rova], go back to back [in wins] with a fast, fast car. To do it at home is something special. This No. 1 car was fast today. We certainly had to work for [the win] there. I knew that [passing in Turn 7] was my only shot if I got a good angle into that corner. [Kligerman] blocked the bottom [lane], which was good for me. It gave me a better angle up off the corner and this QPS Employment Chevrolet hooked up and we were gone from there. [It] Was something super special and now, I get to celebrate.”

    As Mayer celebrated the race victory that enabled him to advance into the Round of 8, Jesse Love was also left smiling after he finished in 19th place, which was enough for him to claim the eighth and final spot to advance into the next round of the Playoffs by two points over rookie rival van Gisbergen, who ended up in third place. The result marks the second time where a driver of the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet entry claimed the final berth into the Round of 8 while van Gisbergen’s championship run in his first full-time NASCAR campaign came to a bittersweet end.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “[The ending was] Just stressful,” Love said. “[My team] were telling me I needed one more [spot] and then one more. I was like, ‘When is [the race] gonna end?’ At the end of the day, I got to be loyal to my guys and they busted their ass really hard, so I got to put a sack over my shoulder and man up and drive forward. Just proud of my whole Whelen No. 2 team. We’re good enough to go race for a championship and we just got to go show it in the next three weeks.”

    “It is what it is,” van Gisbergen said. “It probably comes down to last week [at Talladega] having the dramas we had and the DNF there, so that’s probably it. I’m proud of the Kaulig Racing guys. We’ve had an amazing year, my first year in NASCAR. I’ve loved it. I’m happy, but I’m also not. I’d love to keep going [in the Playoffs]. [I] Did what I could.”

    Compared to van Gisbergen, teammate AJ Allmendinger advanced into the Round of 8 by finishing in second place. Playoff contenders Austin Hill, Chandler Smith and Justin Allgaier all advanced by finishing fourth, fifth and seventh, respectively, on the track as they joined Sammy Smith, who advanced by winning last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, for the Round of 8 battle.

    Meanwhile, Kligerman did not transfer despite capping off his strong run in sixth place. Kligerman’s sixth-place result left the Connecticut native with mixed emotions and fighting off tears as he was initially within inches of both achieving his first elusive Xfinity victory and advancing into the Round of 8 during the event’s regulation period. Nonetheless, Kligerman remained humble and remained optimistic in pursuing his victory before he retires from NASCAR competition at this season’s conclusion.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “I might have teared up when I thought we got it there with the white flag and the caution comes out and then had to refocus,” Kligerman said. “I thought I’d cut off Turn 7 enough, but [Mayer] somehow got below me and then, it was on from there. I said I want to cry. I’m not gonna cry, but I really love this game. I just really, really wanted that. It would have meant the world, but you know what? It meant the world to be in that position. Thank you to [owner] Scott Borchetta and everyone at Spiked Coolers. Everyone who made this possible. Big Machine Racing. I don’t know how to process this. It’s going to take a while, but just really thankful to have the opportunity. God, I love this game. I want to get a trophy.”

    Ultimately, Kligerman and van Gisbergen join Riley Herbst and Sheldon Creed as the bottom four competitors in the Playoff standings to not advance into the Round of 8.

    There were 12 lead changes for eight different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 20 laps. In addition, 26 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Sam Mayer, 13 laps led

    2. AJ Allmendinger, 18 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    3. Shane van Gisbergen, seven laps led

    4. Austin Hill

    5. Chandler Smith, one lap led

    6. Parker Kligerman, 12 laps led

    7. Justin Allgaier, six laps led, Stage 2 winner

    8. Josh Bilicki, 10 laps led

    9. Aric Almirola

    10. Sammy Smith

    11. Brandon Jones

    12. Parker Retzlaff

    13. Cole Custer

    14. Alex Labbe

    15. Jeb Burton

    16. Anthony Alfredo

    17. Ryan Sieg

    18. Connor Mosack, five laps led

    19. Jesse Love

    20. Jeremy Clements

    21. Preston Pardus

    22. Matt DiBenedetto

    23. Kyle Sieg

    24. Dawson Cram

    25. Nathan Byrd

    26. Brad Perez

    27. Dylan Lupton, one lap down

    28. Leland Honeyman – OUT, Accident

    29. Sage Karam – OUT, Brakes

    30. Austin Green – OUT, Engine

    31. Ryan Ellis, 14 laps down

    32. Riley Herbst – OUT, Driveshaft

    33. Blaine Perkins, 16 laps down

    34. Thomas Annunziata – OUT, Accident

    35. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident

    36. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

    37. Ed Jones – OUT, Accident

    38. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Sam Mayer – Advanced

    2. Sammy Smith – Advanced

    3. Chandler Smith – Advanced

    4. Austin Hill – Advanced

    5. Cole Custer – Advanced

    6. AJ Allmendinger – Advanced

    7. Justin Allgaier – Advanced

    8. Jesse Love – Advanced

    9. Shane van Gisbergen – Eliminated

    10. Sheldon Creed – Eliminated

    11. Riley Herbst – Eliminated

    12. Parker Kligerman – Eliminated

    The Round of 8 in the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to commence at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the Ambetter Health 302. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, October 19, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Aric Almirola rallies for second Xfinity victory of 2024 at Kansas

    Aric Almirola rallies for second Xfinity victory of 2024 at Kansas

    Aric Almirola commenced the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs by spoiling the opening race with a resurgent victory in the Kansas Lottery 30 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, September 28, leaving a bevy of Playoff contenders left with bruised feelings and an early axe to grind toward one another.

    The 40-year-old Almirola from Tampa, Florida, led twice for 16 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started sixth and generated race-winning pace in the early portions of the race as he won the first stage period. Then, after settling in second place after the second stage period, Almirola’s event nearly went south when he pitted under green with less than 80 laps remaining due to scraping the outside wall entering the backstretch that cut his right-rear tire.

    With a late-race caution flying with under 60 laps remaining due to a wheel rolling onto the frontstretch’s grass during a late cycle of green-flag pit stops, Almirola was able to methodically carve his way back to the front. Starting from the final restart period with 49 laps remaining, he overtook Playoff contender Cole Custer for the lead with three laps remaining. From there, Almirola was able to drive away from Custer and cruise to his second Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Brandon Jones notched his third Xfinity pole position of the 2024 season with a pole-winning lap at 175.553 mph in 30.760 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Chandler Smith, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 175.291 mph in 30.806 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following drivers, including Logan Bearden, Jeb Burton, Matt DiBenedetto, Brad Perez and Dawson Cram dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Leland Honeyman also dropped to the rear of the field for an engine change.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Chandler Smith jumped ahead with an early advantage from the inside lane as he led Brandon Jones and the field through the first two turns and the backstretch. With nearly the entire field running in two packed lanes, Smith muscled ahead and led the first lap as Connor Zilisch managed to keep his car running straight after he slid sideways through Turns 3 and 4 from fourth place.

    Over the next four laps, Chandler Smith proceeded to lead as Jones, Playoff contender Cole Custer, Aric Almirola, Playoff contender Justin Allgaier and Playoff contender Jesse Love followed suit in the top six while Zilisch dropped to seventh. By then, Jeremy Clements was penalized for a restart violation, when he changed lanes before reaching the start/finish line to begin the race, as Zilisch continued to lose spots while being overtaken by Taylor Gray and Playoff contender Parker Kligerman.

    Then on the sixth lap, the event’s first caution flew when Playoff contender Sammy Smith spun by himself on the backstretch after he got tagged into the frontstretch outside wall by Playoff contender AJ Allmendinger the lap prior. During the caution period, select names including Playoff contender Shane van Gisbergen, Dawson Cram, Joey Gase, Ryan Vargas, Patrick Emerling and Sammy Smith pitted while the rest, led by Chandler Smith, remained on the track.

    The start of the following restart on Lap 11 featured a duel between Jones and Chandler Smith before teammate Aric Almirola shoved Smith back out in front from the inside lane entering the first two turns. Smith then proceeded to clear Jones through the backstretch as both Almirola and Custer challenged Jones for the runner-up spot. With Jones fending off Custer and Almirola for the runner-up spot, Chandler Smith proceeded to lead through the Lap 15 mark.

    Through the first 20 scheduled laps, Chandler Smith was leading by a second over Jones as Custer, Almirola and Taylor Gray were racing in the top five. Behind, Playoff contenders Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer, Austin Hill, Parker Kligerman and Sheldon Creed were scored in the top 10 as Playoff contenders Riley Herbst and Jesse Love followed suit in the top 12. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith added another second to his advantage and led by two seconds at the Lap 25 mark. By then, Custer and Almirola had navigated their way to second and third on the track while Jones fell to fourth in front of Gray.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Chandler Smith maintained his early advantage by a second over Almirola, with Custer, Jones and Gray scored in the top five. With Playoff contenders Mayer, Allgaier, Hill, Creed, Herbst and Kligerman racing in the top 11, Love was back in 13th place, AJ Allmendinger was mired in 15th place, van Gisbergen was down in 26th place and Sammy Smith was trapped in 28th place.

    Seven laps later, Almirola got to teammate Chandler Smith’s left-rear quarter panel and got him loose, then drag-raced him through the frontstretch to assume the lead for the first time. With the clean air to his advantage, Almirola proceeded to lead by more than a second over Smith by Lap 40 with Custer, Jones and Mayer racing in the top five.

    Then on the final lap of the first stage period, the caution flew after Taylor Gray lost an engine and dropped oil across the frontstretch. The caution for Gray was enough for the first stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 45 to officially conclude under caution as Almirola cruised to his fourth Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Teammate Chandler Smith followed suit in second along with Custer, Jones and Mayer while Creed, Hill, Allgaier, Herbst and Kligerman were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Allmendinger, Love, van Gisbergen and Sammy Smith were mired in 13th, 16th, 23rd and 28th, respectively.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Almirola peeled off the racetrack to pit for service. Following the pit stops, Custer exited first with the lead, followed by Hill, Mayer, Creed, Chandler Smith and Jones while Almirola lost six spots amid a slow pit service and ended up exiting pit road in seventh place. Amid the pit stops, Allmendinger was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation while JJ Yeley was also penalized for a safety violation. Jones then pitted again from sixth to tighten loose lug nuts

    The second stage period started on Lap 53 as Custer and Hill occupied the front row. Custer gained a strong start from the outside lane to transition back to the inside lane in front of Hill entering the first two turns. As the field behind fanned out, Custer proceeded to lead the following lap while Mayer and Chandler Smith overtook Hill for second and third, respectively. As Smith and Hill dueled for third, Riley Herbst and Sheldon Creed battled for fifth in front of Almirola while Daniel Dye nearly spun after he made contact with Anthony Alfredo. Amid the early battles, Custer proceeded to lead by half a second just past the Lap 55 mark.

    By Lap 60, Custer retained the lead by a second over Chandler Smith as Mayer, Herbst and Hill remained in the top five ahead of Creed, Allgaier, Almirola, Kligerman and Zilisch. Behind, Love and Allmendinger were mired back in 18th and 20th, respectively, while van Gisbergen and Sammy Smith were back in 25th and 28th, respectively. In addition, Jones was in 15th behind Matt DiBenedetto, Parker Retzlaff, Ryan Sieg and Corey Heim.

    Three laps later, the caution returned due to Brad Perez falling off the pace below the backstretch’s apron and coming to a stop in Turn 3. During the caution period, select names including Love, van Gisbergen and Sammy Smith, who cycled back onto the lead lap, pitted while the rest, led by Custer, remained on the track.

    The beginning of the next restart period on Lap 69 did not last long as Playoff contender Justin Allgaier got hit by Sheldon Creed entering the backstretch, sending Allgaier sliding and making head-on contact with the inside wall. During the incident, Custer, who received a strong shove from Chandler Smith during the previous restart’s start, maintained the lead over Mayer, Chandler Smith, Almirola and Hill.

    At the beginning of the next restart period on Lap 75, Mayer and Custer dueled for the lead through the frontstretch. Then as Chandler Smith tried to make a move beneath Custer, Almirola launched a three-wide battle for the runner-up spot through the first two turns as Mayer surged ahead with the lead entering the backstretch. As Mayer led the field through the backstretch, more trouble struck for Allgaier, who blew a tire, hit the outside wall and retired from further competition. Amid his wreck that took an early hit in his Playoff bid, the race remained under green flag conditions as Mayer proceeded to lead the next four laps while Almirola overtook Custer for the runner-up spot.

    At the Lap 80 mark, Mayer retained the lead by half a second over Almirola as Custer, Chandler Smith and Zilisch were racing in the top five. Mayer would slightly extend his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Almirola by Lap 85.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 90, Mayer fended off Almirola to capture his second Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Almirola retained second while trailing Mayer at the start/finish line by three-tenths of a second while Custer, Chandler Smith and Zilisch were in the top five. “Behind, Hill made contact with Herbst entering the frontstretch and sent Herbst spinning through the frontstretch’s grass while Hill proceeded to finish sixth ahead of Creed, Jones, DiBenedetto and Ryan Sieg. Amid his spin, Herbst ended up in 16th place and joined Love, Kligerman, Allmendinger, van Gisbergen and Sammy Smith as Playoff contenders who did not record and stage points after the second stage period.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field, led by Mayer, pitted. Following the pit stops, Chandler Smith exited pit road first ahead of Custer, Almirola and Creed while Mayer dropped four spots. Not long after, Almirola pitted for a second time to have the lug nuts tightened.

    With 103 laps remaining, the final stage commenced under green as Chandler Smith and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Smith received a strong push from teammate Creed from the outside lane to rocket ahead and maintain the lead from Custer through the first two turns. With the field fanning out and jostling for late spots, Smith proceeded to lead at the event’s scheduled halfway distance on Lap 100.

    With 90 laps remaining, Chandler Smith was leading by a second over Custer with Zilisch, Creed and Hill scored in the top five on the track. Behind, Jones, Ryan Sieg, Mayer, Allmendinger and Corey Heim were racing in the top 10 as Almirola was mired in 11th place ahead of Heim, Josh Williams, Love, Kligerman, Herbst and Retzlaff. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen was back in 21st and Sammy Smith was mired in the 29th.

    Ten laps later, Chandler Smith continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Custer while Zilisch, Creed and Hill remained in the top five. Smith would proceed to lead by four-tenths of a second over Custer with 70 laps remaining. By then, Corey Heim pitted under green after he got loose through the first two turns and smacked the outside wall in front of Kligerman eight laps earlier. Almirola hit the outside wall entering the backstretch after marching his way back into the top 10 and pitted to change a flat right-rear tire nearly five laps earlier.

    Then with 64 laps remaining, Custer, who spent the last several laps closing in and stalking Chandler Smith, used the inside lane from Turns 3 and 4 to muscle ahead of Smith and assume the lead. By then, Ryan Sieg pitted from the top 10 under green. As Herbst and Kligerman battled for ninth place behind Allmendinger, Custer maintained the lead by eight-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith as Hill pitted from the top five with 60 laps remaining.

    With 59 laps remaining, Playoff contenders Mayer, Allmendinger and Herbst pitted along with Patrick Emerling and Zilisch before Kligerman, Parker Retzlaff, Chandler Smith and Creed pitted during the following lap. The leader Custer then pitted with 57 laps remaining before the caution flew due to a tire rolling out of Parker Retzlaff’s pit box and onto the frontstretch’s grass. By then, 15 competitors were scored on the lead lap, including Custer as he had exited pit road and returned to the track without being lapped, as Jones had cycled into the lead followed by Josh Williams. During the caution period, some of the drivers, led by Jones, pitted while the rest, led by Custer and including Chandler Smith, Hill and Creed, remained on the track.

    With the race restarting under green with 49 laps remaining, Custer rocketed ahead from the outside lane and he maintained the lead from Hill and Chandler Smith while Almirola rocketed his way back up into the top five. As the field fanned out towards the top-10 mark, Custer proceeded to lead the following lap as Smith was up to second place ahead of Hill. Behind, Almirola barely slid in front of Zilisch entering the frontstretch to snatch fourth place before the latter fought back. While Zilisch and Almirola proceeded to battle for fourth place, Chandler Smith started to close in on Custer for the lead.

    Then with 45 laps remaining, a heated side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between Custer and Chandler Smith that started with both dueling for the lead through the backstretch as they remained dead even through the frontstretch. Chandler Smith would prevail and return to the lead for the following lap while Custer followed suit in second.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Chandler Smith retained the lead by seven-tenths of a second over Custer as Almirola, Zilisch and Jones were scored in the top five. Behind, Hill dropped to sixth ahead of Creed, Love, Williams and Alfredo while Mayer, Herbst, van Gisbergen, DiBenedetto and Ryan Sieg were mired in the top 15 ahead of Allmendinger and Kligerman as Sammy Smith was back in 22nd place.

    Five laps later, Chandler Smith’s advantage decreased to two-tenths of a second over Custer while Almirola, who was faster compared to the top-two competitors, trailed the lead from third place by two seconds. As Custer cut the deficit to a tenth of a second, he could not execute the final move to overtake Chandler Smith as the latter continued to lead while third-place Almirola cut his deficit to a second as he trailed both Chandler Smith and Custer by a second with 20 laps remaining.

    Then with 18 laps remaining, Custer launched a side-by-side battle with Chandler Smith through the frontstretch, but he still could not execute the pass on Smith for the lead entering Turns 1 and 2. With Custer still trailing Chandler Smith for the lead, their early side-by-side battle allowed Almirola to close in to within eight-tenths of a second for the following lap. Custer then drove his car towards the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2 to regain ground on Smith with 16 laps remaining, but he remained behind Smith as Almirola trailed by a second in third place during the following lap.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Custer, who nearly got squeezed into the outside wall by Chandler Smith, used the outside lane amid a huge run gained towards the outside wall from Turns 3 and 4 to duel with Chandler Smith through the frontstretch. This time, he was able to rocket past Smith and assume the lead. As Custer rocketed away with the lead, Almirola, who had caught both Custer and Smith on the track, overtook Smith for the runner-up spot exiting the backstretch as he set his sights on Custer, who maintained a reasonable advantage, for the lead.

    With five laps remaining, Custer, who was trying to weave his way through lapped traffic, maintained the lead by two-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Almirola while Chandler Smith trailed in third place by three seconds. A lap later, however, Almirola gained a run beneath Custer through the frontstretch and he proceeded to snatch the lead entering the first two turns with three laps remaining as Custer was unable to respond with a crossover move.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Almirola remained in the lead by nearly half a second over Custer. With Custer unable to regain ground to mount a final lap charge and reclaim the lead, Almirola was able to smoothly cycle his way around the Kansas circuit for a final time before he returned to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by six-tenths of a second over Custer.

    With the victory, Almirola, who will contest in the remaining six Playoff events in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota entry, notched his sixth career win in the Xfinity Series, his second of the season amid eight starts and his first at Kansas, a venue where he was involved in a harrowing accident during a 2017 Cup Series event that left him with a compression fracture to his T5 vertebra. The Kansas victory was the 10th of the season for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota, eight of which have been achieved from the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing entry as the entry earned an automatic pass into the Playoff’s Round of 8 for the owners’ championship battle.

    “[I had to be] Really patient,” Almirola, who described his final overtake on Cole Custer, said on CW Network. “I, obviously, wasn’t patient earlier in the race. I’m wore out. That was a hard day at the office, especially for a guy who’s been sitting on the couch. I knew we had such a great He Gets Us Toyota GR Supra. I was able to get by everybody on the long run and I just pushed too hard there when we had the issue on pit road and I got into the fence and cut the right-rear tire down. I knew I had to put my head down and got to work after that. We got lucky to get the caution when we did and then, we were out of tires, so the fact that [the race] went green there to the end and then, that’s where we were strong. We were really strong on the long run. It just worked out.”

    Meanwhile, as Almirola proceeded to celebrate in Victory Lane, Cole Custer and Chandler Smith, both of whom ended up second and third in the final running order, engaged in a brief post-race conversation on pit road. Custer, who was displeased with being raced hard and nearly getting squeezed into the outside wall by Smith, approached Smith, vocally expressed his displeasure and gestured a wave at Smith before walking away and not hearing Smith’s stance.

    “[Chandler Smith] killed us,” Custer, who leads the Playoff standings by points said, said. “He definitely burned our stuff up [while I was] trying to get by him. It really made me mad when he put us in the fence on that restart. He’s gonna pay the consequences and I’m gonna race him like he races me. I think we could have gone back-to-back [in wins] pretty easily if things fall the right way, but we’ll move on to Talladega. I’m sure points-wise, we’re pretty good, so just got to keep chugging along.”

    “I definitely understand [Custer’s] position,” Smith, who sits in second place behind Custer in the Playoff standings, said. “Last week, I was racing behind somebody for 80 laps and couldn’t find a way around him because we were running the same lane. Obviously, our car was really dominant on the short run. [I] Was able to build up a little bit of a gap and had to come up with a game plan of when [Custer] gets to me, what do I got to do because last time, I just kept running my lane and he just blew my doors off. This is for the race win, this is for advancing into the next round [of the Playoffs] and this is also the guy I’m racing for the championship. I’ve got to be a little more aggressive in a sense of just taking his air away, kind of Cup racing, Truck racing style. Just trying to do the best for my team. [Custer]’s got a very, very valid statement, I understand, but I also wouldn’t change what I did because I was giving myself the best shot to win.”

    Custer and Chandler Smith were not the only pair of Playoff contenders to exchange words on pit road following the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoff opener. In addition, Austin Hill and Riley Herbst, both of whom finished seventh and 10th on the track, exchanged words, where Hill apologized for turning Herbst at the conclusion of the second stage period, while AJ Allmendinger and Sammy Smith, both of whom ended up 17th and 22nd on the track, exchanged words as Smith expressed his displeasure for nearly getting turned and having his car damaged by Allmendinger in the opening laps.

    Meanwhile, Connor Zilisch came home in fourth place for his second consecutive top-five result in just his second Xfinity career start while Sheldon Creed finished fifth. Pole-sitter Brandon Jones settled in sixth place in front of Hill while Playoff rookies Shane van Gisbergen and Jesse Love rallied to finish eighth and ninth in front of Herbst.

    There were 14 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 33 laps. In addition, 16 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Aric Almirola, 16 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Cole Custer, 48 laps led

    3. Chandler Smith, 114 laps led

    4. Connor Zilisch

    5. Sheldon Creed

    6. Brandon Jones, four laps led

    7. Austin Hill

    8. Shane van Gisbergen

    9. Jesse Love

    10. Riley Herbst

    11. Josh Williams

    12. Parker Kligerman

    13. Sam Mayer, 18 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    14. Matt DiBenedetto

    15. Anthony Alfredo

    16. Ryan Sieg

    17. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down

    18. Brennan Poole, one lap down

    19. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

    20. JJ Yeley, one lap down

    21. Parker Retzlaff, one lap down

    22. Sammy Smith, one lap down

    23. Jeb Burton, two laps down

    24. Kyle Sieg, two laps down

    25. Leland Honeyman, two laps down

    26. Kyle Weatherman, three laps down

    27. Jeremy Clements, three laps down

    28. Blaine Perkins, three laps down

    29. Ryan Vargas, four laps down

    30. Patrick Emerling, four laps down

    31. Corey Heim, five laps down

    32. Joey Gase, six laps down

    33. Logan Bearden, 10 laps down

    34. Daniel Dye, 11 laps down

    35. Dawson Cram – OUT, Fuel Pressure

    36. Justin Allgaier – OUT, Accident

    37. Brad Perez – OUT, Oil Pump

    38. Taylor Gray – OUT, Engine

    *Bold indicates Playoff competitors

    Playoff standings

    1. Cole Custer +41

    2. Chandler Smith +36

    3. Austin Hill +26

    4. Sam Mayer +13

    5. Sheldon Creed +10

    6. Shane van Gisbergen +8

    7. Jesse Love +3

    8. Riley Herbst +1

    9. Justin Allgaier -1

    10. AJ Allmendinger -13

    11. Parker Kligerman -15

    12. Sammy Smith -23

    The second Round of 12 event in the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to occur at Talladega Superspeedway for the United Rentals 250. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, October 5, and air at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Custer rallies to win regular-season finale at Bristol, claim 2024 Xfinity Series Regular Season Championship

    Custer rallies to win regular-season finale at Bristol, claim 2024 Xfinity Series Regular Season Championship

    In a war of attrition-type event under the lights, Cole Custer muscled his way from early adversity to claim the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Championship by winning the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 20.

    The reigning Xfinity Series champion from Ladera Ranch, California, led three times for a race-high 104 of 300-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row but had his race hit an early roadblock when he cut a tire and hit the backstretch’s outside wall that resulted with him dropping off the pace and plummeting below the leaderboard. After managing to continue and remain on the lead lap amid slight cosmetic damage, Custer carved his way back into the top-10 mark when the first stage period concluded.

    Then after leading for the first time just past the event’s halfway mark before proceeding to finish second in the second stage period amid mixed pit strategies, Custer’s charge to win the regular-season title ignited as his title rival Justin Allgaier was involved in three separate incidents that both dropped him out of race-winning contention and off of the lead lap category. Despite regaining the lead prior to the start of the final stage period before losing it to Sheldon Creed a few laps later, Custer dropped the hammer by sliding in front of Creed with a bold move from the inside lane to reassume the top spot with 91 laps remaining.

    For the remainder of the event, Custer was able to weave his way through lapped traffic and maintain a steady margin to within a second over Creed as he triumphed for the second time in the 2024 Xfinity Series season and captured the regular-season title by a narrow margin over Allgaier.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Chandler Smith notched his second Xfinity Series pole position and the fifth of his career after he posted a pole-winning lap at 121.366 mph in 15.810 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Cole Custer, who clocked in his best qualifying lap at 120.490 mph in 15.925 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Sam Mayer, Josh Williams, Parker Retzlaff and Leland Honeyman dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Stefan Parsons also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change to his entry. Parsons, however, was unable to roll off the starting grid with the field and was pinned multiple laps down due to the engine changes being made.

    When the green flag waved and the race started, Chandler Smith muscled his No. 81 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra ahead of Cole Custer with a strong start from the outside lane and he maintained the lead while transitioning to the inside lane through the backstretch. Exiting the backstretch, however, Justin Allgaier used the outside lane to draw even with Smith and muscle ahead entering the frontstretch to lead the first lap.

    On the following lap, Custer, who was battling Anthony Alfredo for third place, hit the outside wall entering the backstretch after he cut a tire and he dropped off the pace, which drew the event’s first caution period. During the caution period, Custer pitted for repairs and fresh tires to his No. 00 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang. Another competitor who pitted was Dale Earnhardt Jr., who pitted to address a radio issue inside of his cockpit and was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    When the race restarted under green on the ninth lap, Allgaier used the outside lane to launch his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro ahead through the first two turns and proceeded to lead the following lap ahead of Chandler Smith and Anthony Alfredo. Jeffrey Earnhardt and AJ Allmendinger followed suit in front of a stacked field. By Lap 12, Chandler Smith challenged Allgaier for the lead through every turn and straightaway, but the latter was able to fend off the former through the Lap 15 mark.

    Through the first 20-scheduled laps, Allgaier was leading by two-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith followed by Alfredo, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Allmendinger while rookie Jesse Love, Brandon Jones, Jeremy Clements, Sheldon Creed and Ryan Truex were scored in the top 10. Behind, Riley Herbst, Ryan Sieg, Kyle Weatherman, Austin Hill and Parker Kligerman trailed in the top 15 ahead of Joe Graf Jr., Sammy Smith, Matt DiBenedetto, Chad Finchum and Josh Bilicki while Jeb Burton, Brennan Poole, Sam Mayer, Cole Custer and Austin Green were racing in the top-25 mark. Meanwhile, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was still having radio issues, was mired back in 31st place behind rookie Shane van Gisbergen.

    Ten laps later, Allgaier, who was slowly approaching the rear end of the field, stabilized his advantage to two-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith as Alfredo, Jese Love and Jeffrey Earnhardt battled in the top five ahead of Allmendinger, Brandon Jones, Creed, Ryan Truex and Clements.

    Another 10 laps later, Allgaier slightly grew his lead to half a second over Chandler Smith while third-place Alfredo trailed by two seconds. With Love fending off Jeffrey Earnhardt for fourth place, Allgaier, who lapped van Gisbergen, extended his advantage to a second over Smith by Lap 45 while Allmendinger was trying to fend off Creed for sixth place.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Allgaier continued to lead by more than a second over Chandler Smith as Alfredo, Love and Jeffrey Earnhardt remained in the top-five mark. Meanwhile, Earnhardt Jr. was in 24th place and trying to remain ahead of his driver and leader Allgaier on the lead lap category.

    A lap later, the event’s second caution flew when Austin Green slapped the outside wall in Turn 2 and barely clipped Allgaier, who was lapping Green. The contact caused Allgaier’s rear bumper to come loose as Green, whose damaged car continued to steer down the track, made contact with Parker Retzlaff as both spun and wrecked against the inside wall.

    During the caution period, Earnhardt Jr. made another trip to pit road to change his helmet as part of his effort to have his radio communication with his team restored. Soon after, select names led by Allgaier, who pitted to have his rear bumper removed, pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track. Among those who pitted included teammate Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer, Matt DiBenedetto, Josh Bilicki, Jeb Burton and the Sieg brothers of Ryan and Kyle.

    The start of the next restart period on Lap 65 featured Chandler Smith rocketing ahead with the lead from the outside lane, where he led the following lap, while Love overtook Alfredo for second place. In addition, Allmendinger was battling Alfredo for third place in front of Creed. By then, Earnhardt Jr., who remained on the lead lap despite having to pit again to have his wire harness changed as part of his radio communication with his team restored, was mired within the top-30 mark on the track while Allgaier, who was racing without a rear bumper, was marching his way towards the top-20 mark.

    By Lap 75, Chandler Smith stretched his advantage to more than a second over Love while Allmendinger, Creed and Alfredo were scored in the top five ahead of Clements, Custer, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Ryan Truex and Joe Graf Jr. Smith would then add another second to his advantage by the Lap 80 mark.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 85, Chandler Smith thundered his way to his sixth Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Love settled in second ahead of Creed, Allmendinger and Alfredo while Clements, Custer, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Truex and Graf were scored in the top 10, with Ryan Sieg settling in 11th place. By then, Allgaier muscled his way up to 18th place behind Kligerman, Mayer and Sammy Smith while Earnhardt Jr., who had his radio communication with his team restored after four attempts and despite making earlier contact with Leland Honeyman, managed to drive up to 20th place.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the front-runners led by Chandler Smith pitted while the rest led by Ryan Sieg and including Brandon Jones, Mayer, Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Earnhardt Jr., Jeb Burton, Matt DiBenedetto, Josh Bilicki and Sheldon Creed remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Kligerman was penalized for equipment interference. In addition, Kyle Weatherman was penalized for a safety violation while Graf was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage period started on Lap 95 as Ryan Sieg and Brandon Jones occupied the front row. At the start, Mayer launched a three-wide battle on both Sieg and Jones for the lead through the first two turns before Mayer launched his No. 1 Carolina Carports Chevrolet Camaro ahead and assumed the lead, where he led the following lap. As the field behind fanned out and scrambled for positions, Mayer proceeded to lead the Lap 100 mark while Sieg and Allgaier battled for second place in front of Jones, Jeb Burton and Earnhardt Jr., with Creed, Custer, Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith trailing in the top 10.

    Through the Lap 110 mark, Mayer extended his lead to eight-tenths of a second over teammate Allgaier while teammate Jones trailed by more than a second. Behind, Ryan Sieg retained fourth place ahead of Custer, Creed, Chandler Smith and Riley Herbst while Earnhardt Jr., who was battling Sieg for fourth place a few laps later, had dropped to ninth place ahead of Love. By then, DiBenedetto pitted under green after he briefly fell off the pace due to losing power.

    Ten laps later, the caution flew due to Kligerman spinning his No. 48 Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet Camaro from the inside lane and back across the middle of the track and towards the outside wall, starting from the backstretch to Turn 2, as he managed to continue without sustaining any significant damage to his entry.

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 126, Mayer rocketed ahead of teammate Jones from the outside lane as he brought teammate Allgaier, Custer and Creed with him while Jones, who struggled to launch from the inside, was trying to remain in the top-five mark. Mayer would proceed to lead the following lap as the field behind jostled for spots. With Mayer proceeding to lead up to the Lap 130 mark, Custer challenged Allgaier for second place while Chandler Smith overtook Jones for fifth place. Meanwhile, Earnhardt Jr. was up to eighth place in front of Ryan Sieg and Love while Sammy Smith was mired in 14th place.

    Just past the Lap 140 mark, Mayer extended his advantage to more than two seconds over a fierce battle between Custer and Allgaier for the runner-up spot as Creed fended off teammate Chandler Smith for fourth place. Custer would then proceed to challenge Mayer for the lead towards the Lap 145 mark while Creed tried to close in from third place.

    At the halfway mark on Lap 150, Mayer retained the lead by a narrow margin over Custer, who managed to draw even and assume the lead for himself during the following lap as Creed tried to challenge Mayer for the runner-up spot. Creed then made contact with Mayer through Turn 1 on Lap 152 before he turned left and made contact with Allgaier, sending the latter for a spin through the backstretch. Allgaier would then hit the inside wall head-on before he slid back across the racetrack and managed to continue without getting hit by the field.

    During the caution period, a majority of the leaders led by Custer pitted while the rest led by Clements remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Allgaier, who pitted to have his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro repaired, was penalized for dragging a saw block out of his pit box and on the track, which caused sparks to flame out of the front of Allgaier’s entry as he was dragging the tool towards his front splitter.

    With the race restarting with nine laps remaining in the second stage period, where Clements and Sammy Smith occupied the front row, Clements fended off both Sammy Smith and Kligerman to retain the lead as he led the following lap. With Kligerman trying to challenge Clements for the lead, Jones carved his way to third place ahead of Creed and Custer, who hit the wall for a second time, while the field behind scrambled and jostled for spots between competitors who pitted and those who remained on the track. Amid the on-track chaos, Clements maintained the lead ahead of a side-by-side battle involving Kligerman and Jones with five laps remaining.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 170, Clements notched his first Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Custer carved his way to second ahead of Truex, Creed and Chandler Smith while Love, Herbst, Mayer, Earnhardt Jr. and Kligerman, who hit the wall amid contact with Custer a few laps earlier, were scored in the top 10. Despite recording a single point during the event’s two stage periods, Kligerman was able to officially secure his spot into the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs based on points. By then, Ryan Sieg was mired in 12th place and running seven spots ahead of Sammy Smith while Allgaier, who was pinned a lap down, was down in 30th place.

    During the stage break, select names including the leader Clements, Kligerman, Allmendinger, Sammy Smith and Allgaier pitted while the rest led by Custer remained on the track.

    With 121 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Custer and Creed occupied the front row. At the start, Custer rocketed away from both Creed and Truex and he proceeded to lead the following lap in front of a stacked field. Creed then overtook Custer for the lead during the next lap period as the latter was battling handling issues while Chandler Smith and Love trailed in the top five. With Herbst, Mayer, Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Sieg and Jones battling within the top 10, Creed proceeded to lead with 115 laps remaining.

    Then with 101 laps remaining, the caution returned due to Allgaier, who was three laps down, spinning his damaged car in Turn 2 and blowing a right-rear tire as he kept his car from spinning back above the track and towards oncoming traffic. At the moment of caution, Creed had maintained a narrow lead over a hard-charging Custer, who was within striking distance of toppling Allgaier atop the regular-season standings, while Chandler Smith, Love, Truex and Mayer were scored in the top six, with Earnhardt Jr. up to seventh place despite having his radio communication issues returning. During the caution period, select names including Herbst, Josh Williams and Kyle Weatherman pitted while the rest led by Creed remained on the track.

    The start of the next restart period with 94 laps remaining featured teammates Creed and Chandler Smith occupying the front row as Creed, who restarted on the outside lane, managed to fend off teammate Smith and lead the following lap while muscling ahead. Custer then battled and slid in front of Creed’s No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota Supra to move back into the lead with 91 laps remaining as he had the preferred outside lane while Creed followed suit in second ahead of Chandler Smith, Love and Truex. Meanwhile, Earnhardt Jr., who made slight contact with Truex, occupied sixth place as Jones, Mayer, Ryan Sieg and Hill were trailing in the top 10 while Sammy Smith was back in 16th place.

    Down to the final 80 laps of the event, Custer stretched his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over Creed while Chandler Smith, Love and Truex continued to run in the top five. Behind, Earnhardt Jr. was still trying to challenge Truex for fifth place along with Jones as Mayer, Ryan Sieg and Hill remained in the top 10. Meanwhile, Sammy Smith gained two spots and was up to 14th place as Custer continued to stretch his lead to a second-and-a-half over Creed with 70 laps remaining.

    With 60 laps remaining, Custer, who was mired in lapped traffic, had his advantage slightly decrease to eight-tenths of a second over Creed as Chandler Smith, Love and Truex continued to follow suit in the top five. With Earnhardt Jr., Jones, Mayer, Ryan Sieg and Hill retaining their respective spots in the top 10, Allmendinger, Clements, Sammy Smith, Kligerman, Alfredo and Herbst followed suit in the top 16 while Brennan Poole, Graf, van Gisbergen and Josh Bilicki were mired in the top 20.

    Ten laps later and with the front-runners mired in lapped traffic, Custer stretched his advantage back up to a second over Creed and Chandler Smith while Love and Truex trailed by as far back as three seconds in the top five. Meanwhile, Earnhardt Jr. retained sixth place in his No. 88 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro ahead of teammates Jones and Mayer while Ryan Sieg and Allmendinger were in the top 10. By then, Sammy Smith remained in 13th place while Allgaier was scored eight laps down in 30th place.

    Another 15 laps later, Custer, who continued to weave his way through lapped traffic, continued to lead by more than a second over Creed while Chandler Smith and Love remained in third and fourth, respectively. Meanwhile, Truex was fending off repeated challenges from Earnhardt Jr. for fifth place as Jones also tried to navigate his way past both while Mayer, Ryan Sieg, Allmendinger, Clements, Hill and Sammy Smith followed suit in the top 13.

    Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Custer, who was currently scored atop the regular-season standings by a narrow margin over Allgaier and had made contact with Graf while trying to lap him, retained the lead by within a second over both Creed and Chandler Smith while fourth-place Love trailed by three seconds. Behind, Truex, racing in his No. 20 Toyota Genuine Parts Supra, was being pressured by Jones’ No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro for fifth place while Earnhardt Jr. dropped to seventh place ahead of Mayer, Ryan Sieg and Allmendinger as Sammy Smith was back in 15th place ahead of Kligerman.

    With 10 laps remaining, Custer, who lapped 18th-place van Gisbergen a few laps earlier before van Gisbergen made light contact with Custer to express his displeasure over receiving a bump from Custer while being lapped, stabilized his lead to a second over both Creed and Chandler Smith as Love and Truex remained in the top five ahead of Jones, Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Sieg, Mayer and Allmendinger.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Custer kept leading in his No. 00 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang by a second as Chandler Smith started to challenge teammate Creed for the runner-up spot through every corner and straightaway. In the process, Creed retained the spot by a narrow margin while Love retained fourth place by two seconds over both Truex and Jones as Earnhardt Jr. trailed by another two seconds.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Custer remained as the leader by more than a second over both Creed and Chandler Smith. With the latter two unable to narrow the deficit amid their late battle on one another, Custer was able to smoothly navigate his way around Bristol for a final time before he cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag for both his second Xfinity victory of the 2024 season and to capture the regular-season championship by three points over Allgaier, who capped off his long night in 30th place.

    With the victory, Custer notched his 15th career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series division, his first at Bristol Motor Speedway and his first race victory since he won at Pocono Raceway in July. The victory was also the third of the season overall for both the Ford nameplate and Stewart-Haas Racing.

    As an added bonus, Custer, who came into the regular-season finale at Bristol trailing Justin Allgaier in the regular-season standings by 43 points but took advantage of Allgaier’s triple misfortunes, became the seventh competitor overall to win a regular-season championship in the Xfinity circuit and the first Ford competitor to do so since Austin Cindric made the last accomplishment in 2020. With the title and the bonus points, Custer will commence the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs to defend his series title before moving back up to the Cup Series with Haas Factory Team in 2025.

    “Man, it’s unbelievable,” Custer said on the frontstretch on the CW Network. “Just a testament to these [No. 00] guys. A really hard month, but everybody at the shop really kept their heads in it. All the guys did such a great job. Unbelievable car all night. Ready to get to the Playoffs. It’s huge, huge to get this momentum because our confidence was going down this last month. To get this win really means a lot.”

    Behind Custer, Sheldon Creed fended off teammate Chandler Smith to claim his record-setting 13th runner-up result in the Xfinity Series while rookie Jesse Love and Ryan Truex finished in the top five.

    Meanwhile, Brandon Jones, who missed the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs, came home in sixth place while team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. battled through adversity from his radio communication issues to finish seventh in his 147th career start in the Xfinity Series. Ryan Sieg, Sam Mayer and AJ Allmendinger completed the top 10 on the track.

    Sieg’s eighth-place result was not enough for the Tucker, Georgia, native to launch himself back into the top-12 mark in the regular-season standings as Sammy Smith claimed the 12th and final berth into the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs with a 15th-place result at Bristol.

    “It’s been a real grind the last couple of months, just kind of struggled here and there,” Smith said. “We’ve hit it a couple of times, but that was one of those nights again. Just really struggled and I just feel like we got to dig deep and figure something out. It’s cool to make the Playoffs. We just got to keep getting better.”

    “There were a few races where we led some points slip,” Sieg said. “All in all, a great year. Nothing to hang our heads on. We still got some races to go win and that’s the goal. That was our goal this year. We’ve been in shots to do it. Just got to execute everything.”

    Sammy Smith along with race winner Cole Custer join Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Parker Kligerman, Chandler Smith, Sheldon Creed and Riley Herbst along with rookies Jesse Love and Shane van Gisbergen as the 12 competitors who have qualified for the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs. All 12 competitors will now embark on a seven-race Playoff stretch for this year’s championship.

    There were 11 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 57 laps. In addition, 16 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Results.

    1. Cole Custer, 104 laps led

    2. Sheldon Creed, 28 laps led

    3. Chandler Smith, 29 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    4. Jesse Love, one lap led

    5. Ryan Truex

    6. Brandon Jones

    7. Dale Earnhardt Jr., one lap led

    8. Ryan Sieg, five laps led

    9. Sam Mayer, 55 laps led

    10. AJ Allmendinger

    11. Anthony Alfredo

    12. Jeremy Clements, 17 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    13. Riley Herbst

    14. Austin Hill

    15. Sammy Smith

    16. Parker Kligerman

    17. Brennan Poole, one lap down

    18. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down

    19. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

    20. Josh Bilicki, one lap down

    21. Josh Williams, one lap down

    22. Blaine Perkins, one lap down

    23. Kyle Sieg, one lap down

    24. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

    25. Jeb Burton, one lap down

    26. Kyle Weatherman, two laps down

    27. Logan Bearden, two laps down

    28. Carson Ware, five laps down

    29. Greg Van Alst, eight laps down

    30. Justin Allgaier, 10 laps down, 60 laps led

    31. Leland Honeyman, 10 laps down

    32. Chad Finchum, 20 laps down

    33. Stefan Parsons, 24 laps down

    34. Matt DiBenedetto, 25 laps down

    35. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

    36. Garrett Smithley – OUT, Rear Gear

    37. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident

    38. Austin Green – OUT, Accident

    The 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs are set to commence next Saturday, September 28, at Kansas Speedway for the Kansas Lottery 300 and the Round of 12 opener. The event’s broadcast time is slated to occur at 4 p.m. ET on the CW Network.

  • Connor Zilisch muscles through two overtime attempts and late fuel drama to win in Xfinity debut at The Glen

    Connor Zilisch muscles through two overtime attempts and late fuel drama to win in Xfinity debut at The Glen

    On a day when Connor Zilisch made his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen International, he added another pair of first-time accomplishments to his impressive racing resume, with his first career pole and first career win.

    The 18-year-old Zilisch from Charlotte, North Carolina, led three times for a race-high 45 of 90 over-scheduled laps in an event where he commenced his Xfinity Series debut by notching his first pole position and claiming the first stage victory after leading all of the stage’s laps. Despite enduring a slow pit stop while pitting during the first stage break period, Zilisch methodically raced his way back up the leaderboard and settled in third place when the second stage period concluded.

    The start of the final stage period with 38 laps remaining was where Zilisch’s opportunity to contend for the victory appeared to evaporate after he along with the leader Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer were sent to the rear of the field due to driving through the Inner Loop’s off-course turn and not serving a “stop-and-go” penalty just as a caution flew for Justin Allgaier getting stuck in the Turn 6 gravel trap. However, since the following restart period with 33 laps remaining, Zilisch methodically carved his way back up the leaderboard with a fast car again. As fuel shortages became a highlighted topic in the closing laps, the Charlotte native, who had more fuel in his fuel tank compared to most of the front-runners who pitted, cycled back to the lead with 15 laps remaining. He would then maintain a healthy lead and conserve as much fuel in his fuel tank until a late-caution period with six laps remaining for Matt DiBenedetto stalling his car on the course briefly stalled his progress.

    Then through another caution period during an attempted two-lap shootout and two overtime shootouts, Zilisch had enough fuel and muscle within his No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro entry to fend off the field amid a series of on-track chaos and coast to the finish line during the event’s race-ending caution for a multi-car wreck to win the Mission 200 at The Glen on Saturday, September 14, for his first career victory and become the seventh competitor overall to win in an Xfinity debut.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, newcomer Connor Zilisch notched his first Xfinity pole position in his series debut with a pole-winning speed at 124.176 mph in 71.028 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Ty Gibbs, who posted the second-fastest qualifying speed at 123.927 mph in 71.171 seconds.

    Before the event, Ed Jones started at the rear of the field due to an engine change to his Sam Hunt Racing Toyota entry. The following names that include Jeb Burton, Ross Chastain, rookie Shane van Gisbergen, Joey Logano and Josh Williams 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, Connor Zilisch and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Zilisch, who was among select front-runners who briefly went off the course entering Turn 1, managed to fend off Gibbs to retain the lead. He would proceed to lead the next set of turns that included the Esses before he navigated his way through the backstretch and both the Inner and Outer Loops. Following the final set of turns that included a left-hand turn following a brief straightaway and a right-hand turn through Turn 7 back to the frontstretch, Zilisch proceeded to lead the first lap in front of Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger and Chandler Smith.

    Over the next four laps, Zilisch retained the lead ahead of a hard-charging Ty Gibbs, who trailed the leader by a second by the fifth lap mark, while third-place Allgaier followed suit by two seconds. With fourth-place Allmendinger trailing by five seconds, Chandler Smith retained fifth place ahead of William Byron while Sam Mayer, Aric Almirola, Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill were running in the top 10. Behind, rookie Jesse Love, Cole Custer, Riley Herbst, Ryan Sieg and Brandon Jones followed suit in the top 15 ahead of Sammy Smith, Parker Kligerman, Jeremy Clements, Parker Retzlaff and Mike Skeen while Shane van Gisbergen was up to 23rd place in front of Ross Chastain and Joey Logano.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Zilisch extended his lead to three seconds over runner-up Gibbs while Allgaier and Allmendinger remained in third and fourth, respectively. Behind, Byron was up into fifth place ahead of Mayer while Chandler Smith dropped to seventh ahead of Almirola, Creed and Hill. Meanwhile, van Gisbergen cracked the top-20 mark as he was running in 19th place behind Jeremy Clements while Love, Herbst, Custer, Brandon Jones and Ryan Sieg were mired in the top 15 ahead of Sammy Smith and Kligerman.

    Five laps later, Zilisch continued to extend his advantage as he was now leading by over Gibbs while Allgaier, Allmendinger and Byron continued to run in the top five. Earlier, Herbst performed a stop-and-go on the course for missing the Inner Loop, which dropped him from 12th to 14th. In addition, Kligerman, who was reporting a gearing issue to his No. 48 Borchetta Bourbon Chevrolet Camaro entry, had dropped to 24th place from outside the top-15 mark. Amid the on-track battles, van Gisbergen carved his way up into the top-15 mark while Mayer, Chandler Smith, Almirola, Creed and Hill continued to run in the top 10.

    Before the Lap 17 mark, select front-runners including Gibbs, Allmendinger, Byron, Mayer, Hill, Brandon Jones, van Gisbergen and Austin Green pitted their respective entries while Zilisch kept his pole-winning No. 88 Carolina Carports Chevrolet Camaro entry on the track with the lead.

    When the first stage period concluded on Lap 20, Zilisch captured his first Xfinity stage career victory. Teammate Allgaier trailed by in second place by more than 10 seconds followed by a trio of Joe Gibbs Racing competitors that included Almirola, Chandler Smith and Creed while Custer, Love, Herbst, Ryan Sieg and Clements were scored in the top 10. By then, 36 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap, with van Gisbergen remaining on the lead lap and in front of the leader Zilisch in 36th place.

    Under the stage break, Chandler Smith made an unscheduled pit stop from third place due to his No. 81 Smith General Contracting Toyota Supra entry overheating on water temperature due to a piece of debris lodged in his front grille. Once pit road became accessible for the field, a majority of the field led by Zilisch pitted for service while the rest led by Ty Gibbs remained on the track.  Following the pit stops, Allgaier exited pit road first while teammate Zilisch was the sixth competitor to exit the pits following a slow pit service. Amid the pit stops, Alon Day and Thomas Annunziata were penalized for speeding on pit road. Not long after, Sammy Smith made a second pit stop to have a right-rear shock repaired.

    The second stage period started on Lap 24 as Gibbs and Allmendinger occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs and Allmendinger dueled for the top spot through the frontstretch and the first turn until Allmendinger managed to rocket his No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet Camaro entry ahead with the lead through the Esses. As the field behind jostled for spots through the backstretch and both the Inner and Outer Loops, Allmendinger retained the lead through the final set of turns that led back to the frontstretch as he led the following lap while Mayer and Byron battled for third place. Byron would manage to overtake Mayer for third place entering the first turn while Allmendinger retained a narrow lead over Gibbs. Meanwhile, Zilisch was back in 11th place as Allgaier, Brandon Jones, van Gisbergen, Creed, Custer and Herbst were scored in the top 10.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Byron, who dueled and overtook Allmendinger through the frontstretch a lap prior, was leading by a second over Allmendinger while Gibbs and Allgaier also followed suit by a second. Meanwhile, Mayer had dropped to fifth place after he went off the course just past the Outer Loop while van Gisbergen, Jones, Zilisch, Creed and Custer trailed in the top 10 ahead of Herbst, Almirola, Ryan Sieg, Hill and Clements. By then, Logano and Chastain were mired in 18th and 19th, respectively, while Kligerman was back in 21st place in front of Parker Retzlaff and Chandler Smith. In addition, Sammy Smith was trapped a lap down in 36th place.

    Five laps later, Byron stretched his advantage to more than two seconds over Gibbs while Allmendinger and Mayer trailed by four seconds. Behind, Zilisch navigated his way back into the top five after he overtook teammate Allgaier a lap earlier, while van Gisbergen, Jones, Creed and Custer were racing within the top 10 ahead of Herbst, Hill, Ryan Sieg, Clements and Love.

    Another lap later, select names including Allmendinger, van Gisbergen, Jones, Creed, Chandler Smith and Josh Bilicki pitted their respective entries under green. By then, Logano had also pitted under green as Byron kept his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro entry on the track with the lead.

    When the second stage period concluded on Lap 40, Byron claimed his first Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Gibbs trailed in second place by more than three seconds while Zilisch, Mayer, Allgaier, Custer, Herbst, Hill, Ryan Sieg and Clements were scored in the top 10. By then, 34 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    During the stage break, Almirola made an unscheduled pit stop to address losing both his third and fourth gears on his No. 20 Go Bowling Toyota Supra entry. Once pit road became accessible for the field, some, led by Allgaier, pitted while the rest, led by Byron and including Gibbs and Zilisch, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Jeremy Clements was penalized for speeding on pit road. Not long after, Joey Gase filled in for Thomas Annunziata, who was taken to the care center due to feeling dehydrated. Allmendinger made a second pit stop to have a left-front tire changed.

    With 38 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Byron and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Byron got loose from Zilisch and went wide in Turn 1. This allowed Gibbs to move in front of the field as the field fanned out entering the Esses. Then after the field navigated through the backstretch and both the Inner and Outer Loops, trouble occurred as both Allgaier and Mike Skeen were sent sliding off the course in Turn 6, with Allgaier getting his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro entry stuck in the gravel trap. Amid the incident, the race remained under green flag conditions before the caution flew a lap later. By then, Gibbs was the leader ahead of Mayer, Zilisch and Custer while Byron had dropped to fifth place.

    Shortly after, however, the top three competitors including Gibbs, Mayer and Zilisch were penalized and sent to the rear of the field due to driving through the Inner Loop and not stopping for a stop-and-go penalty for missing the corner. The trio of penalties allowed Cole Custer to cycle into the lead as he was followed by Byron, van Gisbergen, and Austin Green.

    During the caution period, some including Hill, Creed, Brandon Jones, Love, Jeb Burton, Josh Williams, Allmendinger, Josh Bilicki and Almirola pitted their respective entries while the rest led by Gibbs remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Hill was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The start of the next restart period with 33 laps remaining featured Custer retaining the lead following a strong start through the frontstretch and the first turn while van Gisbergen challenged Byron for the runner-up spot. With Herbst up to fourth place in front of Chandler Smith, Custer retained the lead through the backstretch and both the Inner and Outer Loop, with the field behind fanning out. As van Gisbergen was being intimidated by Herbst and Chandler Smith for third place, Byron retained second ahead of the trio battle while Custer led the following lap.

    Then with 30 laps remaining, Byron gained a strong run beneath Custer through the frontstretch to reassume the lead. With Byron leading, Custer was being challenged by van Gisbergen for the runner-up spot through the Esses and backstretch while Herbst and Chandler Smith remained within close pursuit in the top five. Meanwhile, Kligerman was up to sixth place while Ed Jones, Logano, Austin Green and Ross Chastain were scored in the top 10.

    A lap later, Byron surrendered the lead to pit under green, which allowed van Gisbergen, who overtook Custer for the runner-up spot a lap earlier, to cycle his No. 97 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro entry into the lead for the first time. Custer, Chastain, Austin Green, Mike Skeen, Kyle Sieg and Chandler Smith would all pit during the following two laps as Herbst, Kligerman, Ed Jones and Logano moved up into the top five. With Love and Creed following suit in sixth and seventh, respectively, Zilisch was up to eighth place ahead of Allmendinger and Brandon Jones while Gibbs and Mayer were mired in 14th and 15th, respectively. As more names including Logano and Brennan Poole pitted their respective entries, van Gisbergen retained the lead by three seconds over Herbst and Kligerman with 25 laps remaining.

    With 20 laps remaining, van Gisbergen continued to lead by four seconds over Herbst while Kligerman, Zilisch and Creed trailed in the top five ahead of Allmendinger, Gibbs, Brandon Jones, Mayer and Love. By then, Ed Jones, who was dealing with a cool suit malfunction, pitted under green from fourth place two laps earlier, though he would then encounter a mechanical issue while trying to exit his pit stall. In addition, Retzlaff pitted his Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet entry.

    A few laps later, Herbst surrendered the runner-up spot to pit his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang entry for both tires and enough fuel to the event’s scheduled distance. Kligerman, who briefly inherited the runner-up spot, would also pit, which allowed Zilisch to move into the runner-up spot. Zilisch, who was also trying to stretch his fuel tank to the event’s scheduled distance, would then return atop the leaderboard with 15 laps remaining as van Gisbergen pitted for fuel under green, though the latter would be penalized for speeding on pit road. With Zilisch leading, Creed, Gibbs, Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and Mayer followed suit in the top six. By then, Byron returned to pit road to address a vibration concern.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Zilisch continued to lead by more than five seconds over Creed while Ty Gibbs followed suit by within six-tenths of a second to teammate Creed. Behind, fourth-place Allmendinger trailed the lead by 13 seconds while JR Motorsports’ Brandon Jones and Mayer trailed in the top six by less than 20 seconds on the track.

    Two laps later, teammates Gibbs and Creed dueled for the runner-up spot, with the former prevailing with the spot while Zilisch retained the lead by more than six seconds as he was also trying to stretch his fuel tank to the distance. A lap later, Creed surrendered his top-three spot on the track to pit for a quick splash of fuel, which allowed Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and Mayer to move up the leaderboard in the top five.

    Then with six laps remaining, the caution flew due to Matt DiBenedetto coming to a stop in the Inner Loop after he endured a mechanical issue through the backstretch. The caution all but erased Zilisch’s steady advantage of six seconds over Gibbs as Allmendinger, Brandon Jones and Mayer were scored in the top five.

    During the caution period, some including Love, Custer, Hill, Josh Bilicki, Ryan Sieg, Ryan Ellis and Anthony Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Zilisch remained on the track.

    With the race restarting with two laps remaining, Allmendinger tried to throw a three-wide move beneath both Zilisch and Gibbs for the lead exiting the frontstretch and in Turn 1, but Zilisch managed to retain the lead as multiple competitors were sent spinning and colliding into one another, among which included Ed Jones, Josh Williams, Logano, Byron, Mike Skeen, Sammy Smith, Hill and Alfredo.

    Amid the incidents, the race remained under green flag conditions as Zilisch retained the lead through the Esses and the backstretch. Then caution returned for the incidents, that left carnage and leaked fluid left from Turn 1, with Alfredo and Hill sustaining the most damage to their respective entries. With the caution being flown, the race was sent into overtime. It was also sent into a red flag period to have the carnage and the spilled fluid cleared, with Alfredo hitting the guardrails while trying to nurse his damaged No. 5 Ferguson Chevrolet Camaro entry that was leaking fluid back to the infield.

    Twenty-two minutes later, the red flag was lifted and the field led by Zilisch proceeded under a cautious pace. During the caution period, select names led by Sammy Smith and including those involved during the previous caution period pitted while the rest led by Zilisch remained on the track.

    The start of the first overtime attempt featured Zilisch fending off Mayer through the frontstretch, the first turn and the Esses with the lead. By then, Gibbs ran out of fuel and dropped out of contention during the restart as the field scattered through the opening turns. Zilisch, who was continuing to try and stretch his fuel tank to the distance, would proceed to lead through the backstretch and both the Inner and Outer Loops just before teammate Brandon Jones was sent for a spin from the middle of the field through the Inner Loop. Jones was then hit hard by Mike Skeen as the caution returned and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt.

    Following an extensive caution period, the start of the second overtime attempt featured teammates Zilisch and Mayer dueling for the lead exiting the frontstretch before the former muscled ahead through the first turn, where Custer spun. Mayer, Allmendinger and van Gisbergen then went three wide through the Esses and backstretch in a battle for the runner-up spot. Shortly after, Mayer was seen slowly losing pace with the front-runners as he was shaking the car back and forth to keep it under power while Allmendinger and van Gisbergen continued to fiercely duel for the runner-up spot as Chandler Smith, Sheldon Creed and Kligerman joined the battle.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Zilisch remained as the leader by three seconds over Creed, who overtook Allmendinger, van Gisbergen and Chandler Smith for the runner-up spot through the frontstretch as Mayer spun entering Turn 7. Before this, Allgaier spun in the Inner Loop. Amid the chaos, the race remained under green flag conditions.

    Then with numerous bumps and on-track chaos continuing to ensue around the course, the event concluded under caution as a multi-car wreck erupted on the backstretch that started when Ryan Sieg, who was running inside the top 10, got Herbst loose as Herbst spun back in front of Sieg and both were sent wrecking hard against the guardrails while clipping Austin Green in the process as more names, including Ed Jones, Clements and Brennan Poole, would also get collected.

    With the caution being displayed, Zilisch, who was exiting the Outer Loop at the moment the event was deemed official, had enough fuel in his dry tank to coast his No. 88 Carolina Carports Chevrolet Camaro entry through the final two turns under reduced pace and back to the frontstretch for his first checkered flag in his debut in the Xfinity circuit.

    With the victory, Connor Zilisch, who inked a sponsorship deal with Red Bull a day ago and is set to become a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for JR Motorsports in 2025, became the 179th competitor overall to win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series division as he joined Jesse Love and Shane van Gisbergen as competitors to notch a first-time Xfinity victory in 2024. He also joined an exclusive list that includes Dale Earnhardt, Ricky Rudd, Joe Ruttman, Terry Labonte, Kurt Busch and recently Ty Gibbs as competitors to win in an Xfinity Series debut. As added bonuses, he also became the second-youngest winner in the Xfinity Series division at age 18 years, one month and 23 days while becoming the first competitor to record a first-time Xfinity victory at The Glen since Austin Cindric made the last accomplishment in 2019.

    Zilisch’s Xfinity victory at The Glen marked his second trip to Victory Lane of the weekend after he won Friday’s ARCA Menards Series event at The Glen, with the Charlotte native etching the fifth victory of the season for JR Motorsports, the first victory for JR Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet entry in two seasons and the first ever for crew chief Andrew Overstreet.

    “Man, I don’t even have words,” Zilisch, who fought tears of emotions on the frontstretch, said on USA Network. “I worked so hard for this one. I’ve been working for this one for months. It’s so special. I don’t even have words right now. I don’t know how I saved enough [fuel]. I sputtered up the hill with two [laps] to go. I didn’t think I was gonna make it back to the line. I was saving the last two laps. I’m gonna enjoy this one for a while. That’s special. One-on-one [in the Xfinity Series], not bad.”

    “Coming into today, I just wanted to run all the laps,” Zilisch added. “I ran all the laps and I came home with a win too. I can’t complain about that. I just can’t thank everyone who’s helped me get to this point. It’s special [to] come out here and win my first race. Hopefully, the first of many.”

    With Zilisch winning the race, Sheldon Creed settled in second place for the 12th time in his career while AJ Allmendinger came home in third place. The top three results were enough for both Allmendinger and Creed to secure their spots into the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs by points.

    “[I was] Just trying to keep the nose on [the car] there,” Creed said. “[The race was] Actually really fun. I felt like that was the battle for the win probably if [Zilisch] ran out [of fuel]. I thought I put myself in really good position. To end up second again, I could be mad, but I’m actually happy for kind of how our day was going. We were a top-10 car, but I just didn’t know how good we were to run in the top three there. Another top five for our team. Just good momentum for the Playoffs and I can’t wait for Bristol next week. I’m having a lot of fun right now, so that’s what’s important.

    Chandler Smith settled in fourth place while Shane van Gisbergen ended up in fifth place. Ross Chastain, Parker Kligerman, Jesse Love, Joey Logano and Josh Bilicki completed the top 10 in the final running order.

    There were 10 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 19 laps. In addition, 21 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Following the 25th event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Justin Allgaier continues to lead the regular-season standings by 43 points over Cole Custer, 62 over Chandler Smith and 99 over Austin Hill.

    With next weekend’s Xfinity Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway marking the final regular-season event of the 2024 season, the following names that include Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, AJ Allmendinger, Sheldon Creed, rookie Jesse Love, Riley Herbst, rookie Shane van Gisbergen and Sam Mayer have clinched spots into the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs either by regular-season victories or by points.

    Currently, Parker Kligerman holds one of two vacant spots in the Playoffs by 85 points. Lastly, Sammy Smith, who fell back to 19th place in the final running order at The Glen, holds the 12th and final transfer spot into the Playoffs by 43 points over Ryan Sieg, who ended up in 22nd place after he was unable to complete the final lap amid his multi-car wreck.

    Results.

    1. Connor Zilisch, 45 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    2. Sheldon Creed

    3. AJ Allmendinger, five laps led

    4. Chandler Smith

    5. Shane van Gisbergen, 14 laps led

    6. Ross Chastain

    7. Parker Kligerman

    8. Jesse Love

    9. Joey Logano

    10. Josh Bilicki

    11. Austin Green

    12. William Byron, 16 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    13. Riley Herbst

    14. Parker Retzlaff

    15. Ryan Ellis

    16. Leland Honeyman

    17. Justin Allgaier

    18. Jeremy Clements

    19. Sammy Smith

    20. Sam Mayer, one lap led

    21. Cole Custer, six laps led

    22. Ryan Sieg, one lap down

    23. Brennan Poole, one lap down

    24. Ed Jones, one lap down

    25. Ty Gibbs, one lap down, three laps led

    26. Aric Almirola, two laps down

    27. RC Enerson, five laps down

    28. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident

    29. Thomas Annunziata, six laps down

    30. Mike Skeen – OUT, Accident

    31. Jeb Burton – OUT, Oil Leak

    32. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident

    33. Austin Hill – OUT, Accident

    34. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    35. Matt DiBenedetto – OUT, Rear Gear

    36. Alon Day – OUT, Brakes

    37. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Axle

    38. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Rear End

    Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 300, which will serve as this year’s regular-season finale and determine the 12-car Playoff field. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, September 20, and air at 7:30 p.m. ET on the CW Network.