STEWART-HAAS RACING
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Kansas Lottery 300
Date: Sept. 9, 2023
Event: Kansas Lottery 300 (Round 26 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Kansas Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/110 laps)
Race Winner: John Hunter Nemechek of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: John Hunter Nemechek of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: John Hunter Nemechek of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
SHR Race Finish:
● Riley Herbst (Started 8th / Finished 23rd, Running, completed 198 of 200 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 3rd / Finished 36th, Accident, completed 60 of 200 laps)
SHR Points:
● Cole Custer (4th with 2,017 points, IN THE PLAYOFFS)
● Riley Herbst (13th with 673 points)
SHR Notes:
● This is Custer’s fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs appearance. His best finish in the standings is second, earned in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
● Custer finished second in Stage 1 to earn nine bonus points.
● Custer led once for three laps to increase his laps-led total at Kansas to 88.
● Herbst finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points.
Race Notes:
● John Hunter Nemechek won the Kansas Lottery 300 to score his eighth career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his sixth of the season and his second at Kansas. His margin over second-place Brandon Jones was 7.521 seconds.
● There were 10 caution periods for a total of 49 laps.
● Only 11 of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Austin Hill is the Xfinity Series Regular Season Champion after Kansas. He won the regular season championship by five points over second-place John Hunter Nemechek and Hill will receive 15 bonus playoff points when the Xfinity Series playoffs kick off next weekend at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Sound Bites:
“I don’t know. I don’t want to put blame on anybody. I don’t know if it’s just dumb luck or what. I don’t know how long [the tire] was sitting up there, but it just sucks. I was committed into the corner to try to carry a bunch of speed in there, wash up into the corner and that tire was sitting right where I was washing up into. So, it just sucks. I saw it, you know, two car lengths before and then I was into it. It was just too late; I couldn’t miss it. We had a fast car, though. Our guys have been working all year trying to find that little bit of speed that we need and I think we had it today. We just needed to get our balance a little bit better. Honestly, I see this as a momentum gain. I’m looking forward to the playoffs, I think we’re going to have a good run.” – Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang
“I’ve had this mindset for the last few weeks. I went into Daytona with the mindset to become a better race car driver and hopefully to win races this year. I wasn’t looking too far ahead to the playoffs and points racing. Obviously, every driver starts in Daytona setting out to win a championship, but I was looking at it at a more personal level and being a better race car driver. We still have opportunities to go win races, and I honestly felt like today we had a really good opportunity to win this race even after the damage to our Monster Energy Ford Mustang on the early restart, but we’ll move onto Bristol and see what we’ve got.” – Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Food City 300 on Friday, Sept. 15 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. It is the first race of the Xfinity Series playoffs and the first race of the Round of 12. The race begins at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
