STEWART-HAAS RACING
United Rentals 250
Date: Oct. 5, 2024
Event: United Rentals 250 (Round 28 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2.66-mile oval)
Format: 94 laps, broken into three stages (25 laps/25 laps/44 laps)
Note: Race extended four laps past its scheduled 94-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
Race Winner: Sammy Smith of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Chandler Smith of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
SHR Race Finish:
● Riley Herbst (Started 6th / Finished 3rd, Running, completed 98 of 98 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 10th / Finished 27th, Running, completed 97 of 98 laps)
SHR Points:
● Cole Custer (3rd with 2,093 points, 29 out of first)
● Riley Herbst (6th with 2,078 points, 44 out of first)
Playoff Standings (with one race to go before the Round of 8):
- Sammy Smith (2,065 points) 1 Win
- Chandler Smith (2,122 points) +57 Points
- Austin Hill (2,094 points) +29 Points
- Cole Custer (2,093 points) +28 Points
- Sheldon Creed (2,090 points) +35 Points
- Jesse Love (2,080 points) +15 Points
- Riley Herbst (2,078 points) +13 Point
- Sam Mayer (2,075 points) +10 Points
- AJ Allmendinger (2,065 points) -10 Points
- Justin Allgaier (2,057 points) -18 Point
- Shane Van Gisbergen (2,054 points) -21 Points
- Parker Kligerman (2,049 points) -26 Points
SHR Notes:
● Herbst earned his sixth top-five of the season and his third top-five in nine career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Talladega.
● This was Herbst’s second straight top-10. He finished 10th last Saturday at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
● Since joining Stewart-Haas Racing in 2021, Herbst has only finished outside the top-11 at Talladega twice.
● This was Herbst’s second straight top-three at Talladega. He finished second in April.
● Herbst finished sixth in Stage 2 to earn five bonus points.
● Herbst led six times for 22 laps increasing his laps led total at Talladega to 61.
● Custer finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points and ninth in Stage 2 to earn two more bonus points.
Race Notes:
● Sammy Smith won the United Rentals 250 to score his second career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Talladega. His margin over second-place Ryan Sieg was .177 of a second.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 27 laps.
● Twenty-four of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Chandler Smith is the championship leader after Talladega with a 28-point advantage over second-place Austin Hill.
Sound Bites:
“Overall, I thought today was okay. I thought the first stage was dismal. We didn’t get any points. The second stage was good. The driver messed up coming to the end of the second stage, and we fought hard in the final stage to finish. It was a good day after an embarrassing day last week. I was a little frustrated that Chandler (Smith) didn’t have more understanding of the situation. I wanted to win the race. I thought we were fast enough, but I didn’t have the help that he had. I knew he had the help when I looked up and saw the 18. I was like, ‘I’m gonna be in trouble here,’ but I didn’t think there was any way he would do it off of two because that’s just not smart and there’s so much time left. I was just letting him know that he needs to go watch the film to see that he could have won the race.” –Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“We just tried to survive and all of our guys did a great job of controlling what we could control. We tried to play it smart and just ended up getting caught in the wreck, but that’s part of it when you come to Talladega. We did a great job with the crash damage and getting back up there. We’ll move onto the Roval. We still have a pretty solid points cushion, so we just have to go out there and survive.” –Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Drive for the Cure 250 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina on Saturday, Oct. 12 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval. This is the third race of the playoffs and the final race of the Round of 12. The race begins at 4 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by CW and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
