STEWART-HAAS RACING
Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina
Date: Oct. 12, 2024
Event: Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina (Round 29 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval (2.28-mile, 17-turn road course)
Format: 67 laps, broken into three stages (20 laps/20 laps/27 laps)
Note: Race extended five laps past its scheduled 67-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
Race Winner: Sam Mayer of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: AJ Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
SHR Race Finish:
● Cole Custer (Started 14th / Finished 13th, Running, completed 72 of 72 laps)
● Riley Herbst (Started 12th / Finished 32nd, Driveshaft, completed 57 of 72 laps)
SHR Points:
● Cole Custer (2nd with 3,028 points, seven out of first)
● Riley Herbst (11th with 2,086 points)
Playoff Standings to Begin Round of 8:
- Justin Allgaier (3,035 points) +18 Point
- Cole Custer (3,028 points) +11 Points
- Austin Hill (3,026 points) +9 Points
- Chandler Smith (3,025 points) +8 Points
- Sam Mayer (3,017 points) -8 Points
- Jesse Love (3,013 points) -12 Points
- AJ Allmendinger (3,007 points) -18 Points
- Sammy Smith (3,006 points) -19 Points
Failed to Advance to Round of 8:
- Shane Van Gisbergen (2,102 points)
- Sheldon Creed (2,097 points)
- Riley Herbst (2,086 points)
- Parker Kligerman (2,080 points)
SHR Notes:
● Custer earned his 21st top-15 of the season and his fourth top-15 in four career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the Charlotte Roval.
● This was Custer’s fourth straight top-15 at the Charlotte Roval. He finishes second last October.
● Herbst finished eighth in Stage 1 to earn three bonus points.
Race Notes:
● Sam Mayer won the Drive for the Cure 250 to score his seventh career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his third of the season and his second at the Charlotte Roval. His margin over second-place AJ Allmendinger was 1.474 seconds.
● There were seven caution periods for a total of 20 laps.
● Twenty-six of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Justin Allgaier is the championship leader after the Charlotte Roval with a seven-point advantage over second-place Cole Custer.
Sound Bites:
“That definitely was not pretty, whatsoever. We did a great job the first two races of this round getting ourselves where we needed to in the points. All year we put ourselves where we needed to in the points and it ended up where we didn’t need our best day today. I’m definitely frustrated. I felt like road courses were our strong suit last year and we’re really struggling with them this year. I am a little confused. We have some good tracks for us coming up, so we are looking forward to those.” –Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Andy’s Frozen Custard Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“It wasn’t what we wanted. It sucks. This race was frustrating for me. The Roval has never been a good track for me, but I thought we would be okay to advance if we just survived. Neither myself nor the No. 5 were giving up in the chicane and it took me out ultimately. We probably would’ve been fine if it wasn’t for that. Still, we struggled with the handling of our car all day so it wasn’t perfect. We almost stayed in it until the end, but it just wasn’t enough. There’s still four races left to try and get a win though with this No. 98 team.” –Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Ambetter Health 302 on Saturday, Oct. 19 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race begins at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by CW and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
