Darlington II Event Info:
Date: Sunday, August 31
Time: 6 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Darlington, South Carolina
Format: 367 Laps, 501.32 Miles, Stages: 115-230-367
TV: USA
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)
Darlington Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 9 a.m. ET, Cup Practice (TruTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 10:10 a.m. ET, Cup Qualifying (TruTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 6 p.m. ET, Cup Race (USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Portland Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 3 p.m. ET, Xfinity Practice (CW App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 4:05 p.m. ET, Xfinity Qualifying (CW App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 7:30 p.m. ET, Xfinity Race (CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Pace Laps:
- The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs begin this weekend with the running of the annual Southern 500, marking the 75th Anniversary of historic Darlington Raceway.
- The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Portland International Raceway for the penultimate race before the start of the NXS playoffs.
- Sheldon Creed (2023) and Sam Mayer (2024) are the two most recent pole winners at Portland, before they became teammates at Haas Factory Team.
- Mayer (9.3) holds the second highest average finish among full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers this season, behind only Connor Zilisch (9.1)
- Mayer has finished inside the top five in each of his previous four starts spanning Indianapolis (2nd), Iowa (1st), Watkins Glen (2nd), and Daytona (4th).
- He has started inside the top 10 in 10 of his last 11 starts dating back to Nashville Superspeedway in May, including his lone pole of the season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway three weeks ago.
- Mayer (840) sits third in the regular-season points standings behind Zilisch (863) and Justin Allgaier (866) with just two races remaining before the start of the playoffs.
- Cole Custer posted a season-best fourth-place finish at Daytona last Saturday, his lone top five this season and the third of his Cup Series career.
Cole Custer Team Info:
Crew Chief: Aaron Kramer
Partner: Autodesk/HaasTooling.com
Sheldon Creed Team Info:
Crew Chief: Jonathan Toney
Partner: Pit Boss
Sam Mayer Team Info:
Crew Chief: Jason Trinchere
Partner: Audibel
Custer at Darlington (Cup)
Starts: 8
Wins: —
Top-10s: —
Poles: —
- Custer makes his 9th Cup start at Darlington this weekend, where he has a 21.8 average finish.
- He has started inside the top-15 twice with a career-best of P14 in 2020. Custer holds an average starting position of 24.3.
- Custer has finished top 10 in all seven career NXS events at Darlington, including a victory in 2019 after starting P3, posting an average finish of 3.4.
Creed at Portland (Xfinity)
Starts: 3
Wins: —
Top-10s: 1
Poles: 1 (2023)
- Creed is set to make his fourth Xfinity start at Portland on Saturday, where he has one career top-10 finish which came in 2023 (7th). He finished 13th last season and led two laps.
- He has started inside the top-10 in all three career starts at Portland, including a pole in 2023, and holds an average starting position of 4.7.
Mayer at Portland (Xfinity)
Starts: 3
Wins: —
Top-10s: 1
Poles: 1 (2024)
- Mayer is in line for his fourth Xfinity start at Portland this weekend, a track where he has finished in the top-10 once, P3 in 2023. He finished 28th last season after starting on the pole.
- He has started inside the top-10 in two career starts at Portland, including a pole in 2024, and holds an average starting position of 13.7.
Where They Stand
Cup Points Standings (41: 33rd): Custer is 33rd in the Cup Series points standings with 340 points heading into Darlington this Sunday.
Xfinity Points Standings (41: 4th, 00: 10th): Mayer sits fourth in the Xfinity points standings with 840 total points on the season, behind the three multi-winners, while Creed is in 10th place with 651 points heading into Portland this Saturday.
