STEWART-HAAS RACING
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200
Date: Sept. 2, 2023
Event: Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 (Round 25 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.366-mile oval)
Format: 147 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/57 laps)
Note: Race extended one lap past its scheduled 147-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
Race Winner: Denny Hamlin 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:
● Cole Custer (Started 4th / Finished 4th, completed 148 of 148 laps)
● Riley Herbst (Started 15th / Finished 6th, completed 148 of 148 laps)
SHR Points:
● Cole Custer (4th with 861 points, 107 out of first)
● Riley Herbst (10th with 657 points, 311 out of first)
SHR Notes:
● Custer earned his 10th top-five of the season and his fourth top-five in five career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Darlington.
● Custer has never finished outside the top-10 at Darlington in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
● This was Custer’s fourth straight top-five at Darlington. He finished third in May.
● This was Custer’s fourth straight top-10. He finished sixth Aug. 12 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, seventh Aug. 19 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, and fifth last Friday night at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
● Custer finished fifth in Stage 1 to earn six bonus points and sixth in Stage 2 to earn five more bonus points.
● Herbst earned his 11th top-10 of the season and his third top-10 in eight career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Darlington.
● Herbst finished 10th in Stage 1 to earn one bonus point and ninth in Stage 2 to earn two more bonus points.
Race Notes:
● Denny Hamlin won the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 to score his 18th career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his first of the season and his sixth at Darlington. His margin over second-place Austin Hill was .657 of a second.
● There were seven caution periods for a total of 34 laps.
● Thirty-two of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Austin leaves Darlington as the championship leader with a 23-point advantage over second-place John Hunter Nemechek.
Sound Bites:
“There at the end, I was just hoping that the three of them in front of me would battle it out and I could get around them. Our No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang was just so tight all day. I couldn’t get it to turn. We kept trying different adjustments, but we just couldn’t get on the other side of it. Overall, I feel like we did pretty good, and it shows that even on an off day, this team can run in the top-five. That will go well for us as we head into the playoffs.” – Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang
“Obviously, we wanted to come here and get a win today at Darlington. That’s always the goal for this No. 98 Monster Energy team. The fact that we’re back in the playoffs at the moment is cool, but ultimately a win is what we’re hunting. We have some work to do, but I know that this team can do it. We’ll take this Ford Mustang and head to Kansas to try to execute a win.” – Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the regular season finale Kansas Lottery 300 on Saturday, Sept. 9 at Kansas Motor Speedway in Kansas City. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
