STEWART-HAAS RACING|
NASCAR Xfinity Series: Martinsville 250
Date: Oct. 28, 2023
Event: Martinsville 250 (Round 32 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)
Format: 250 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/130 laps)
Note: Race extended six laps past its scheduled 250-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
Race Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Sammy Smith of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
SHR Race Finish:
● Riley Herbst (Started 4th / Finished 4th, Running, completed 256 of 256 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 3rd / Finished 19th, Running, completed 256 of 256 laps)
SHR Points:
● Cole Custer (4th with 4,000 points – Advanced to Championship 4)
● Riley Herbst (13th with 870 points)
SHR Notes:
● Herbst earned his career-best ninth top-five of the season and his second top-five in seven career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Martinsville.
● Herbst has only finished outside of the top-10 twice at Martinsville.
● This is Herbst’s fourth straight top-five. He finished fourth on Oct. 7 on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval, won Oct. 14 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and finished second last Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
● Herbst finished seventh in Stage 1 to earn four bonus points and 10th in Stage 2 to earn one more bonus point.
● This is the third time in four fulltime Xfinity Series seasons that Custer has advanced to the Championship 4. He advanced in his previous two fulltime seasons in 2018 and 2019, both resulting in runner-up championship finishes.
● Custer finished second in Stage 1 to earn nine bonus points and eighth in Stage 2 to earn three more bonus points.
● Custer led once for one lap to increase his laps-led total at Martinsville to 6.
Race Notes:
● Justin Allgaier won the Martinsville 250 to score his 23rd career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his fourth of the season and his first at Martinsville. His margin over second-place Sheldon Creed was .032 of a second.
● There were 15 caution periods for a total of 101 laps.
● Twenty of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Sound Bites:
“It’s just Martinsville and everybody is just desperate. It’s just one of those deals. The No. 18 is trying to get his way in. The 2 is trying to get his way in. Everybody is just trying to get all that they can get, and we had nowhere to go. The 21 got spun and I had nowhere to go, and we all stopped there. I saw Austin trying to fire up his car and I was like, ‘I’ve got to get going here,’ so I put it in reverse to try to get across the start-finish line. I’m sorry Doug Yates. We were not easy on his engine today, but luckily, he builds great engines that are very durable, and it ran great today. I can’t thank my No. 00 Haas Automation guys enough. They’ve worked so hard and just have gotten better and better throughout the year. I’m so glad that this is over. All throughout that red flag my heart was beating out of my chest. I was just wondering what was going to happen, but it’s just amazing to be in the Championship 4 and have a shot at it. I can’t thank Tony Stewart, Gene Haas, Haas Automation, Ford Performance, Roush Yates Engines, and everybody at the shop enough. It has been awesome to get this deal better. I think we’ll have something for them at Phoenix.” – Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang
“Man, that was a wild ending. Overall, we just couldn’t get the handling right on our No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang. We struggled all day and just couldn’t get it perfect, but we were able to avoid some of that chaos and make it to the end of the race. That’s really what you have to do at Martinsville. If you keep yourself in the race and out of trouble, you’ll have a shot at a good finish. I think we did just that, and we were able to keep our top-five streak going. I’m excited to head to Phoenix and hopefully continue this strong run.” – Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the schedule is the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship on Saturday, Nov. 4 at Phoenix Raceway. It is the seventh and final race of the Xfinity Series playoffs. The race begins at 7 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
