STEWART-HAAS RACING
Explore the Pocono Mountains 225
Date: July 13, 2024
Event: Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 (Round 19 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (2.5-mile oval)
Format: 90 laps, broken into three stages (20 laps/20 laps/50 laps)
Race Winner: Cole Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Cole Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
SHR Race Finish:
● Cole Custer (Started 8th / Finished 1st, Running, completed 90 of 90 laps)
● Riley Herbst (Started 18th / Finished 11th, Running, completed 90 of 90 laps)
SHR Points:
● Cole Custer (1st with 716 points)
● Riley Herbst (7th with 560 points, 156 out of first)
Victory Notes:
● Cole Custer’s victory at Pocono marked SHR’s 26th Xfinity Series victory, its first of the season, and its third at Pocono.
● This was SHR’s 102nd overall victory (69 points-paying NASCAR Cup Series wins, six non-points-paying NASCAR Cup Series wins, 26 Xfinity Series wins and one ARCA Menards Series West win)
● This was Custer’s 14th career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory and his 13th with SHR.
SHR Notes:
● Custer earned his first victory of the season and his second victory in six career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Pocono.
● Custer has only finished outside of the top-10 once at Pocono in the Xfinity Series.
● Custer has earned six top-10s in the past seven races.
● Custer finished second in Stage 1 to earn nine bonus points and won Stage 2 to earn 10 more bonus points and one playoff point.
● Custer led two times for 25 laps to increase his laps-led total at Pocono to 122.
● Herbst earned his 12th top-15 of the season and his fourth top-15 in five career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Pocono.
● Herbst has only finished outside the top-15 once at Pocono in the Xfinity Series.
● Herbst finished seventh in Stage 1 to earn four bonus points and fourth in Stage 2 to earn seven more bonus points.
Race Notes:
● Cole Custer won the Explore the Pocono Mountains 225 to score his 14th career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his first of the season, and his second at Pocono. His margin over second-place Justin Allgaier was .670 of a second.
● There were eight caution periods for a total of 30 laps.
● Thirty-one of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Custer remains the championship leader after Pocono with a 51-point advantage over second-place Allgaier.
Sound Bites:
“This means so much. These guys have worked so hard this year and just haven’t gotten that final result. It’s awesome to get it here at Pocono. This is such an awesome race track that is hard to win at. I can’t thank all of them enough. An unbelievable car. Doug Yates gave us awesome Roush Yates horsepower. Ford, we got a win in the Ford Mustang Dark Horse finally. We’re pumped about that. We’re ready to try to carry this into the playoffs. I couldn’t be here without Gene Haas and everyone at Haas Automation and everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing. It is an awesome day.” –Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“We really did have a fast No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang. We did what we had to do. Run up front, get stage points. In the final stage though, the green flag pit road penalty killed our day. I hate it for my guys because this was a mistake on my part. We were a top-five car, and I think we could’ve contended for the win. Luckily, we were able to recover for an 11th-place finish. We’ll move ahead to Indianapolis.” –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 Indianapolis 250 on Saturday, July 20 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
