Jesse Love and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Team Enter Playoffs with Momentum after Strong Run at Bristol Motor Speedway

Finish: 4th
Start: 10th
Points: 6th

“We had a fast No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway. Our car fired off well and we were able to drive up to second by the end of Stage 1. Danny Stockman (crew chief) made good changes to the car each stop and our pit crew was solid all night. Mid-race our car started to get tight in the center of the corner and I was losing time into Turn 1. On our next pit stop at the end of Stage 2, we put the changes back into the car that we started the race with, and our Chevrolet came to life. I could run the bottom all night where our car was the strongest. We gained stage points tonight and I feel confident going into the Playoffs. I’m very proud of the effort from our Richard Childress Racing team and look forward to Kansas Speedway next weekend.” -Jesse Love

Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet Team Grind for Top-15 Finish at Bristol Motor Speedway

Finish: 14th
Start: 17th
Points: 3rd

“The NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season is done and from this point forward, every lap and every race counts. Our No. 21 team has to put our best foot forward each and every week in order to compete for the championship in November. I’m confident in our employees at Richard Childress Racing and ECR Engines, but our Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet wasn’t very good tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway. We started the race loose on entry and once we got the entry fixed, the middle became too tight. Just couldn’t move the car around like we needed to race for the win. It’s nice to have bonus points entering the Playoffs, but we learned last year to never be too satisfied with how many Playoff points we have. We missed the Championship 4 by so few points even with winning the regular season championship. We will be prepared for Kansas Speedway next weekend and hopefully start the Playoffs on the right foot.” -Austin Hill

STEWART-HAAS RACING
Food City 300
Date: Sept. 20, 2024
Event: Food City 300 (Round 26 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, concrete oval)
Format: 300 laps, broken into three stages (85 laps/85 laps/130 laps)

Race Winner: Cole Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
Stage 1 Winner: Chandler Smith of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Jeremy Clements of Jeremy Clements Racing (Chevrolet)

SHR Race Finish:

● Cole Custer (Started 2nd / Finished 1st, Running, completed 300 of 300 laps)
● Riley Herbst (Started 15th / Finished 13th, Running, completed 300 of 300 laps)

SHR Regular Season Points:

● Cole Custer (1st with 911 points)
● Riley Herbst (8th with 752 points, 159 out of first)

SHR Playoffs:

● Cole Custer qualified for the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs by virtue of his two victories this season – July 13 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and tonight.
● This is Custer’s fifth playoff appearance.
● Custer is the reigning 2023 Xfinity Series Championship and chasing his second title.
● Riley Herbst qualified for the playoffs by virtue of his July 20 win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
● This is Herbst’s fourth playoff appearance.

Victory Notes:

● Custer’s victory at Bristol marked SHR’s 28th Xfinity Series victory, its third of the season, and its second at Bristol.
● This was SHR’s 105th overall victory (70 points-paying NASCAR Cup Series wins, six non-points-paying NASCAR Cup Series wins, 28 Xfinity Series wins and one ARCA Menards Series West win)
● This was Custer’s 15th career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory and his 14th with SHR.

SHR Notes:

● Custer earned his second victory of the season and his first victory in eight career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Bristol.
● Custer has only finished outside the top-10 twice in eight starts at Bristol.
● This was Custer’s second straight top-five at Bristol. He finished fourth last September.
● Custer’s win bettered his previous best finish at Bristol – third, earn in April 2019.
● Custer finished seventh in Stage 1 to earn four bonus points and second in Stage 2 to earn nine more bonus points.
● Custer led three times for 104 laps increasing his laps led total at Bristol to 244.
● Herbst earned his 16th top-15 finish of the season and his fifth top-15 finish in six career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Bristol.
● Herbst has only finished outside the top-15 once at Bristol. He hasn’t finished outside the top-15 at Bristol since joining SHR in 2021.
● This was Herbst’s second straight top-15. He finished 13th last Saturday at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
● Herbst finished seventh in Stage 2 to earn four bonus points.

Race Notes:

● Cole Custer won the Food City 300 to score his 15th career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Bristol. His margin over second-place Sheldon Creed was .896 of a second.
● There were seven caution periods for a total of 57 laps.
● Seventeen of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Custer is the NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Champion by a three-point advantage over Justin Allgaier.

Playoff Standings:

1. Justin Allgaier (2,034 points)
2. Cole Custer (2,028 points, -6)
3. Austin Hill (2,025 points, -9)
4. Chandler Smith (2,024 points, -10)
5. Shane Van Gisbergen (2,017 points, -17)
6. Jesse Love (2,013 points, -21)
7. Sam Mayer (2,011 points, -23)
8. Riley Herbst (2,010 points, -24)
9. Sheldon Creed (2,007 points, -27)
10. AJ Allmendinger (2,006 points, -28)
11. Sammy Smith (2,001 points, -33)
12. Parker Kligerman (1,998 points, -36)

Sound Bites:

“Man, it’s just unbelievable. It’s a testament to these guys. It’s been a really hard month, but everyone at the shop really kept their heads in it. I can’t thank HighPoint.com and Ford Performance enough. It’s awesome to get them both a win. All the guys did such a great job. It was an unbelievable car all night. I’m ready to get to the playoffs. It’s huge to get this momentum because our confidence was going down there this last month, so to get this win really means a lot. What a car. What a race. I mean, these guys did such a great job with this thing. I can’t thank HighPoint enough. Every race we’ve wanted to do better with them and this was finally a race we put it all together. It was just an unbelievable car. I could really drive through the field and do everything I needed. It’s a real testament to what this team can bring to the playoffs.​” –Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse

“I guess it’s good for Stewart-Haas Racing with Cole being in Victory Lane. That was cool to see. It’s good for us, but we just missed it tonight. I don’t know. We weren’t good in practice and didn’t qualify well, and then we didn’t have much pace in the race, either. I feel like when we execute, we’re one of the fastest teams for sure, but tonight wasn’t one of those nights. We’ll have to figure out why and what I need better, but we’ll go to work. I think we’ll be really competitive in the playoffs. I’m excited for it, and hopefully, we can step up to the plate​.​” –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 Kansas Lottery 300 on Saturday, Sept. 28 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. This is the first race of the playoffs and the first of the Round of 12. The race begins at 4 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by CW and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Food City 300 | Bristol Motor Speedway
Friday, September 20, 2024

COLE CUSTER POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE

COLE CUSTER, No. 00 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW REALISTIC DID YOU THINK IT WAS TO WIN THE REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP GOING INTO THIS RACE? “Not very realistic. I knew we needed some help. That’s a good team with that 7 team and it would have been a really good race if they didn’t have whatever problems they had. I’ve always liked racing Justin. It’s just bad luck for them, I guess, but it’s a testament to our team, what we bring to the racetrack every single weekend. Any given weekend we can win. It’s been a tough month-and-a-half, but I know when we get our stuff right we’re gonna be up there fighting for wins and fighting for a championship.”

JUSTIN WAS IN VICTORY LANE. WHAT DID HE SAY? “He just said congratulations. It’s been a tough couple weeks for us. We got together at Atlanta and then we got together last week at Watkins Glen. He spun me out, so we’re gonna have to talk about things this week about how we’re gonna go forward, but he’s always been a great one to work with. He’s aggressive and races hard, but clean. It’s always great to have him in this series. He’s great competition and quality competition to race with.”

HAS IT BEEN EASIER TO PUSH THROUGH THESE TOUGH TIMES HAVING WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP? WHAT AREN’T WE SEEING BEHIND THE SCENES? “Overall, we just wrecked a lot of stuff. I mean, at Michigan we wrecked. At Daytona we wrecked. At Atlanta we wrecked. At Watkins Glen we kind of wrecked and finished horrible. It’s nothing that we’re really done wrong, just a lot of dumb stuff has happened. That kind of gets your confidence beat down a little bit, that you haven’t really put a race together in a while, so it definitely meant a lot to put this race together and be able to bring a really fast car to the track and know that we can go really put it to them in the playoffs.”

THAT’S 10 PLAYOFF POINTS – FIVE FOR THE WIN AND FIVE FOR THE REGULAR SEASON TITLE. HOW BIG OF A DIFFERENCE IS THAT? “I hope it makes me feel a lot better at Talladega and Martinsville because Talladega is gonna be wild and Martinsville you never know. Last year, everybody wrecked each other. You want any point that you can get to make yourself feel more comfortable, so any point we can get is huge. We just have to keep piling them up through the playoffs and keep it rolling.”

WHAT DID THAT DO FOR YOU CONFIDENCE WHEN YOU HAD TO PIT ON LAP THREE BUT WORK YOUR WAY THROUGH THE FIELD? “I knew that we just had a really fast car. I kind of knew it from lap one that we had something, so I knew going through the field it was gonna be tough, but we had our car set up pretty good to be able to pass and work the bottom, so it worked out good. We had a really fast car to be able to make passes. It was tough. We had to use the bumper a little bit to try to make passes, but we had a good enough car to be able to sustain a run on the bottom and be able to complete some passes.”

HOW LONG DID THOSE LAST 30 LAPS FEEL KNOWING YOU DIDN’T HAVE ANOTHER SET OF TIRES AND NEEDED TO WIN TO TAKE THE REGULAR SEASON TITLE? “I wanted it to go green as much as I could, but it’s tough with lap traffic. You just never know here. You catch one lapper that’s just really hard to pass and it can derail your whole race, so I was trying to be as aggressive as I could to get through lap traffic and move on, but it was tough. You kind of had to use the bumper a little bit to get by guys, but it’s just a testament to our car of how good we could work the bottom because not a lot of guys could.”

IS THAT A PLAYOFF MUSTACHE? “That’s the plan. We had some bad luck, so my wife thought we should try it. I just grew it out and I guess I’ve got to keep it now, but that’s another thing, too. We had our kid, Cal, about a month-and-a-half ago and it’s awesome to finally get our first win with him born. We’re gonna bring a trophy home to him, so that’s a really cool one, especially from Bristol. It’s one I’ve wanted for a long time.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO COME BACK AFTER A SEASON LIKE LAST YEAR TO AT LEAST REACH THIS POINT GOING INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “It’s huge. I mean, I think it just shows what this team can do and just the program that we’ve built. Every single weekend I feel like if we hit it right, we can go win races. It’s a great group of people that just wants to go out there and believe in one another and be able to fix problems and not point fingers at one another. We really just hone in on what we need to fix and I feel like if you do that enough and fix enough problems, you usually end up in a good spot. We’ve done a great job of that and just slowly but surely are getting our cars better and better. We’ll bring it to them in the playoffs.”

THIS WAS A YEAR OF UPHEAVAL FOR YOUR GROUP. HOW HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN ABLE TO KEEP THINGS TOGETHER OR DOES IT HELP THAT THE XFINITY PROGRAM IS STAYING AROUND? “It’s just a testament to the people. I think everybody on our group does a great job of blocking that stuff out because everybody at SHR had every excuse to not have a good year. It’s the toughest situation you’ll ever be a part of. I’ll tell you that right now. Everybody has what they’re focused on for next year. Everybody has to find what they’re gonna do, so you have to be understanding of that, but you also have to be understanding of we have to go out and try to win races. To keep everybody together is really tough and I feel like it’s just a testament to everybody in that building who has really stuck together. It’s a testament to see that 14 car in the playoffs and how much speed they have. I think just a great group of people that can go out there and still finish strong when this is probably the toughest year a lot of those guys will ever have on a race team – to be able to stay together as a team through this.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER
No. 16 Barger Precast Chevrolet Camaro

• AJ Allmendinger qualified fifth for the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• Allmendinger fired off loose before a caution for debris on lap four. He restarted fifth on lap nine and eventually fell one spot, before the second caution came out on lap 53. Allmendinger stayed out and restarted fifth with 20 laps remaining in the stage and fought to finish it in fourth place.
• Allmendinger pitted during the stage break for tires, fuel, and air pressure and track bar adjustments to help with rear grip. He started the second stage from 16th. After a caution on lap 121, Allmendinger reported the car felt very stiff and was chattering. He restarted 13th before the race’s second caution came on lap 154 with Allmendinger in 11th. Crew chief Alex Yontz made the call for Allmendinger to pit for tires, fuel, and air pressure, track bar and wedge adjustments to help the handling of the No. 16 Barger Precast Chevy. He restarted in 14th with nine to go and went on to finish the second stage in the same spot.
• Struggling to lean on the No. 16 Chevy, Allmendinger pitted during the second stage break for tires, fuel and another substantial adjustment, before starting the final stage from 26th place. The loan caution of Stage 3 came on lap 200, and Allmendinger stayed out and restarted 15th. He radioed that the adjustments made under the stage break had helped the handling of No. 16 Chevy, and over the course of the final 100 laps, Allmendinger broke into the top 10 and finished in 10th.

“We tried something different coming into Bristol, and from the moment we unloaded, we were just hanging on. Myself, Alex Yontz, and all the men and women at Kaulig Racing did everything we could. Getting a top ten in the Barger Precast Chevy was a win for us.” – AJ Allmendinger  

SHANE van GISBERGEN
No. 97 WeatherTech Chevrolet Camaro

• Shane van Gisbergen qualified 34th for the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• Van Gisbergen quickly moved his way to 27th, when the first caution occurred on lap four. Van Gisbergen battled to stay on the lead lap throughout the stage, but ultimately fell off the lead lap on lap 42. When the second caution flag flew on lap 54, Van Gisbergen reported the WeatherTech Chevy was loose on entry and lacked grip, but had good speed overall. The No. 97 WeatherTech team opted to pit under caution for adjustments and fuel, slotting Van Gisbergen to rejoin the field in 27th, one lap down. Van Gisbergen took the green-white-checkered flag in 30th to end the first stage.
• The No. 97 WeatherTech team opted to pit at the stage break for tires, fuel, and adjustments, starting the second stage in 29th. During the first caution of the stage, the No. 97 team opted to pit for adjustments and fuel as Van Gisbergen reported the car was still lacking overall grip. Van Gisbergen was in the lucky dog position when a timely caution allowed the No. 97 to rejoin the field on the lead lap, restarting the stage in 27th. He battled to maintain position as the car continued to lack grip during the green flag run, but when a yellow flew on lap 154, the No. 97 team came to pit road for fresh tires, fuel, and adjustments, restarting 22nd. As the stage concluded, Van Gisbergen was scored 23rd.
• The No. 97 WeatherTech team chose to stay out during the stage break caution, and Van Gisbergen started the final stage in 19th, entering the top 20 for the first time in the race. The fourth caution came out on lap 200 of the race, and the No. 97 team chose to stay out, restarting the stage in 20th. Van Gisbergen continued to run in the top 20 for all of the final stage, logging 100 laps in the top 20 for his first appearance at the half-mile track. The No. 97 fell off the lead lap with 15 laps remaining in the race but maintained position and ultimately took the checkered flag in 18th.

“This was an awesome race, I love this track! A little bummed we got lapped there at the end but got better all day and just had a blast. My No. 97 WeatherTech team has been awesome and we keep learning and getting better throughout the year, so looking forward to having some fun in the playoffs next weekend at Kansas.” – Shane van Gisbergen  

JOSH WILLIAMS
No. 11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet Camaro

• Josh Williams qualified 32nd for the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• Williams, who was sent to the rear for unapproved adjustments, moved into 34th by the race’s first caution on lap four. The green flag flew again on lap nine, and Williams continued his charge forward, taking 28th on lap 17. After taking 26th, the caution came out on lap 53 for an incident with the leader and lapped traffic. After a lengthy deliberation between Williams and crew chief Eddie Pardue, the No. 11 Alloy Employer Services Camaro stayed out on the track and restarted from 16th with 20 laps left in Stage 1. He lost positions en route to a 19th-place finish.
• Williams pitted for tires and fuel and restarted for Stage 2 from 23rd on lap 96. After taking 19th, the yellow flag flew on lap 121, and Williams stayed out. After trying to dial in his brake bias towards the front to help the Camaro’s balance, he restarted in 19th with 44 laps to go in the second stage. Falling to 22nd, the caution displayed on lap 154, and Williams pitted for tires, fuel, and a wedge adjustment aimed at freeing the Chevy up. He fired back off in 21st with nine laps remaining in Stage 2 and took the green-white-checkered in 22nd.
• Williams restarted for the final stage in 18th and stayed there until the lap-200 caution. Pardue called the No. 11 down pit road for tires, fuel, and a track bar adjustment. It was the team’s final set of sticker Goodyear tires. The race went back under green-flag conditions with 94 to go; Williams restarted 26th. He began climbing but stalled out once he reached 21st, getting put one lap down on lap 265. Williams took the checkered flag running in 21st.

“We made a lot of adjustments that didn’t end up working out for us as the race went on. Just overall, not the best day for us. Hoping to end the season on a strong note these last bunch of races.” – Josh Williams
 
About Kaulig Racing

Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time, multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has earned 23 NXS wins, made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started, and won two regular-season championships. In 2021, the team competed in select NCS events, before expanding to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 and adding a third, part-time entry during the 2023 season. Since its first NCS start in 2021, the team has earned two wins. Kaulig Racing is currently fielding two full-time entries in the NCS and continues to field three full-time NXS entries, with a part-time fourth entry at select events. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.

THREE TOYOTA TOP-FIVES AT BRISTOL
No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team wins regular season owner’s title

BRISTOL, Tenn. (September 20, 2024) – Sheldon Creed continued to show his consistency with his second straight runner-up finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday evening. Creed, who leads the series with 13 top-five finishes, also scored his 13th second-place finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series as he continues to search for his first victory.

Creed led three Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas in the top-five with Chandler Smith finishing third and Ryan Truex ending up fifth. Smith, who added to his Playoff point total with a stage one victory, and Creed are now both set-up to compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. Smith is the fourth seed, and starts 17 points up on the Playoff cutline, while Creed is the ninth seed – just three points out heading into Kansas next weekend.

With Truex’s fifth-place finish, the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team clinched the regular season owner’s championship on the strength of seven victories.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Bristol Motor Speedway
Race 25 of 33 – 159.9 Miles, 300 Laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS

1st, Cole Custer*
2nd, SHELDON CREED
3rd, CHANDLER SMITH
4th, Jesse Love*
5th, RYAN TRUEX
19th, JOE GRAF JR.
35th, JEFFREY EARNHARDT
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

SHELDON CREED, No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 2nd

Can you talk about your race car? You were very strong all night, what more did you need?

“Yeah, maybe just not slipping up there when I had the lead. He got loose on the first restart when he got the lead, and then I did the same thing that he did. Just got free there – I felt like I was pretty good there in the middle of the run, and I could stay with him. I was just trying to pace with him, and then I pancaked the fence all by myself, and then I hit it four or five more times, and I felt like I never really recovered after that. Just was a little too tight at the end of the run when we got to lap traffic, when I would get close. I just needed to turn a little bit better. We are really consistent with our Toyota team– another second. I’ll take it and we will keep moving forward.”

CHANDLER SMITH, No. 81 Mobil 1 Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 3rd

Do you think you are back hitting your stride?

“Yeah, definitely – we had a solid showing tonight with our No. 81 Mobil 1 GR Supra. It was a fast as Xfinity internet. Unfortunately, after stage one – got stuck in traffic back there, and clawed our way back to third and just rode behind our teammate there for 80 laps trying to find a way around him to go run down the 00 (Cole Custer) – tried to figure out some way to do it clean and unfortunately, ran out of laps. It is what it is. We will move on to Kansas.”

RYAN TRUEX, No. 20 Toyota Genuine Parts Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 5th

Can you tell us about your night?

“It went pretty well. I did a terrible job in qualifying in my GR Supra – I feel like being a part-time driver, qualifying is the hardest thing, because it is so hard to find that limit when you only get 20 minutes of practice, and you are expected to go run half-a-second quicker. When you don’t race every week, you just don’t know where that delta is. I just under drove it in qualifying and put us behind the 8-ball. We had a really good start – decent stage one. We got stage points, and then stage two – we flipped the stage, got really good stage points and then had to hold on to the track position. A little too free that last run. I was hanging on in front of Dale (Earnhardt). Just thankful he didn’t left rear me, because he could have, pretty easily used me up – but had a lot of fun racing him. Hopefully, I see you all again in a more full time capacity.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 12 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 13th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 29 electrified options.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Food City 300 | Bristol Motor Speedway
Friday, September 20, 2024

COLE CUSTER WINS NASCAR XFINITY SERIES REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP WITH BRISTOL VICTORY

• Cole Custer won the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship with his win tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• Custer’s victory is his second of the season to go with his triumph earlier this year at Pocono Raceway.
• The win is Custer’s 15th series victory with Ford, which puts him in sole possession of sixth place on the manufacturer’s all-time list.

COLE CUSTER, No. 00 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEWS

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO THE TEAM? “Man, it’s just unbelievable. It’s a testament to these guys. It’s been a really hard month, but everyone at the shop really kept their heads in it. I can’t thank High Point enough. It’s awesome to get them a win. Ford Performance. All the guys did such a great job. It was an unbelievable car all night. I’m ready to get to the playoffs.”

YOU ARE THE REGULAR SEASON CHAMPION. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? “It’s huge to get this momentum because our confidence was going down there this last month, so to get this win really means a lot.”

“Man, what a car. What a race. I mean, these guys did such a great job with this thing. I can’t thank HighPoint.com enough. Every race we’ve wanted to do better with them and this was finally a race we put it all together. It was just an unbelievable car. I could really drive through the field and do everything I needed. It’s a real testament to this team of what we can bring to the playoffs.”

YOU STARTED IN THE WALL ON LAP 3. YOU WERE ON YOUR LAST SET OF TIRES FOR 140 LAPS AND END UP IN VICTORY LANE WITH THE REGULAR SEASON TITLE. HOW ABOUT THAT? “It’s unbelievable. These guys never give up. It’s been a tough month, but to be able to lead into the playoffs like this, we’re gonna really bring it to them.”

Ford Finishing Results:

1st – Cole Custer
8th – Ryan Sieg
13th – Riley Herbst
22nd – Blaine Perkins
23rd – Kyle Sieg
27th – Logan Bearden
32nd – Chad Finchum
34th – Matt DiBenedetto
36th – Garrett Smithley

RILEY HERBST, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON TONIGHT? “I guess it’s good for our team with Cole being in Victory Lane. That was cool to see. It’s good for us, but we just missed it. I don’t know. We weren’t good in practice and didn’t qualify well, and then we didn’t have much pace in the race, either.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR TEAM IS SET UP FOR THE PLAYOFFS? “I feel like when we execute we’re one of the fastest teams for sure, but tonight wasn’t one of those nights. We’ll have to figure out why and what I need better, but we’ll go to work.”

WHAT ABOUT STARTING THE PLAYOFFS AT KANSAS? “I think we’ll be really competitive. I’m excited for it and hopefully we can step up to the plate.”

RYAN SIEG, No. 39 Sci Aps Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT DO YOU LOOK BACK ON THIS YEAR? “Probably the hard ones. You go back to Texas, but there was a few races where we let some points slip. All in all, it was a great year, nothing to hang our heads on. We still have some races to go win. That’s the goal and that was our goal this year. We’ve had shots to do it, we’ve just got to execute everything. We’ve worked hard all year, so nothing to hang our heads on. We’ve had a fast Sci Ops Ford Mustang each week, just sometimes we didn’t capitalize on the points and other times I messed up, but, all in all, we come out of here with a top 10 and we just have to continue that momentum and try to win some races here at the end and continue this momentum we’ve got going for next year.”

WHAT NEEDS TO IMPROVE FOR NEXT YEAR? “We’ve got some things in the works. We should improve next year. We have most of our same group next year, and then we’ll add a few more. The next step is probably trying to focus more on all the little things on our car. That’s probably where we’re getting beat a little bit, just the little things we’ve got to clean up and we should be able to run with them if we can execute everything and contend for races week in and week out. We’ve just got to keep digging.”