July 20, 2024 | By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Riley Herbst grabs Xfinity Series win at Indianapolis

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — In one of the most dramatic NASCAR Xfinity Series finishes in recent memory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst took the lead in the final corner of the final lap to claim his first victory of the season in Saturday’s Pennzoil 250 – formally punching his ticket to the 2024 Playoffs.

Three different drivers led the final three laps in the series’ return to the famous speedway’s 2.5-mile oval after four years of competing on the track’s road course. Ultimately, the 25-year-old Herbst drove his No. 98 SHR Ford sideways exiting Turn 4 to negotiate his way past veteran Aric Almirola and race off to a .167-second win over his SHR teammate Cole Custer and Almirola.

Custer led Lap 98. Almirola led Lap 99. And Herbst held the lead for the most important, Lap 100. The three were three-wide on the white flag lap, signaling one lap to-go with Almirola taking the white flag out front. Herbst caught him and dove low to claim the lead coming out of Turn 4 on the next lap and Custer raced past Almirola in the closing feet to give SHR a 1-2 finish.

“This is Indianapolis, this is the most famous race track in the world and it’s an honor just to walk into the place, let alone win,” said Herbst, whose only other series win was in at his hometown Las Vegas track last year. “We’ve had speed all year and I felt like we could win. I just messed up on restarts a little bit but just continued to work and continued to work.

“I’m proud of these guys. Proud of Stewart-Haas Racing. Obviously, with the news of us (the current Stewart-Haas Racing team) shutting down these guys could have given up on me and Cole but they stuck behind me and Cole and it’s back-to-back wins for Stewart-Haas Racing.”

The teammates combined to lead 77 of the 100 laps with Custer’s 47 laps out front most in the field. Custer, Saturday’s polesitter was smiling when he climbed out of his No. 00 SHR Ford and was the first to congratulate Herbst.

“What an awesome day for SHR, two cars up front all day, qualified one-two and finished one-two, so an unbelievable day for SHR,” said Custer, who started his day with a big announcement that he would be driving for the new single-car Haas Factory Team in the NASCAR Cup Series next year.

The defending series champion – who claimed his first win of 2024 last week at Pocono, Pa. – continues to lead the points standings and with his second place showing now has a 56-point advantage over JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, who finished ninth Saturday.

The former fulltime NASCAR Cup Series driver Almirola, 40, making his first start in the Xfinity Series since May 11, finished third in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The former Stewart-Haas Racing driver was also among the first to congratulate Herbst on the hard-fought victory.

“They (Herbst and Custer) were the class of the field but I knew if they got racing there was going to be an opportunity to steal it and I got the lead and thought and just got too tight in [turn] three and he got back inside me,” Almirola said, adding, “Those guys deserve it. I know all the guys on the team. They’re a great group of guys and proud and happy for those guys.”

Rookie Shane Van Gisbergen, the former Australian SuperCars champion, finished a strong fourth-place, making his way forward after opting for fresh tires on a final pit stop and turning in an inspired final restart with 10 laps remaining. A three-time road course winner this season, that fourth place was his best finish on an oval since a third place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February.

“It’s tough and I’m obviously still learning and I’m probably still a bit too conservative but I feel like the car got better and I got better,” Van Gisbergen said.  “This Xfinity Series is so fun, the way the cars move around and the way they’re all sliding.

“I had a blast.”

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Sheldon Creed finished fifth. Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill, who started from the rear of the field after some last minute adjustments on his Chevrolet, rallied to a sixth-place finish.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Daniel Dye was seventh, followed by two-time Indy winner A.J. Allmendinger, Allgaier and 21-year-old Carson Kvapil, who was making his sixth start of the year driving for JR Motorsports.

It was perhaps a fittingly dramatic ending to a race that got off to a tumultuous start with a 12-car accident taking multiple cars out of contention early. JR Motorsports Sam Mayer, a two-time race winner this year, spun out after making a three-wide move in Turn 3 collecting multiple cars and damaging more as they tried to avoid.

Fulltime NASCAR Cup Series driver Josh Berry, who was driving the No. 15 AM Racing Ford was among those collected in the melee and was officially scored last. He and Mayer were unable to complete one lap.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith retired on Lap 37, his No. 81 Toyota never able to overcome the damage from the first lap incident.

RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg holds a slim three-point edge over JR Motorsports’ Sammy Smith for the final points Playoff transfer position with six races remaining to set the 12-driver Playoff field.

The sport of NASCAR will be taking a two-week sporting break during the Olympics with the Xfinity Series returning to competition Aug. 17 at Michigan International Speedway for the Cabo Wabo 250 (USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). John Hunter Nemechek won the 2023 race.



NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 20
Race Results for the Pennzoil 250 Presented by Advance Auto Parts - Saturday, July 20, 2024
Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Speedway, IN - 2.5 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 100 Laps - 250. Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 7/20/2024 @ 06:11 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 2 98 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Ford 100 1 3 58 Running 4 30 6
2 1 00 Cole Custer Haas Automation Ford 100 6 6 45 Running 4 47
3 3 20 Aric Almirola He Gets Us Toyota 100 8 2 46 Running 2 5
4 23 97 Shane Van Gisbergen # WeatherTech Chevrolet 100  7 37 Running  
5 12 18 Sheldon Creed Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota 100  10 33 Running  
6 14 21 Austin Hill Bennett Transportation Chevrolet 100  8 34 Running  
7 22 10 Daniel Dye(i) Black Widow Trucks Chevrolet 100   0 Running  
8 8 16 AJ Allmendinger Celsius Chevrolet 100 2 4 45 Running 1 4
9 9 7 Justin Allgaier Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet 100 5 5 40 Running  
10 7 88 Carson Kvapil Clarience Technologies Chevrolet 100 9  29 Running  
11 27 39 Ryan Sieg Sci Aps Ford 100 3 1 44 Running 1 4 1
12 38 48 Parker Kligerman Spiked Lite Tropical Coolers Chevrolet 100 7  29 Running  
13 15 2 Jesse Love # Whelen/NLEOMF Chevrolet 100   24 Running  
14 16 26 Conor Daly Polkadot Toyota 100   23 Running  
15 6 9 Brandon Jones Menards/Pennington Chevrolet 100 4  29 Running 1 10
16 29 38 Matt DiBenedetto ReMA Ford 100 10  22 Running  
17 17 19 Joe Graf Jr Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 100   20 Running  
18 21 8 Sammy Smith TMC Transportation Chevrolet 100   19 Running  
19 11 27 Jeb Burton iHeart Media/Q95 Rocks Chevrolet 100   18 Running  
20 25 42 Leland Honeyman # Distributor Wire & Cable Co Chevrolet 100  9 19 Running  
21 30 44 Brennan Poole Macc Door Systems Chevrolet 100   16 Running  
22 31 28 Kyle Sieg Night Owl Ford 100   15 Running  
23 34 43 Ryan Ellis Renascent Demolition Chevrolet 100   14 Running  
24 35 35 Joey Gase Bell Helmets Chevrolet 100   13 Running  
25 28 91 Kyle Weatherman DriveSmartWarranty.com Chevrolet 100   12 Running  
26 36 14 David Starr SHAR Ford 100   11 Running  
27 32 92 Josh Bilicki Rita's Ice Chevrolet 100   10 Running  
28 33 13 BJ McLeod Falling In Reverse Chevrolet 100   9 Running  
29 24 29 Blaine Perkins AutoParkit.com Ford 100   8 Running  
30 18 51 Jeremy Clements Wings Etc Grill & Pub Chevrolet 99   7 Running  
31 26 45 Garrett Smithley Trophy Tractor/RichMar Florist Chevrolet 97   6 Running  
32 37 07 Greg Van Alst CB Fabricating Chevrolet 91   5 Ignition  
33 13 81 Chandler Smith QuickTie Toyota 86   4 Running  
34 5 5 Anthony Alfredo Dude Mint Chill Chevrolet 83   3 Accident  
35 20 31 Parker Retzlaff FUNKAWAY Chevrolet 83   2 Accident  
36 19 11 Josh Williams Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet 83   1 Accident  
37 4 1 Sam Mayer Huck's Market Chevrolet 0   1 Accident  
38 10 15 Josh Berry(i) Klutch Vodka Ford 0   0 Accident  

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 28 Mins, 8 Secs. Average Speed: 101.26 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.167 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 98, 16, 39, 9, 7, 00, 48, 20, 88, 38
Stage 2 Top 10: 39, 20, 98, 16, 7, 00, 97, 21, 42, 18

Caution Flags: 7 for 29 laps; Laps: 2-7 (#1, 15, 8, 2, 16, 51, 31, 26, 27, 28, 19, 81 Incident Turn 3 [None]); 18-20 (#81 Slow on Backstretch [None]); 32-34 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]); 56-59 (Possible Fluid From #44 [81]); 62-65 (Stage 2 Conclusion [44]); 68-71 (#20, 21 Incident Turn 2 [81]); 85-89 (#11, 5, 31, 10 Incident Backstretch [45]).

Lead Changes: 12 among 6 drivers; C. Custer 1-17; R. Herbst 18-31; B. Jones 32-41; C. Custer 42-57; R. Sieg 58-61; A. Almirola 62-65; R. Herbst 66-71; A. Allmendinger 72-75; C. Custer 76-80; R. Herbst 81-89; C. Custer 90-98; A. Almirola 99; R. Herbst 100.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: August 17, 2024 - Michigan International Speedway

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