XFINITY Series Homestead Miami Speedway

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Contender Boats 300

Saturday, October 21st, 2023

Homestead Miami Speedway, Homestead, FL

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  • 27 Chevrolet
  • 9 Ford
  • 5 Toyota

  • Homestead-Miami Speedway
  • Contender Boats 300
  • Pole Winner: Cole Custer
  • Age: 25
  • Team : No. 00 - Haas Automation Ford
  • Owner: Stewart-Haas Racing
  • Crew Chief: Jonathan Toney
  • Cole Custer won the Pole Award for the Contender Boats 300 with a lap of 32.608 seconds, 165.604 mph.
  • This is his 18th pole in 141 NASCAR Xfinity Series races.
  • This is his sixth pole and 26th top-10 start in 2023.
  • This is his second pole in five races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
  • John Hunter Nemechek (second) posted his 25th top-10 start of 2023 and his third in three races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
  • Justin Allgaier (third) posted his fifth top-10 start at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It is his 24th in 31 races this season.
  • Sammy Smith (fifth) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

  • Saturday, October 21st, 2023
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Sam Mayer Makes Miami Moves; Wins in Homstead and Clinches Spot in Championship 4

Sam Mayer claimed his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series oval-race victory in the second half of a NASCAR double-header at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday in the Contender Boats 300 after holding off last week’s race winner Riley Herbst by a mere .227-second.

It marks the JR Motorsports driver Mayer’s fourth series victory of the season – and his career – most important for Mayer – who joked he didn’t breath the final four laps – it is his ticket into the Championship 4 finale that will decide the series title at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks.

The 20-year old Wisconsin native’s No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet led 46 laps on the day – including the final 30 – but brushed the wall exiting Turn 3 as he pushed forward on the last lap to keep a fast-closing Herbst behind him. Mayer’s fellow NASCAR Xfinity Series championship contender John Hunter Nemechek finished third in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota; leading seven laps despite feeling under the weather.

Regular-season champion Austin Hill was fourth in the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet and NASCAR Hall of Famer and crowd favorite, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished fifth in his second and final race start of the season. He’s also the owner of Mayer’s Chevy.

“It’s unreal, we won on an oval,’’ a grinning Mayer screamed into the front grandstands. “This Chevrolet Camaro was so good.

“It’s all about putting a full race together,’’ he continued, “and I’m so proud of these guys. They kicked tail on pit road and we made it happen with these HMS (Hendrick Motorsports) engines.

“It’s just really cool to be able to beat an amazing organization like that (Herbst’s Stewart-Haas Racing team). We’ve got to turn it on a little harder going into Phoenix.’’

Herbst’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer won Stage 1 and led a dominating 114 of the race’s 200 laps only to suffer a tire problem with 50 laps remaining and drop a lap down. He rallied back but still finished 13th after such an impressive early race. Custer and Hill are now tied three points above the cutoff line heading into next week’s regular season finale at the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Nemechek holds a healthy 44 point edge above them.

Another title favorite, Mayer’s JRM teammate Justin Allgaier – who came into the race ranked second in the championship standings, also had a tire issue after a pit stop and dropped back midway through the race. He rallied back to finish 15th, but dropped to fifth place in the standing, three points behind Hill for the automatic transfer position for the Championship 4.

Nemechek’s JGR teammate Sammy Smith, who finished ninth, is now 49 points back in sixth place. And it was a more dramatic day for the other championship contenders with Richard Childress Racing’s Sheldon Creed finishing 26th after exiting onto pit road with smoke trailing out of his Chevy with only two laps remaining in the race.

Kaulig Racing’s Chandler Smith rounds out the Playoff 8 – but finished a frustrating 34th place after being collected in an early race accident. They are now 54 (Smith) and 65 (Creed) points below the fourth place transfer line and will need to win the race at Martinsville next week to meet their Playoff goals.

Kaulig’s Daniel Hemric, Big Machine Racing’s Parker Kligerman, JRM’s Brandon Jones, and the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Sammy Smith, and Joe Graf Jr. rounded out the top 10 Saturday.

Earnhardt’s participation was certainly a crowd pleaser and his fifth-place effort in the JR Motorsports Chevy was his fifth top-five showing since he retired from fulltime competition in the NASCAR Cup Series after the 2017 season. He methodically worked his way forward from a 23rd place starting position and survived a close call in the closing laps, ironically with Josh Berry, who drives for Earnhardt.

“Luckily it didn’t hurt our car and we were able to finish really good, so I’m happy about that,’’ Earnhardt said, noting he felt badly having an incident with one of his own team cars.

The series moves to the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Raceway for next Saturday’s Dead On Tools 250 (3:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) which will formally decide which three drivers will join Mayer in championship eligibility at the Phoenix season-ender.

“Getting that first oval win [today] was big. … we finally won on an oval and my confidence is feeling good,’’ Mayer said with a huge grin.

  • Drivers Entered: 41 (3 drivers will not make the race)
  • Laps Scheduled: 200
  • Margin of Victory: 0.227 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 2 Hours 34 Minutes 29 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 116.517
  • Cautions: 6 for 33 laps
  • Lead Changes: 13
  • Green Flag Passes: 2,330 (14.0 passes per green flag lap)

  • Homestead-Miami Speedway
  • Contender Boats 300
  • Race Winner: Sam Mayer
  • Age: 20
  • Team : No. 1 - Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet
  • Owner: JR Motorsports
  • Crew Chief: Mardy Lindley
  • Sam Mayer won the Contender Boats 300, his fourth victory in 82 Xfinity Series races.
  • This is his fourth victory and 18th top-10 finish in 2023.
  • This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in two races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
  • Riley Herbst (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in five races at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It is his 15th top-10 finish in 2023.
  • John Hunter Nemechek (third) posted his third top-10 finish in three races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
  • Sammy Smith (ninth) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • Sam Mayer clinches a spot in the Championship 4.
Sam Mayer and Cole Custer race
Homestead, Florida - October 21, 2023 : Sam Mayer, driver of the #1 Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet, and Cole Custer, driver of the #00 Haas Automation Ford, race during the NASCAR Xfinity Series Contender Boats 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
James GilbertGetty Images

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Contender Boats 300 at Homestead Miami Speedway Draftkings results
FINISH & PLACE DIFFERENTIAL POINTS FAST LAP POINTS LAPS LED POINTS TOTAL POINTS
RNK SLRY DRIVER TEAM # MAKE LAPS DR ST FIN FIN PTS PD PTS FST % FST FST PTS LED % LED LED PTS TOT PTS
1 10,200 Sam Mayer JR Motorsports 1 Chevrolet 200 130.80 13 1 45 12 24 15.09 10.80 46 23.0 11.50 79.30
4 9,000 Riley Herbst Stewart Haas Racing 98 Ford 200 110.40 7 2 42 5 15 9.43 6.75 0 0.0 0.00 53.75
7 11,500 John Hunter Nemechek Joe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 200 117.30 2 3 41 -1 10 6.29 4.50 7 3.5 1.75 46.25
10 10,500 Austin Hill Richard Childress Racing 21 Chevrolet 200 108.30 4 4 40 0 3 1.89 1.35 0 0.0 0.00 41.35
3 8,800 Dale Earnhardt Jr JR Motorsports 88 Chevrolet 200 90.40 23 5 39 18 1 0.63 0.45 0 0.0 0.00 57.45
6 8,200 Daniel Hemric Kaulig Racing 10 Chevrolet 200 95.70 15 6 38 9 2 1.26 0.90 0 0.0 0.00 47.90
8 8,000 Parker Kligerman Big Machine Racing 48 Chevrolet 200 98.10 10 7 37 3 13 8.18 5.85 0 0.0 0.00 45.85
9 8,500 Brandon Jones JR Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 200 82.20 17 8 36 9 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 45.00
16 9,200 Sammy Smith Joe Gibbs Racing 18 Toyota 200 96.20 5 9 35 -4 2 1.26 0.90 0 0.0 0.00 31.90
13 6,700 Joe Graf Jr Joe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 200 74.90 11 10 34 1 1 0.63 0.45 0 0.0 0.00 35.45
5 7,800 Derek Kraus Kaulig Racing 11 Chevrolet 200 81.80 20 11 32 9 8 5.03 3.60 21 10.5 5.25 49.85
12 7,200 Parker Retzlaff Jordan Anderson Racing 31 Chevrolet 200 77.00 16 12 31 4 9 5.66 4.05 0 0.0 0.00 39.05
2 11,000 Cole Custer Stewart Haas Racing 00 Ford 199 131.00 1 13 30 -12 27 16.98 12.15 114 57.3 28.50 58.65
19 7,500 Ryan Sieg N/A 39 Ford 199 75.10 14 14 29 0 1 0.63 0.45 0 0.0 0.00 29.45
22 10,800 Justin Allgaier JR Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 199 106.10 3 15 28 -12 17 10.69 7.65 8 4.0 2.00 25.65
20 5,800 Kyle Weatherman DGM Racing 91 Chevrolet 199 60.70 18 16 27 2 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 29.00
13 5,200 Josh Williams DGM Racing 92 Chevrolet 199 57.80 26 17 26 9 1 0.63 0.45 0 0.0 0.00 35.45
11 5,600 Jeffrey Earnhardt Alpha Prime Racing 44 Chevrolet 199 50.70 33 18 25 15 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 40.00
15 6,000 Brennan Poole JD Motorsports 6 Chevrolet 199 51.70 29 19 24 10 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 34.00
17 7,300 Jeb Burton Jordan Anderson Racing 27 Chevrolet 199 62.30 28 20 23 8 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 31.00
26 6,600 Jeremy Clements Jeremy Clements Racing 51 Chevrolet 199 57.80 22 21 21 1 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 22.00
23 6,200 Kyle Sieg N/A 38 Ford 199 61.20 25 22 20 3 2 1.26 0.90 0 0.0 0.00 23.90
24 5,100 Leland Honeyman Jr Alpha Prime Racing 45 Chevrolet 199 46.20 27 23 19 4 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 23.00
17 5,400 Ryan Ellis Alpha Prime Racing 43 Chevrolet 199 52.00 37 24 18 13 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 31.00
21 4,500 Patrick Emerling N/A 35 Chevrolet 198 35.30 36 25 17 11 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 28.00
31 9,800 Sheldon Creed Richard Childress Racing 2 Chevrolet 198 84.30 9 26 16 -17 10 6.29 4.50 4 2.0 1.00 4.50
24 5,700 Mason Massey SS-Green Light Racing 08 Ford 198 36.50 35 27 15 8 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 23.00
28 6,300 Anthony Alfredo BJ McLeod Motorsports 78 Chevrolet 197 41.10 31 28 14 3 1 0.63 0.45 0 0.0 0.00 17.45
27 5,000 Blaine Perkins Our Motorsports 02 Chevrolet 196 35.50 34 29 13 5 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 18.00
32 6,800 Kaz Grala Sam Hunt Racing 26 Toyota 194 65.30 19 30 12 -11 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 1.00
34 6,500 Connor Mosack Sam Hunt Racing 24 Toyota 190 47.50 21 31 10 -10 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 0.00
36 10,000 Josh Berry JR Motorsports 8 Chevrolet 171 67.20 8 32 9 -24 4 2.52 1.80 0 0.0 0.00 -13.20
29 5,500 Mason Maggio N/A 29 Ford 153 30.20 30 33 8 -3 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 5.00
37 9,500 Chandler Smith Kaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 138 62.30 12 34 7 -22 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 -15.00
38 7,700 Brett Moffitt AM Racing 25 Ford 97 59.60 6 35 6 -29 8 5.03 3.60 0 0.0 0.00 -19.40
32 4,700 Dawson Cram CHK Racing 74 Chevrolet 65 30.20 32 36 5 -4 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 1.00
29 4,900 CJ McLaughlin N/A 28 Ford 37 23.70 38 37 4 1 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 5.00
35 7,000 Ryan Newman Motorsports Business Management 66 Ford 27 32.30 24 38 3 -14 0 0 0.00 0 0.0 0.00 -11.00