The official 2024 Tennessee Lottery 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series entry list features top NASCAR drivers set to compete at Nashville Superspeedway, highlighting the full lineup of race participants and teams.
Saturday, June 29th, 2024
Nashville Superspeedway, Lebanon, TN
The NASCAR Xfinity Series moves to Nashville Speedway for Saturday’s Tennessee Lottery 250 (5 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), another crucial stop with 10 races remaining to the set the 2024 Playoff field.
Justin Allgaier and defending race winner A.J. Allmendinger are the only drivers in Saturday’s field with a previous win at Nashville. While Allgaier has already secured his position in the 2024 Playoffs with a victory at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway this spring, Allmendinger is ranked 10th in points and still racing for his first trophy of the year. The popular veteran would love to reignite that Nashville magic he has shown before. The Kaulig Racing driver has two top-five finishes in three starts and the win last year.
Six drivers have won races and already secured 2024 Playoff positions – Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Shane van Gisbergen, Allgaier and Jesse Love – leaving six spots still to be decided. And the regular season championship is equally still up for grabs.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer continues to hold that championship points lead – 15 points ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith – but the reigning series champ Custer is still racing for his first win of the season and that automatic Playoff bid. He led 32 laps and finished ninth last year in the Music City.
Smith’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sheldon Creed earned his 10th runner-up effort last week at New Hampshire – his third of the season – tying a series record for most career runner-up finishes before a victory. The 26-year-old Californian is racing for his first top-10 in two series starts at Nashville and is currently ranked eighth in the Playoff standings.
“I’m really proud that we’ve been close these past few weeks,” said Creed, driver of the No. 18 JGR Toyota. “It says a lot about the progress we have made this season and the speed we are capable of. I would say from that standpoint, I feel more optimistic every week and I’m excited to get to the track more and more as we continue to click off these strong runs.
“I’ve developed a funny relationship with second place lately. Obviously, anytime you can leave the track with a runner-up it’s a good day, but it does get a little old to get so close winning one and still come up short. Right now, all these second places mean consistency and I’ll take that above all else going forward.”
23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick – a two-time Xfinity Series season champion – will drive the No. 26 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota in Saturday’s race. He joins an impressive list of NASCAR Cup Series regulars doing double duty this week, also including Chastain and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Noah Gragson.
John Hunter Nemechek survived a steamy hot afternoon and held off a highly-motivated field to win the Tennessee Lottery 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Nashville Superspeedway Saturday afternoon.
It’s the second Xfinity Series win of the season for Nemechek in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – and 11th of his career in the series. The 27-year-old North Carolinian won Stage 2 and led a race best 76 of the 188 laps, including the final 46 after taking the lead on a re-start from Cole Custer, who navigated a corner too high allowing Nemechek to get by.
“Feels good to be back in the 20-machine, we’ve been close to winning a lot this year in this thing,’’ said Nemechek, who will make his first NASCAR Cup Series start at Nashville on Sunday when he competes in his fulltime ride, the No. 42 Toyota for Legacy Motor Club.
“Being able to capitalize on it is huge. … it’s great to get it done here in Nashville.
It was a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2 with Nemechek’s teammate Chandler Smith rallying to a runner-up finish – 1.234-seconds behind Nemechek – on a day that left many in the field standing outside their cars on pit road after the checkered flag taking water and resting after in-car in-race temperatures neared 130 degrees. Several of the drivers either didn’t wear a “cool suit” or had malfunctions with the one they did use.
Much of the hard work came from the rear of the starting grid where championship contenders such as Jesse Love, Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed rallied to race up front after starting from the rear for technical issues.
Creed’s No. 18 JGR Toyota ran among the top 10 after starting at the back of the 38-car field, only to have engine issues in the closing laps.
The Richard Childress Racing teammates Love and Hill certainly had impressive hard-earned finishes in their Chevrolets despite the weather challenges and positions on the starting grid – rallying to third and fourth place finishes, respectively.
NASCAR Cup Series regular and former Xfinity Series title contender Noah Gragson rounded out the top five in the No. 30 Rette Jones Racing Ford – his second start in the car this season.
“I have no idea,’’ a smiling Love said of how he passed 69 cars on the day and finished top five when his cool suit was not working properly.
“Just proud to be part of a team that doesn’t give up,’’ he continued. “That was probably the hottest I’ve ever been. Just proud of my guys.’’
Another driver suffering from the heat when his cool suit didn’t work was Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst, who still managed a sixth-place finish despite the circumstances. The 2023 Nashville race winner, A.J. Allmendinger finished seventh, followed by Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer and Sam Mayer.
Custer holds on to the Xfinity Series championship lead by 15 points over Chandler Smith but was – as expected – frustrated not to come away with his first victory of the season after leading an impressive 64 laps himself. He fell all the way back to fifth losing the lead to Nemechek on that race-deciding restart and ultimately had his work cut out to stay among the top 10.
“I think I over-drove on that restart a little bit into Turn 1,’’ said the Stewart-Haas Racing driver Custer. “There’s a couple things I could have done better.
“Everyone’s got dirty air and man, it was hard to make speed. I felt like we were solid when we were in the top-three cars but once we got back there it was tough to get the car to handle.
“I can’t say enough about our guys. We’re bringing cars that compete for wins every week, it’s just heartbreaking every week not to win. We’re bringing good cars and leading laps, we’ll get it eventually. We’ll keep digging.’’
ENTRY | # | DRIVER | HOMETOWN | DOB | AGE | MAKE | SPONSOR | TEAM | CREW CHIEF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Los Gatos, CA | Dec 16, 1981 | 42 | Chevrolet | Celsius | Kaulig Racing | Alex Yontz |
2 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | Riverton, IL | Jun 6, 1986 | 38 | Chevrolet | Hellmann's/On Track to Read | JR Motorsports | Jim Pohlman |
3 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Westport, CT | Aug 8, 1990 | 33 | Chevrolet | Spiked Lite Coolers | Big Machine Racing | Patrick Donahue |
4 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Halifax, VA | Aug 6, 1992 | 31 | Chevrolet | Hawkins Homes/Screaming Eagle | Jordan Anderson Racing | Shane Whitbeck |
5 | 38 | Matt DiBenedetto | Grass Valley, CA | Jul 27, 1991 | 32 | Ford | Rema | RSS Racing | Kevin Johnson |
6 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Torrence, CA | Nov 29, 1989 | 34 | Chevrolet | TBA | Alpha Prime Racing | Keith Wolfe |
7 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Tucker, GA | Jun 20, 1987 | 37 | Ford | Sci Aps | RSS Racing | Matt Noyce |
8 | 92 | Ross Chastain | Alva, FL | Dec 4, 1992 | 31 | Chevrolet | Use Your Melon | DGM Racing | Bryan Berry |
9 | 91 | Kyle Weatherman | Wentzville, MO | Aug 28, 1997 | 26 | Chevrolet | DriveSmartWarranty.com | DGM Racing | Mario Gosselin |
10 | 44 | Brennan Poole | Sacramento, CA | Apr 11, 1991 | 33 | Chevrolet | TBA | Alpha Prime Racing | Frank Kerr |
11 | 00 | Cole Custer | Ladera Ranch, CA | Jan 23, 1998 | 26 | Ford | Haas Automation | Stewart Haas Racing | Jonathan Toney |
12 | 14 | Chad Finchum | Knoxville, TN | Sep 22, 1994 | 29 | Chevrolet | Ted Russell Ford of Knoxville | SS-Green Light Racing | Jason Miller |
13 | 6 | Garrett Smithley | Ligonier, PA | Apr 27, 1992 | 32 | Chevrolet | TBA | JD Motorsports | Ryan Hatch |
14 | 26 | Tyler Reddick | Corning, CA | Jan 11, 1996 | 28 | Toyota | yahoo! | Sam Hunt Racing | Kris Bowen |
15 | 20 | John Hunter Nemechek | Mooresville, NC | Jun 11, 1997 | 27 | Toyota | Pye Barker Fire & Safety | Joe Gibbs Racing | Tyler Allen |
16 | 21 | Austin Hill | Winston, GA | Apr 21, 1994 | 30 | Chevrolet | Global Industrial | Richard Childress Racing | Andy Street |
17 | 9 | Brandon Jones | Atlanta, GA | Feb 18, 1997 | 27 | Chevrolet | Menards/Best Air | JR Motorsports | Phillip Bell |
18 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Spartanburg, SC | Jan 16, 1985 | 39 | Chevrolet | All South Electric / One Stop | Jeremy Clements Racing | Mark Setzer |
19 | 11 | Josh Williams | Port Charlotte, FL | Aug 3, 1993 | 30 | Chevrolet | Alloy Employer Services | Kaulig Racing | Kevin Walter |
20 | 30 | Noah Gragson | Las Vegas, NV | Jul 15, 1998 | 25 | Ford | Priestly Demolition | Rette Jones Racing | Mark Rette |
21 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Las Vegas, NV | Feb 24, 1999 | 25 | Ford | Monster Energy | Stewart Haas Racing | Davin Restivo |
22 | 5 | Anthony Alfredo | Ridgefield, CT | Mar 1, 1999 | 25 | Chevrolet | Dude Mint Chill | Our Motorsports | Joshua Graham |
23 | 07 | Patrick Emerling | Orchard Park, NY | Sep 19, 1992 | 31 | Chevrolet | TBA | SS-Green Light Racing | Paul Clapprood |
24 | 18 | Sheldon Creed | Alpine, CA | Sep 30, 1997 | 26 | Toyota | Friends of Jaclyn Foundation | Joe Gibbs Racing | Sam McAulay |
25 | 19 | Ty Gibbs | Charlotte, NC | Oct 4, 2002 | 21 | Toyota | He Gets Us | Joe Gibbs Racing | Seth Chavka |
26 | 29 | Blaine Perkins | Bakersfield, CA | Feb 28, 2000 | 24 | Ford | AutoParkit.com | RSS Racing | Steve Addington |
27 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | Tucker, GA | Apr 16, 2001 | 23 | Ford | TBA | RSS Racing | Joe Williams |
28 | 1 | Sam Mayer | Franklin, WI | Jun 26, 2003 | 21 | Chevrolet | Huck's Market | JR Motorsports | Mardy Lindley |
29 | 4 | Dawson Cram | San Diego, CA | Sep 12, 2001 | 22 | Chevrolet | TBA | JD Motorsports | Kase Kallenbach |
30 | 81 | Chandler Smith | Talking Rock, GA | Jun 26, 2002 | 22 | Toyota | Barger Precast | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jeff Meendering |
31 | 15 | Hailie Deegan | Temecula, CA | Jul 18, 2001 | 22 | Ford | AirBox | AM Racing | Matthew Lucas |
32 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff | Rhinelander, WI | May 21, 2003 | 21 | Chevrolet | FUNKAWAY | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chad Kendrick |
33 | 8 | Sammy Smith | Johnston, IA | Jun 4, 2004 | 20 | Chevrolet | Pilot Flying J | JR Motorsports | Adam Wall |
34 | 42 | Leland Honeyman Jr | Phoenix, AZ | Feb 23, 2005 | 19 | Chevrolet | Hardscape Contractors | Young's Motorsports | Andrew Abbott |
35 | 2 | Jesse Love | Menlo Park, CA | Jan 14, 2005 | 19 | Chevrolet | C4 Ultimate Energy | Richard Childress Racing | Danny Stockman |
36 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Aucklund, New Zealand | May 9, 1989 | 35 | Chevrolet | WeatherTech | Kaulig Racing | Bruce Schlicker |
37 | 88 | Carson Kvapil | Mooresville, NC | May 20, 2003 | 21 | Chevrolet | Clarience Technologies | JR Motorsports | Andrew Overstreet |