Pit Stops
Pennzoil 250
Saturday, July 20th, 2024
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, IN
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25
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5
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8
- Thursday, July 18th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Qualifying could be critical in NASCAR Xfinity Series’ return to Indianapolis “big track”
Historically, if there’s one thing that’s been consistent at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, it’s the importance of qualifying to NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers.
Brad Keselowski won the 2012 series debut race at big track from the eighth starting position. Since then, all seven Indy winners have started from the top three spots on the grid, four from the pole position.
Kyle Busch has been the dominant Xfinity Series driver at the Indy oval, winning three times from the pole. He won the last race held there in 2019, leading a race-high 46 laps.
Busch, however, won’t be competing in Saturday’s Pennzoil 250.
In fact, JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier is the only former winner entered in Saturday’s race. Allgaier scored an emotional win at the track in 2018.
“It’s great to be going back to the oval at Indianapolis,” Allgaier said. “This is such a special place. I grew up watching races here, and to be able to have the opportunity to go to Victory Lane again on the oval definitely means a lot.
“Hopefully, our Jarrett Chevrolet will be just as strong as we have been throughout this season and we can put ourselves where we want to be in the end. If we can do that, I see no reason why we won’t have the opportunity to kiss the bricks come Saturday afternoon.”
To do so, Allgaier will have to execute a clean race. Though he leads the Xfinity Series with 11 stage wins this season, the speed in his No. 7 Chevrolet has produced just one victory so far, thanks to a series of mishaps and ill fortune.
- Friday, July 19th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Friday Indianapolis Notebook
Chandler Smith led the NASCAR Xfinity Series 55-minute practice early Friday afternoon posting a lap of 166.756 mph in the No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota – .060-second better than Parker Kligerman in the No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet.
IndyCar veteran Conor Daly was third fastest, followed by Brandon Jones and Riley Herbst. Current championship leader, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer was 11th on the speed chart.
- Pennzoil 250 Presented by Advance Auto Parts
- Pole Winner: Cole Custer
- Age: 26
- Team : No 00 - Haas Automation Ford
- Owner: Gene Haas
- Crew Chief: Jonathan Toney
- Cole Custer won the Pole Award for the Pennzoil 250 Presented by Advance Auto Parts with a lap of 53705 seconds, 167582 mph
- This is his 23rd pole in 163 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
- This is his fifth pole and 16th top-10 start in 2024
- This is his first pole in four races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- Riley Herbst (second) posted his 10th top-10 start of 2024 and his first in one race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- Aric Almirola (third) posted his second top-10 start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway It is his fifth in six races this season
- Jesse Love (15th) was the fastest qualifying rookie
- Saturday, July 20th, 2024
- NASCAR Wire Service - Holly Cain
Riley Herbst grabs Xfinity Series win at Indianapolis
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.
- Drivers Entered: 38
- Laps Scheduled: 100
- Margin of Victory: 0.167 Seconds
- Time of Race: 2 Hours 28 Minutes 8 Seconds
- Average Speed: 101.260
- Cautions: 7 for 29 laps
- Lead Changes: 12
- Green Flag Passes: 1,379 (19.4 passes per green flag lap)
- Pennzoil 250 Presented by Advance Auto Parts
- Race Winner: Riley Herbst
- Age: 25
- Team : No 98 - Monster Energy Ford
- Owner: Tony Stewart
- Crew Chief: Davin Restivo
- Riley Herbst won the Pennzoil 250 Presented by Advance Auto Parts, his second victory in 162 Xfinity Series races
- This is his first victory and ninth top-10 finish in 2024
- This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in one race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- Cole Custer (second) posted his third top-10 finish in four races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway It is his 16th top-10 finish in 2024
- Aric Almirola (third) posted his first top-10 finish in two races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
- Shane Van Gisbergen (fourth) was the highest finishing rookie
- Cole Custer leads the point standings by 56 points over Justin Allgaier
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