Results

The 2023 Drive for the Cure 250 NASCAR XFINITY Series race results showcase the full finishing order, including race winner and key performance stats from the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course race.

Drive for the Cure 250

Saturday, October 7th, 2023

Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, Concord, NC

  • 28 Chevrolet
  • 8 Ford
  • 6 Toyota

  • Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course
  • Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina
  • Pole Winner: Sam Mayer
  • Age: 20
  • Team : No. 1 - Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet
  • Owner: L.W. Miller
  • Crew Chief: Mardy Lindley
  • Sam Mayer won the Pole Award for the Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina with a lap of 82.045 seconds, 101.798 mph.
  • This is his second pole in 80 NASCAR Xfinity Series races.
  • This is his first pole and 15th top-10 start in 2023.
  • This is his first pole in three races at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
  • Justin Allgaier (second) posted his 22nd top-10 start of 2023 and his fifth in six races at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
  • Josh Berry (third) posted his first top-10 start at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. It is his 17th in 29 races this season.
  • Chandler Smith (17th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

  • Saturday, October 7th, 2023
  • NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer
Sam Mayer stays alive in NASCAR Xfinity Playoffs with dominating win

The NASCAR Xfinity Series has a new road course ace.

“We may be Allmendinger 2.0,” Sam Mayer quipped after winning Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course and clinching a spot in the Round of 8 in the series Playoffs.

The reference was to AJ Allmendinger, winner of the previous four Xfinity races at the 2.32-mile, 17-turn circuit. With Allmendinger ineligible for the race as a full-time NASCAR Cup driver this year, Mayer took over and got the win he needed to advance in the Playoffs.

Mayer earned the final spot in the Round of 8 at the expense of seventh-place finisher Daniel Hemric, who ran third in a three-way drag race to the finish line with Parker Kligerman and Kaz Grala—when a fifth-place result would have been enough to survive the round.

“They came out in the bottom of the seventh and hit a home run,” said Hemric, who finished second in each of the first two stages and was bounced from the postseason only because Mayer won from last place in the Xfinity Playoff standings.

Lining up second next to Cole Custer for a restart on Lap 63 of 67, Mayer muscled his way past Custer’s No. 00 Ford through Turns 3 and 4 a lap later and pulled away to win by .909 seconds.

“I knew we had time,” said Mayer, who led five times for 50 laps. “Our car was so fast—it really felt unbeatable… We kicked their tails today, and it just feels so great.”

The victory was the third for the 20-year-old driver of the No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet—all this year and all on road courses.

“This is our second-chance moment,” Mayer said. “I think we can make something out of it… We can go on and do great things because of this win.”

Kligerman, Josh Berry and Jeb Burton joined Hemric on the Playoff sidelines. Kligerman missed out by five points after coming home sixth.

Berry finished third despite battling issues with his power steering but fell short in a must-win situation, as did Burton, who stayed out on old tires for a restart on Lap 60 and crashed into Justin Allgaier’s Chevrolet in Turn 1.

Sheldon Creed, on the other hand, squeaked into the Round of 8 by two points over Hemric after running 10th on Saturday.

“We had no front turn,” Creed said. “I was talking to our teammate Austin (Hill) about it. Both of our cars did not turn all day… I had to work for that one. I did not think we would be in by two—I thought we would be better than that.”

After the Lap 63 restart, Hemric’s fate was in the hands of Custer, who couldn’t keep Mayer behind him.

“We struggled on the short run, for sure,” Custer said. “It’s frustrating. There are definitely things on the replay I could have done different, but our guys did a great job all day, getting our car to where we could compete for a win—but we just needed a little more.”

Riley Herbst ran fourth, with Kaz Grala fifth. Kligerman, Hemric, Stage 2 winner John Hunter Nemechek, Hill and Creed completed the top 10.

  • Drivers Entered: 42 (4 drivers will not make the race)
  • Laps Scheduled: 67
  • Margin of Victory: 0.909 Seconds
  • Time of Race: 2 Hours 0 Minutes 31 Seconds
  • Average Speed: 77.387
  • Cautions: 4 for 12 laps
  • Lead Changes: 10
  • Green Flag Passes: 1,369 (24.9 passes per green flag lap)

  • Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course
  • Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina
  • Race Winner: Sam Mayer
  • Age: 20
  • Team : No. 1 - Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet
  • Owner: L.W. Miller
  • Crew Chief: Mardy Lindley
  • Sam Mayer won the Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, his third victory in 80 Xfinity Series races.
  • This is his third victory and 16th top-10 finish in 2023.
  • This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in three races at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
  • Cole Custer (second) posted his third top-10 finish in three races at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. It is his 19th top-10 finish in 2023.
  • Josh Berry (third) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
  • Sammy Smith (11th) was the highest finishing rookie.
  • John Hunter Nemechek leads the point standings by 35 points over Cole Custer.
Sam Mayer celebrates with a burnout
Concord, North Carolina - October 7, 2023 : Sam Mayer, driver of the #1 Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250 presented by BCBS at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
James GilbertGetty Images
Drive for the Cure 250 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course results
FIN ST # DRIVER MAKE TOT PTS FIN PTS STG PTS PO PTS LAPS LED X LED S1 S2 STATUS
37 2 7 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet 12 1 10 1 60 10 3 1 0 Accident
6 6 48 Parker Kligerman Chevrolet 46 31 15 0 67 0 0 4 3 Running
38 27 25 Brett Moffitt Ford 1 1 0 0 40 0 0 0 0 Ignition
34 19 27 Jeb Burton Chevrolet 5 3 2 0 66 1 1 9 0 Running
36 30 43 Ryan Ellis Chevrolet 1 1 0 0 63 0 0 0 0 Accident
13 25 39 Ryan Sieg Ford 24 24 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
26 13 4 Kyle Weatherman Chevrolet 11 11 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
7 4 10 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 48 30 18 0 67 0 0 2 2 Running
17 32 6 Brennan Poole Chevrolet 20 20 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
2 7 0 Cole Custer Ford 35 35 0 0 67 4 1 0 0 Running
25 18 7 Josh Bilicki Ford 15 12 3 0 67 0 0 10 9 Running
8 38 20 John Hunter Nemechek Toyota 40 29 10 1 67 2 1 0 1 Running
5 14 26 Kaz Grala Toyota 32 32 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
15 10 91 Alex Labbe Chevrolet 28 22 6 0 67 0 0 0 5 Running
9 8 21 Austin Hill Chevrolet 34 28 6 0 67 0 0 5 0 Running
29 11 9 Brandon Jones Chevrolet 8 8 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
23 15 51 Jeremy Clements Chevrolet 14 14 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
31 35 38 Joe Graf Jr Ford 6 6 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
20 33 92 Josh Williams Chevrolet 17 17 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
14 31 19 Myatt Snider Toyota 23 23 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
4 9 98 Riley Herbst Ford 33 33 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
30 21 78 Anthony Alfredo Chevrolet 7 7 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
18 29 8 Stefan Parsons Chevrolet 20 19 1 0 67 0 0 0 10 Running
10 5 2 Sheldon Creed Chevrolet 42 27 15 0 67 0 0 3 4 Running
3 3 8 Josh Berry Chevrolet 34 34 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
28 24 2 Blaine Perkins Chevrolet 9 9 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
32 36 28 Kyle Sieg Ford 5 5 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
1 1 1 Sam Mayer Chevrolet 52 40 7 5 67 50 4 8 7 Running
27 20 66 Sage Karam Ford 10 10 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
12 17 16 Chandler Smith Chevrolet 33 25 8 0 67 0 0 6 8 Running
35 34 53 Conor Daly Chevrolet 0 0 0 0 66 0 0 0 0 Running
22 23 31 Parker Retzlaff Chevrolet 15 15 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
19 28 44 Rajah Caruth Chevrolet 0 0 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
24 16 24 Connor Mosack Toyota 13 13 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
11 22 18 Sammy Smith Toyota 35 26 9 0 67 0 0 7 6 Running
21 26 45 Leland Honeyman Jr Chevrolet 16 16 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
16 12 11 Jordan Taylor Chevrolet 21 21 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running
33 37 35 Alex Guenette Toyota 4 4 0 0 67 0 0 0 0 Running

Race Infractions

Penalties imposed prior to or during the race.

Driver Infraction Penalty Lap Lap Assessed Flag
John Hunter Nemechek Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments Tail End 0 0 White
Kyle Sieg Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments Tail End 0 0 White
Ryan Sieg Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments Tail End 0 0 White
Jeremy Clements Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments Tail End 0 0 White
Conor Daly Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments Tail End 0 0 White
Josh Williams Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments Tail End 0 0 White
Jeb Burton Speeding on pit road Tail End 22 24 Yellow
Conor Daly Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon Tail End 22 24 Yellow
Ryan Ellis Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area Pass Thru 28 30 Green
Brandon Jones Speeding on pit road Tail End 38 43 Green/Yellow
Conor Daly Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 39 43 Yellow
Ryan Ellis Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 41 43 Yellow
Brennan Poole Speeding on pit road Tail End 41 43 Yellow
Alex Labbe Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area Tail End 41 43 Yellow
Alex Labbe Pitting before pit road is open Tail End 42 43 Yellow
Brett Moffitt Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area Garage Pass Thru 47 0 Green
Leland Honeyman Jr Unspecified Not serving Stop & Go Pass Thru 49 51 Green
Joe Graf Jr Unspecified Not serving Stop & Go Tail End 55 59 Green/Yellow
Connor Mosack Speeding on pit road Tail End 57 59 Yellow