Date: May 13, 2023
Event: Shriners Children’s 200 (Round 11 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.366-mile oval)
Format: 147 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/57 laps)
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: John Hunter Nemechek of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
SHR Race Finish:
● Cole Custer (Started 5th / Finished 3rd, Running, completed 147 of 147 laps)
● Riley Herbst (Started 18th / Finished 38th, Accident, completed 29 of 147 laps)
SHR Points:
● Cole Custer (5th with 365 points, 59 out of first)
● Riley Herbst (9th with 313 points, 111 out of first)
SHR Notes:
● Custer earned his fourth top-five of the season and his third top-five in four career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Darlington.
● Custer has never finished outside the top-10 at Darlington in his Xfinity Series career.
● This was Custer’s fifth consecutive top-10 of the season. He finished fifth April 1 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, third April 15 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, fourth April 22 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, and seventh April 29 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway.
● This was Custer’s third straight top-three at Darlington. He finished second in September 2018 and won in August 2019.
● Custer finished fourth in Stage 1 to earn seven bonus points and fifth in Stage 2 to earn six more bonus points.
Race Notes:
● Kyle Larson won the Shriners Children’s 200 to score his 14th career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his first of the season and his first at Darlington. His margin over second-place Justin Allgaier was 1.337 seconds.
● There were 10 caution periods for a total of 51 laps.
● Twenty-six of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● John Hunter Nemechek leaves Darlington as the championship leader with a one-point advantage over second-place Austin Hill.
Sound Bites:
“I’m proud of this No. 00 Haas Automation team. You always want to go out there and win races. That’s every driver’s dream. But, being able to compete with guys like Kyle Larson and John Hunter Nemechek says a lot. There’s a lot of good competition in this Xfinity Series field. It means a lot to win these races, so it means a good bit to be able to run up front and compete for wins on a weekly basis. I couldn’t have asked for a better team to do it with either.” – Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang
“It’s not the result we wanted with this special No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang, and I hate it for my team. I just want to thank Monster Energy and the Block family again for letting me run this iconic livery at Darlington to honor Ken Block. It meant a lot, and I wish we could’ve gotten a better finish.“ – Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Alsco Uniforms 300 on Saturday, May 27 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The race begins at 1 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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