Date: Aug. 5, 2023
Event: Michigan 250 (Round 21 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn (2-mile oval)
Format: 125 laps, broken into three stages (30 laps/30 laps/65 laps)
Race Winner: John Hunter Nemechek of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: John Hunter Nemechek of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
SHR Race Finish:
● Riley Herbst (Started 5th / Finished 6th, Running, completed 125 of 125 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 13th / Finished 16th, Running, completed 125 of 125 laps)
SHR Points:
● Cole Custer (4th with 725 points, 86 out of first)
● Riley Herbst (9th with 574 points, 237 out of first)
SHR Notes:
● Herbst earned his 10th top-10 of the season and his third top-10 in four career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Michigan.
● This is Herbst’s third straight top-10. He finished fourth July 22 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and fifth last Saturday at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
● This is Herbst’s third straight top-10 at Michigan. He finished ninth in the series’ last visit to the track in 2022.
● Herbst’s sixth-place finish bettered his previous best finish at Michigan– seventh, earned in August 2021.
● Herbst finished fifth in Stage 1 to earn six bonus points and fourth in Stage 2 to earn seven more bonus points.
● Herbst led once for one lap – his first laps led at Michigan.
● Custer earned his 16th top-20 of the season and his fourth top-20 in four career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Michigan.
● Custer has never finished outside the top-16 in his four Xfinity Series starts at Michigan.
● Custer finished third in Stage 1 to earn eight bonus points and sixth in Stage 2 to earn five more bonus points.
Race Notes:
● John Hunter Nemechek won the Michigan 250 to score his seventh career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his fifth of the season and his first at Michigan. His margin over second-place Josh Berry was 1.495 seconds.
● There were seven caution periods for a total of 31 laps.
● Twenty of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Nemechek leaves Michigan as the championship leader tied in points with second-place Austin Hill, but leading the standings with his five victories.
Sound Bites:
“Man, we had a fast No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang today. I’m proud of this team for putting together a fast racecar and fast pit stops to help keep us up front. We were in the top-five almost all day, and I think it just shows all of the hard work that we’ve been putting in on this race team. There’s been some bad luck this season, but I think it’s finally starting to turn around. I’m excited to get to Indianapolis next week to see what we can do.“ – Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
“We had a solid day overall, but the track started going away from us at the end there. I thought at the start of the race, we were just about as good as anybody, but in that last run, we just had bad luck. Something was wrong and I felt a vibration, even though the tire looked fine when we pitted. We had to fix that under the caution, and it put us back in the pack on the final restart. We were kind of done from there. The guys did a great job working on it all weekend. We were in the fight, but sometimes it’s just not your day.“ – Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Indianapolis 150 on Saturday, Aug. 12 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. The race begins at 5:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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