Date: Aug. 25, 2023
Event: Daytona 250 (Round 24 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
Format: 100 laps, broken into three stages (30 laps/30 laps/40 laps)
Note: Race extended 10 laps past its scheduled 100-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.
Race Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Sheldon Creed of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
SHR Race Finish:
● Cole Custer (Started 11th / Finished 5th, completed 110 of 110 laps)
● Riley Herbst (Started 16th / Finished 24th, completed 108 of 110 laps)
SHR Points:
● Cole Custer (4th with 817 points, 102 out of first)
● Riley Herbst (11th with 623 points, 296 out of first)
SHR Notes:
● Custer earned his ninth top-five of the season and his first top-five in eight career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Daytona.
● This was Custer’s third straight top-10. He finished sixth Aug. 12 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and seventh last Saturday at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.
● This was Custer’s second straight top-10 at Daytona. He finished ninth in the season opener in February.
● Custer finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points and third in Stage 2 to earn eight more bonus points.
● Custer led once for one lap to increase his laps-led total at Daytona to 10.
● This was Herbst’s fifth straight top-25 at Daytona. He has only finished outside the top-25 twice in nine Xfinity Series starts.
Race Notes:
● Justin Allgaier won the Daytona 250 to score his 21st career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Daytona. His margin over second-place Sheldon Creed was .005 of a second.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 32 laps.
● Only 19 of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Austin Hill remains the championship leader after Daytona with a 27-point advantage over second-place Justin Allgaier.
Sound Bites:
“You know, we didn’t have the fastest or the best-handling car out there today. Honestly, we didn’t really have a lot of help. Thankfully, we were able to dodge a lot of wrecks and use strategy to make a lot of impressive moves at the end. In Stage 2, we got our car handling better and a new set of tires so we could be aggressive. The last lap didn’t work out how I wanted it to, but we made some good moves to get up there. Proud of this No. 00 Haas Automation team for this top-five today.“ – Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang
“To be honest, I hate what happened between last week and this week. We had a mechanical issue both weeks that took us out of contention to go for some good finishes. It really put us deep in the points battle for the playoffs, and now we’re on the outside looking in with two races to go. I know we can make it up with this No. 98 Monster Energy team, and I just hope that we can get a little luck thrown our way. We have speed at Darlington and Kansas, so hopefully we can put this all behind us as we head to those two tracks.“ – Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 on Saturday, Sept. 2 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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