• Cole Custer is focused as he heads to the first race of the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, Saturday’s Ambetter Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He finished third in this race last year after winning the first stage and leading 62 laps. He followed that with a runner-up finish after qualifying on the pole in his return visit to the 1.5-mile oval in March. Custer arrives at Las Vegas second in the playoff standings, just seven points behind Justin Allgaier and 11 points above the top-four cutline. A win this weekend would propel Custer into the Championship 4 Nov. 9 at Phoenix Raceway. In his previous four fulltime season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Custer has made it to the Championship 4 in all but hisrookie season in 2017, when he finished fifth in the standings. He hopes to make a Championship 4 appearance once again as he tackles the tracks that make up this year’s Round of 8 – Saturday at Las Vegas, Oct. 26 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Nov. 2 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
• Saturday’s Ambetter Health 302 will mark Custer’s ninth Xfinity Series start at Las Vegas and his 17th overall. He has seven NASCAR Cup Series starts at the track and a lone NASCAR Truck Series start. In his seven previous Xfinity Series starts at the track, he’s never finished outside the top-12, and he qualified on the pole for three consecutive races prior to his return to the Xfinity Series this season – September 2018, and the March and September races in 2019 – all of which resulted in top-10 finishes. His second-place finish in March was his best at the track. Custer’s Truck Series outing at Las Vegas in October 2016 resulted in a third-place finish from the third starting position, driving the No. 00 entry for JR Motorsports.
• Custer’s history on intermediate tracks has been strong, and the Round of 8 takes place at two of Custer’s best tracks on the NASCAR Xfinity Series circuit. In his 80 starts on intermediate tracks, Custer has won seven races and earned 58 top-10 finishes. One of those wins came at Homestead came in November 2017. It was his first career win. He also has two runner-up finishes at Homestead in November 2018 and 2019. In his three Xfinity Series starts at Martinsville, Custer qualified in the top-three for each race and earned two top-10s, with a best finish of third after starting on the pole in April 2023.
• Riding along with Custer and his No. 00 Ford Mustang Dark Horse is 3D Systems, the leading additive manufacturing solutions partner that brings innovation, performance, and reliability to every interaction – empowering its customers to create products and business models never before possible. Thanks to its unique offering of hardware, software, materials, and services, each application-specific solution is powered by the expertise of 3D Systems’ application engineers who collaborate with customers to transform how they deliver their products and services. The company’s solutions address a variety of advanced applications in healthcare and industrial markets such as medical and dental, aerospace and defense, automotive, and durable goods. More information on the company is available at www.3dsystems.com.
• Riley Herbst is heading home for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 25-year-old Monster Energy driver grew up in the Entertainment Capital of the World before moving to North Carolina at the age of 17. The Herbst family name is well known in Las Vegas motorsports circles due to its competitiveness in another form of racing particularly popular in the Desert Southwest. His grandfather Jerry, uncles Tim and Ed, and father Troy are all Southern Nevada Sports Hall of Fame inductees as championship-winning off-road racers. While Herbst has been continuing to pursue his dream of racing fulltime in the NASCAR Cup Series like his West Coast childhood heroes, he’s made appearances in the off-road racing world – in the 2021, 2022, and 2023 Baja 1000 events. In his most recent Baja 1000 lastNovember, Herbst drove the second and middle leg of the journey and ended up sharing the victory in the Trophy Truck Spec class with his Terrible Herbst Motorsports co-drivers Troy Herbst and James Dean.
• Herbst is looking to defend his first career Xfinity Series victory at Las Vegas last October as he heads back to his hometown. He qualified eighth for that race but was sent to the rear of the starting grid for unapproved adjustments made to his Ford Mustang prior to the race. From there, a determined Herbst mounted a charge toward the front, finishing 10th in Stage 1, then passing teammate Cole Custer on the final lap of Stage 2 on his way to his second career stage win. Herbst then dominated the final stage, leading 102 of the final 111 laps and taking the checkered flag 14.959 seconds ahead of runner-up John Hunter Nemechek. Herbst’s margin of victory was the third largest in the Xfinity Series, and the largest since Ford driver Jeff Burton bested Michael Waltrip by 10.493 seconds in the October 2002 race on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway oval. Herbst’s margin of victory was also the largest by a first-time Xfinity Series winner since Mike McLaughlin beat Mike Wallace by 23.280 seconds in the June 1995 race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.
• Saturday’s race will be Herbst’s 11th career Xfinity Series start at Las Vegas. His first career Xfinity Series win last October is among his two top-fives and five top-10s in 10 previous starts at the 1.5-mile oval. He also finished eighth in last year’s March race, preceded by back-to-back ninth-place outings in September 2019 and February 2020. He returned to the track in March to earn a fifth-place finish. In addition, the No. 98 team has won three races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. With Chase Briscoe behind the wheel, the No. 98 team swept both Xfinity Series races there in 2020. Briscoe started second, led a race-high 89 laps, and beat runner-up Austin Cindric by 2.874 seconds in the February race. He backed up that victory in September by qualifying on the pole, leading a race-high 164 laps, and beating runner-up Noah Gragson by 1.370 seconds.
• Herbst has nothing to lose and everything to win in the final four races of the 2024 season. Bad luck in last Saturday’s race on the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval put him below the top-eight cutline for the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. While the heartbreak stung, Herbst knows that he still has four races left to try and add to his victory total in the 2024 season with the No. 98 team that has been behind him since 2021. Last October’s victory at Las Vegas came as a non-playoff driver, and was followed by his runner-up finishes at Homestead solidified this as he bested all of the playoff drivers despite not being a part of the 2023 playoff field. He went on to finish second at Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 00 3D Systems Ford Mustang Dark Horse
SHR dominated at Las Vegas last October, with you winning Stage 1, your teammate Riley Herbst winning Stage 2 on his way to his first career win, and the two of you combining to lead 165 of the 201 race laps. What are your expectations for this weekend after the speed the team has shown at the end of last season and so far this year?
“Vegas is definitely a track that both of the SHR Xfinity Series teams have had circled on their calendar after last year. We were just so strong there last October and in March. Our cars were super fast and we were able to run up front. The fall race there is just so much different than the spring race, though. Honestly, it’s more fun as it tends to be a little cooler. I’m really looking forward to heading back to Vegas this weekend to kick off the second round of the playoffs. This one should be a good one for us. After the success that Riley (Herbst, teammate) had there last year and the speed that we had, as well, this October Vegas race has been one that I’ve really been looking forward to. Our mile-and-a-half package has been so strong over the past two seasons, so we’re hoping to continue to see that again this weekend after two rough weekends at Talladega and Charlotte.”
Las Vegas kicks off the Round of 8, which is the final round before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix. How have you prepared for this track specifically?
“I think overall at the intermediate tracks, we know as a team that we have a really good package, but this is such an important round for the championship run. You have two intermediate tracks in the Round of 8 with Vegas and Homestead. So it’s all about going over the details we had from last year and trying to be just a little, tiny bit better. If you kick the round off strong at Las Vegas, you can collect more points to help you get to that final race. If you can win, that puts all the worries to rest. It automatically propels you into the final race and that’s what we’re looking to do. Sure, you don’t want to overthink it and throw away a good points day. You’re always going to try and make things better and better every time you go to a track you’ve done well at in the past. I think we have a really good chance this weekend and next to win. We just have to cross all of the T’s and dot all of the I’s and have a fast car.”
Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse
You’re heading back home and to the site of your first career Xfinity Series victory. How are you feeling heading to a track where you not only scored that long-awaited win, but also dominated?
“I’m pumped to head home again. Obviously, Charlotte was hard for us. We didn’t advance to the Round of 8 and that stung. When you get back to the shop on Monday, though, you have to put it behind you and realize that there are still four races left to try to win. We’re the defending winners of this Vegas race. Not only am I going home, but I’m also going to a track that means the world to me. I started my racing career just next to the big track at the Las Vegas Bullring. My win last October meant everything. I had waited so long for it and, honestly, it just made it that much more meaningful to get it at my home track. My whole family was there to celebrate and it was in front of the people who had probably seen me racing for years. There’s definitely confidence going into this race, not only from me, but from the entire No. 98 Monster Energy team. We’ve had speed pretty much all season, and I know we can go out and contend for the win again if we can just look forward. We still have to do everything right, but I’m confident in this team.”
Does it add any extra pressure to you knowing that you’re the defending October race winner at Las Vegas?
“Yes and no. I think when we were in the playoffs, it put a lot more pressure on us, but now we’re going there with a playoff-prepared car just looking to win. We’ve got nothing to lose and everything to win now. We put pressure on ourselves every week to go out and win, and to us this is just another race weekend to try to do that. With that said, I know people are going to be watching and seeing what we do this weekend just because of how fast we were last year and in March. We can only do the best that we can do, but obviously we’ve had a strong intermediate program over the past few years. You hope to see that same success, but nothing is guaranteed in this sport. I’m excited for this weekend, though.”
• Event: Ambetter Health 302 (Round 30 of 33)
• Date: Saturday, Oct. 19
• Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
• Layout: 1.5-mile oval
• Time/TV/Radio: 7:30 p.m. EDT on CW/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
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