Race Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Sheldon Creed of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
SHR Race Finish:
● Cole Custer (Started 21st / Finished 2nd, Running, completed 150 of 150 laps)
● Riley Herbst (Started 8th / Finished 35th, Running, completed 129 of 150 laps)
SHR Points:
● Cole Custer (2nd with 815 points, 28 out of first)
● Riley Herbst (7th with 667 points, 176 out of first)
SHR Notes:
● Custer earned his 10th top-five of the season and his sixth top-five in seven 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 sixth straight top-five at Darlington. He finished third and fourth, respectively in 2023, and third in May.
● Custer finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points and sixth in Stage 2 to earn five more bonus points.
Race Notes:
● Christopher Bell won the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 to score his 19th career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Darlington. His margin over second-place Custer was .351 of a second.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 29 laps.
● Twenty-six of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Justin Allgaier remains the championship leader after Darlington with a 28-point advantage over second-place Custer.
Sound Bites:
“We were both going for it. We were just trying to carry as much throttle as possible, and Christopher (Bell) had the momentum there. I need to see a replay of the exit of Turn 2. It just got tight. I don’t know if he came down or if I came up, but that was just hard racing. I’m so proud of our team. We were in trouble after qualifying 21st, so for us to get this No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang in second place and really have a car so good throughout the day means a lot to what this team can do.” –Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“Just a rough day from start to finish. As a driver, you don’t want to have days like this, but we have to leave it behind us and move on. We’re locked into the playoffs and have the ability to have these bad days, but it doesn’t make it any easier. Darlington has been a tough track for me, so it’s not one that I necessarily look forward to because I always seem to find bad luck. We’ll move on to Atlanta and hopefully get back on track.” –Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Focused Health 250 on Saturday, Sept. 7 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race begins at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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