Race Winner: Aric Almirola of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Aric Almirola of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Aric Almirola of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
SHR Race Finish:
● Cole Custer (Started 10th / Finished 4th, Running, completed 250 of 250 laps)
● Riley Herbst (Started 13th / Finished 11th, Running, completed 250 of 250 laps)
SHR Points:
● Cole Custer (2nd with 4,000 points)
● Riley Herbst (8th with 2,194 points)
Championship 4:
1. AJ Allmendinger (4,000 points)
2. Austin Hill (4,000 points)
3. Cole Custer (4,000 points)
4. Justin Allgaier (4,000 points)
Failed to Advance to Championship 4:
5. Chandler Smith (3,139 points)
6. Jesse Love (3,117 points)
7. Sam Mayer (3,081 points)
8. Sammy Smith (3,071 points)
SHR Notes:
● Custer earned his 14th top-five of the season and his second top-five in four career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Martinsville
● Custer has never finished outside of the top-20 at Martinsville in the Xfinity Series.
● This was Custer’s third straight top-10 finish. He finished eighth Oct. 19 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and second last Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
● Custer finished second in Stage 1 to earn nine bonus points and seventh in Stage 2 to earn four more bonus points.
● Custer led once for 17 laps increasing his laps led total at Martinsville to 50.
● Herbst earned his 21st top-15 of the season and his sixth top-15 in nine career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Martinsville.
● This was Herbst’s third straight top-11 finish. He finished seventh Oct. 19 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and sixth last Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
● Herbst finished sixth in Stage 1 to earn five bonus points and eighth in Stage 2 to earn three more bonus points.
Race Notes:
● Aric Almirola won the National Debt Relief 250 to score his seventh career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his third of the season and his second at Martinsville. His margin over second-place Sammy Smith was .587 of a second.
● There were 13 caution periods for a total of 84 laps.
● Twenty-six of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Sound Bites:
“It is what it is with Chandler Smith next week. I think at the end of the day he put us in the wall a few times this year. He kept us from winning a race, I feel like, at Kansas. He used the bumper on me, so I used the bumper on him. I don’t know how we’re not even, and then he punches me in the face. I can’t even tell if he really punched me in the face. It was so soft, but we’ll go on to Phoenix. At the end of the day, I feel like we have as good a shot as anybody to win next weekend. We’ve brought a lot of speed in the playoffs so far. We obviously won last year, so we just have to work some magic again.” –Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“Man, we had a fast No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang today, but we just missed it as the sun went down and the track cooled down. I had trouble turning and finding grip. We had trouble on some restarts as well, and I’m honestly frustrated with an 11th-place finish. We could’ve been so much better but couldn’t pass in those final laps. We’ll take it and move on to the final race of the year.” –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 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Phoenix Raceway. The race begins at 7:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by CW and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TSC PR
