SHR Post-Race Report: All-Star Race and All-Star Open at Texas

STEWART-HAAS RACING
NASCAR All-Star Race and All-Star Open

Date: June 13, 2021
Event: NASCAR All-Star Race and All-Star Open (non-points events)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (1.5-mile oval)

NASCAR All-Star Race (100 laps, broken into six stages (15 laps/15 laps/15 laps/15 laps/30 laps/10 laps):
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Ryan Blaney of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 3 Winner: Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 4 Winner: William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 5 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Note: The NASCAR All-Star Race was comprised of drivers who won a points-paying race in 2020 or 2021, fulltime drivers who have previously won the All-Star Race, fulltime drivers who have won a NASCAR Cup Series championship, and drivers who advanced from the All-Star Open.

SHR Finish in NASCAR All-Star Race:
● Aric Almirola (Started 20th, Finished 8th / Running, completed 100 of 100 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 4th, Finished 14th / Running, completed 100 of 100 laps)
● Kevin Harvick (Started 12th, Finished 15th / Running, completed 100 of 100 laps)

All-Star Open (50 laps, broken into three stages (20 laps/20 laps/10 laps):
● Race Winner: Aric Almirola of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)
● Stage 1 Winner: Ross Chastain of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
● Stage 2 Winner: Tyler Reddick of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
● Fan Vote Winner: Matt DiBenedetto of Wood Brothers Racing (Ford)
Note:The All-Star Open was the undercard event to the NASCAR All-Star Race, where non-qualified drivers attempted to race their way into the All-Star Race by winning any one of the race’s three stages or by winning the fan vote.

SHR Finish in All-Star Open:
● Aric Almirola (Started 10th, Finished 1st / Running, completed 50 of 50 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 9th, Finished 4th / Running, completed 50 of 50 laps)

Notes:
● Almirola raced his way into the All-Star Race by winning the All-Star Open.
● Almirola’s eighth-place result marked his third straight top-10 in the All-Star Race. He finished sixth in 2019 and ninth last year.
● Custer’s 14th-place finish marked his best All-Star Race result. He finished 16th last year.
● Harvick has made an appearance in every single NASCAR All-Star Race in his 21-year career, the most of any driver eligible for this year’s All-Star Race.
● Kyle Larson won the All-Star Race with a .206 of a second margin of victory over runner-up Brad Keselowski.
● The All-Star Race featured 11 lead changes among eight different drivers. Twenty-one drivers comprised the field.

Texas Quotes:

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“As a team we had a really solid day. Winning the final stage (of the Open) to transfer to the All-Star Race today was the first goal, and we had a fast Smithfield Ford to get it done. It was honestly one of our most solid days all year. We didn’t make any mistakes, and we ran better than we have all year at a 1.5-mile track. And we finally had a race with no mistakes. We needed that heading to Nashville.

“I’m just so thankful for all of our partners that continue to stick behind us even through these bad times. I’ve gotten so many messages of support from our partners – everybody at Smithfield, Ford, GoBowling, Pit Boss, Honey Stinger, Shady Ray sunglasses – everybody continues to build me up and support me even though it’s been a rough year. I’m just proud to give them something to smile about.”

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Well, we didn’t win the money tonight, but I think we at least leave here with a better idea on a lot of different things. We had nothing to lose, and I think we made the most of our track time. I think we leave here having gained some knowledge that is going to pay off as we head into the second half of the season.”

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We had a really fast Ford Performance Racing School Mustang, and I really thought we were going to have a chance to race our way in. Unfortunately, that incident with the 43 sent us back further than we needed to be and really messed up our handling. It would’ve been cool to race for a million dollars, but it was still fun to be out there and running up front.”

Next Up:
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to points-paying racing on Sunday, June 20 with the inaugural Ally 400 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway. The race gets underway at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
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Monster Energy Racing: Riley Herbst Texas NXS Race Report

Riley Herbst Finishes 12th at Texas
Monster Energy Driver’s Top-10 Bid Comes Up Short in Green-White-Checkered Finish

Date: June 12, 2021
Event: Alsco Uniforms 250 Powered by Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen (Round 14 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 167 laps, broken into three stages (40 laps/40 laps/87 laps)
Start/Finish: 12th /12th (Running, completed 171 of 171 laps)
Point Standing: 14th (306 points, 304 out of first)
Note: Race extended four laps past its scheduled 167-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Austin Cindric of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Overview:
Riley Herbst came up just two spots short of his fourth top-10 finish of the season in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 250 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The No. 98 Monster Energy Ford driver earned his best career Texas finish of 12th on the 1.5-mile oval in the heart of the Lone Star State. After struggling with a tight Ford Mustang in Stage 1, the No. 98 team took a major swing in adjustments on its pit stop during the lap-40 stage break, and the Monster Energy pit crew gained Herbst two spots in the process. After restarting the second stage 11th, Herbst was able to battle his way up to seventh. He ended up ninth in Stage 2 – gaining a valuable two bonus points. After he struggled to pass cars during the final stage, the No. 98 Monster Energy team brought Herbst down pit road during a lap-109 caution for what turned out to be his final stop of the race. The pit crew once again earned its 22-year-old driver another two spots and he restarted ninth on lap 116. Herbst was running 11th when the final caution flag of the day flew on lap 164, sending the race to a green-white-checkered finish. The Las Vegas native restarted 10th but ultimately struggled with the balance of his Ford Mustang as the field headed for the checkered flag.

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Man, it was hot, for sure. We finally got track position there at the end, running fifth, and just got loose and fell back to 11th. It was kind of a struggle all day for us, to be honest. But there isn’t a scratch on the car, so that’s good. We’ll walk away from here and learn and get better for when we come back here in the fall.”

Notes:
● Herbst finished ninth in Stage 2 to earn two bonus points.
● Kyle Busch won the Alsco Uniforms 250 Powered by Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen to earn his 99th career victory, his second of the season, and his 10th at Texas. His margin over second-place Justin Allgaier was .433 of a second.
● There were 10 caution periods for a total of 52 laps.
● Twenty-six of the 40 drivers in the Alsco Uniforms 250 Powered by Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen finished on the lead lap.
● Austin Cindric remains the championship leader after Texas with a 108-point advantage over second-place A.J. Allmendinger.

Next Up:
The next event on the Xfinity Series schedule is the Tennessee Lottery 250 on Saturday, June 19 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway. The race starts at 3:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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SHR Post-Race Report: Save Mart 350k at Sonoma

Date: June 6, 2021
Event: Save Mart 350k (Round 16 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway (2.52-mile, 12-turn road course)
Format: 90 laps, broken into three stages (20 laps/20 laps/50 laps)
Note: Race extended two laps past its scheduled 90-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

SHR Race Finish:
● Chase Briscoe (Started 25th, Finished 17th / Running, completed 92 of 92 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 23rd, Finished 20th / Running, completed 92 of 92 laps)
● Kevin Harvick (Started 8th, Finished 22nd / Running, completed 92 of 92 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 26th, Finished 27th / Running, completed 92 of 92 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (9th with 483 points, 181 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (26th with 271 points, 393 out of first)
● Cole Custer (27th with 253 points, 411 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (28th with 205 points, 459 out of first)

Race Notes:
● Briscoe was the highest finishing NASCAR Cup Series rookie for the 13th time this season.
● This was Custer’s first NASCAR Cup Series start at Sonoma.
● This was Harvick’s first finish outside of the top-10 at Sonoma since 2014.
● This was Almirola’s first finish outside of the top-10 at Sonoma since joining SHR in 2018.
● Kyle Larson won the Save Mart 350k to score his ninth career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season, his first at Sonoma and his first on a road course. His margin over second-place Chase Elliott was .614 of a second.
● There were eight caution periods for a total of 18 laps.
● Thirty-three of the 37 drivers in the Save Mart 350k finished on the lead lap.
● Denny Hamlin remains the championship leader after Sonoma with a 47-point advantage over second-place Larson.

Sonoma Quotes

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Getting time on track yesterday in the ARCA West race was good for learning the track, but there wasn’t much outside of that I could take away with the cars being so different. I just could never get the car to really do what I wanted it to do. We really struggled with forward drive, which, if we had been able to have practice, we could’ve worked on some of that. It’s just hard to make those adjustments during a race. Johnny (Klausmeier, crew chief) made the right calls to get track position, but the cautions didn’t fall like we were hoping. To come out top-20 and learn a lot throughout the race is really all we can ask for right now.”

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 Autodesk Fusion 360/HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“It was definitely a battle all day. We got our Autodesk/HaasTooling.com Ford better and better. For our first time in Sonoma, it was a little bit tough not having any practice. We worked on it all day and survived. And I think we got a decent finish, although it wasn’t the finish we wanted, especially in our first race of the year with Autodesk, which is based just down the way in San Francisco. So we’ll go back and figure out how to make it better.”

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the non-points NASCAR All-Star Race on Sunday, June 13 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race starts at 8 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio beginning at 6 p.m. with the undercard NASCAR All-Star Open.

Monster Energy Racing: Riley Herbst Mid-Ohio NXS Post-Race Report

Date: June 5, 2021
Event: B&L Transport 170 at Mid-Ohio (Round 13 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington (2.258-mile, 13-turn road course)
Format: 75 laps, broken into three stages (25 laps/25 laps/25 laps)
Start/Finish: 9th /21st (Running, completed 78 of 78 laps)
Point Standing: 14th (279 points, 279 out of first)
Note: Race extended three laps past its scheduled 75-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner: A.J. Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: A.J. Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Justin Haley of Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet)

Overview:
Riley Herbst and the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford team saw their bid for the season’s third top-five finish foiled when Herbst’s Mustang was nudged off the track during the closing lap of today’s race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington. The 22-year-old Las Vegas native took the green flag in fourth place for today’s green-white-checkered finish and held his position as the field took the white flag. He was caught up in a cluster of cars while negotiating the esses on the backstretch and, while gathering control of the Monster Energy Ford, Herbst found himself alongside Andy Lally, who nudged him off track under braking for the right-hand turn nine. Herbst rejoined the race and took the checkered flag a disappointing 21st. It ruined a potentially season-best result for the team and Herbst’s best career road-course finish. After starting today’s scheduled 75-lap race ninth, Herbst dropped out of the top-10 in the early going as incidents brought out the caution flag just two turns into the race and again on lap seven. After restarting 11th on lap 11, Herbst made steady forward progress and crossed the line seventh at the end of Stage 1. Under NASCAR’s non-competitive pit stop rules for this race, the Monster Energy team brought Herbst down pit road for a track-bar adjustment and fuel only on lap 26, and for four tires and air-pressure adjustments on lap 27 as he reported a significant loss of grip over the long run. He started 11th for Stage 2 and gradually worked his way up to fourth by stage’s end, again pitting twice during the break for identical changes to those that were made during the first break. Herbst restarted the final stage 17th and steadily gained positions from the drop of the green flag, reaching the top-10 by lap 67. The caution flag flew on lap 68 for multiple incidents with Herbst running ninth. He restarted in the same position on lap 71 and picked up a position to eighth by the time the caution flag flew again for a multicar incident behind him before the end of the lap. That set up the final green-white-checkered finish.

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“That was an unfortunate way to end the day after everything this Monster Energy Ford team did to give me a top-five racecar for my first race ever on this track. Things got a little bunched up there on that last lap. We found ourselves two-wide going around the right-hander and unfortunately we ended up on the losing end of it. It’s a shame because we had a top-five car and didn’t get the result to show for it. It stings, but we’ll just have to move on and focus on a solid run at Texas next week.”

Notes:
● Herbst finished seventh in Stage 1 to earn four bonus points and fourth in Stage 2 to earn seven additional bonus points.
● A.J. Allmendinger won the B&L Transport 170 to earn his seventh career victory, his second of the season, and his second at Mid-Ohio. His margin over second-place Justin Haley was .809 of a second.
● There were seven caution periods for a total of 23 laps.
● Only 29 of the 40 drivers in the B&L Transport 170 finished on the lead lap.
● Austin Cindric remains the championship leader after Mid-Ohio with a 96-point advantage over second-place Allmendinger.

Next Up:
The next event on the Xfinity Series schedule is the Alsco Uniforms 250 on Saturday, June 12 at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. The race starts at 4 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

SHR Post-Race Report: Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte

Date: May 30, 2021
Event: Coca-Cola 600 (Round 15 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 400 laps, broken into four stages (100 laps/100 laps/100 laps/100 laps)

Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 3 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 5th, Finished 10th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 23rd, Finished 21st / Running, completed 397 of 400 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 21st, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 397 of 400 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 31st, Finished 22nd / Running, completed 397 of 400 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (9th with 468 points, 165 out of first)
● Cole Custer (27th with 236 points, 397 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (25th with 251 points, 382 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (28th with 195 points, 438 out of first)

Harvick Notes:
● Harvick earned his 11th top-10 of the season and his 20th top-10 in 39 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Charlotte.
● This was Harvick’s fourth straight top-10 at Charlotte.

Briscoe Notes:
● Briscoe was the highest finishing NASCAR Cup Series rookie for the 12th time this season.

Race Notes:
● Kyle Larson won the Coca-Cola 600 to score his eighth career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Charlotte. His margin over second-place Chase Elliott was 10.051 seconds.
● There were four caution periods for a total of 26 laps.
● Only 14 of the 38 drivers in the Coca-Cola 600 finished on the lead lap.
● Denny Hamlin remains the championship leader after Charlotte with a 76-point advantage over second-place Larson.

Charlotte Quotes
Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 Wow Wow! Waffles Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“This race is such a long one, and I wish we could’ve gotten a better finish for Feeding America® and Wow Wow Classic Waffles in their first outing with us. We struggled with the balance of the car all day, but it started getting better throughout the race. Once the leaders start passing you, it’s hard to make up for the lost time. We’ll look ahead to Sonoma.”

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang:
“We had a really tight-handling HighPoint.com Mustang tonight. It seemed like no matter what we did, we couldn’t make any gains with the adjustments. These races are tough, but I’m definitely looking forward to getting to Sonoma and doing some more road-course racing.”

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We battled all day to improve the handling and speed of our Smithfield Ford Mustang. We got caught a lap down early and just couldn’t recover. When we had clean air we were one of the fastest cars, but I just couldn’t find any grip in traffic. We raced our tails off to try to find something, and our pit crew had a great day. Moving on to Sonoma.”

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Save Mart 350k on Sunday, June 6 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway. The race begins at 4 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Monster Energy Racing: Riley Herbst Charlotte NXS Race Report

Date: May 29, 2021
Event: Alsco Uniforms 300 (Round 12 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/110 laps)
Start/Finish: 1st/12th (Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
Point Standing: 14th (252 points, 268 out of first)

Race Winner: Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Daniel Hemric of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Daniel Hemric of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Riley Herbst and the No. 98 Monster Energy team fought hard for a 12th-place finish in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco Uniforms 300 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The day started on a high note as Herbst earned his first career Xfinity Series pole position during qualifying Saturday morning. When the green flag waved for the 200-lap race, the Las Vegas native continued to show speed and led the first seven laps. A tight-handling racecar made his efforts to stay in the top-10 more difficult, however, and the No. 98 Monster Energy team was assessed a pit penalty at the end of Stage 2. But Herbst and the team showed their perseverance during the final stage as the 22-year-old worked his way back into the top-20 by lap 106 and into the top-10 just 20 laps later. The final blow to his hopes for a top-10 came on a lap-186 restart. Herbst was eighth when debris from a multicar accident ahead of him cut down the right-front tire of his Ford Mustang. He was forced to pit road for tires and was 17th for the race’s final restart on lap 193. Herbst picked up five positions over the final seven laps, just two positions short of his fourth top-10 of the season.

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“That (cut tire) was probably the difference at the end for a good finish. We just somehow got the right-front cut down but, overall, it was a pretty big learning day. We led some laps, qualified on the pole, but just struggled in traffic and fought the balance. I’d like to think this weekend was a step forward. I wish we could’ve been more competitive at the stage ends and things like that, but I think we’re making steps in the right direction.”

Notes:
● Herbst led once for seven laps – his first laps led at Charlotte.
● Ty Gibbs won the 40th Alsco Uniforms 300 to earn his second victory in six career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts. His margin over second-place Austin Cindric was .437 of a second.
● There were 10 caution periods for a total of 51 laps.
● Twenty of the 36 drivers in the Alsco Uniforms 300 finished on the lead lap.
● Austin Cindric remains the championship leader after Charlotte with an 84-point advantage over second-place Harrison Burton.

Next Up:
The next event on the Xfinity Series schedule is the B&L Transport 170 at Mid-Ohio on Saturday, June 5 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington. The race starts at 1 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.