Month: September 2021

In the Know – Talladega

“In the Know”
Talladega Superspeedway

Anything can happen at Talladega Superspeedway. At 2.66 miles, this track is the largest paved oval the series competes on with 33 degrees of banking in the turns. Since its opening year, Talladega has hosted many races and has been repaved four times.

“Since its repave in 2010, Talladega’s track surface has aged a bit and will wear tires somewhat this weekend,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “Having said that, teams will still have the opportunity to mix in two-tire and no-tire stops in their pit strategy throughout the race. Being able to do that will help teams gain track position and potentially help them line up with teammates so they can work together in the draft.”

Drivers will try to avoid “The Big One” while battling it out with two races left in the Round of 12 – for both the Xfinity Series and the Cup Series.

The Details

NASCAR Cup Series Overview
● Event: YellaWood 500 (Round 30 of 36)
● Time/Date: 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 3
● Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
● Layout: 2.66-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 188 laps/500.8 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 60 laps / Stage 2: 60 laps / Final Stage: 68 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

NASCAR Xfinity Series Overview
● Event: Sparks 300 at Talladega (Round 28 of 33)
● Date: Saturday, Oct. 2
● Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
● Layout: 2.66-mile oval
● Time/TV/Radio: 4:30 p.m. EDT on NBCSN/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

What Our Drivers are Saying:

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Light #Hunt4Busch Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

What are your expectations for Talladega?
“For me, it’s been a destruction derby over the last couple of years. We’ve run really well at Talladega, but that’s just kind of the phases you go through when you go to Talladega. I’m doing worse than 50-50 on whether you crash or finish the last few years, but it’s one of those places where you want to race up front and race hard all day because you have to try to win stages. I believe you have better odds at the front of the pack when it comes to staying out of a wreck if you can keep that track position all day. You’re going to race in a pack – three-wide at times – and you’re going to get pushed and have to push at times. You just never know what’s going to happen because Talladega is its own animal. It’s hard to finish a race there. As we’ve seen over the past however many years, you try to put yourself in the right position and hope you have a little bit of luck on your side that particular day. I know our Busch Light Ford Mustang will be fast enough to contend for the win, but you just have to get to the finish.”

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

What would it mean to you to pull off another win this year, especially at a track that you’ve seen so much success at in the past?
“It would really just solidify this season for us. We came into the year expecting to compete for multiple wins. Our year as a whole has not been what we expected, but to put another win under our belt for 2021 would give us such a sense of accomplishment. It would mean the world to put Smithfield in victory lane again there, too. We have a few other races left this season that we can be competitive at, but Talladega is always circled on my list.”

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil Delvac 1 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Your first race at Talladega in April was really the first top-15 for the No. 14 team. How are you feeling about heading back there with a little more experience under your belt?
“I’m excited, and I don’t think that’s something you hear a lot when people talk about superspeedways. I love this type of racing and, now that I am more comfortable in the car and with the team and how they work, I think we’ve got a good shot to go finish up front. We’ve made progress at every other track this year and I think we can do the same. But there’s always that unknown factor at these superspeedway races. Anything can happen and it will. You’ve got guys who are trying to make the next round of the playoffs before we get to the Roval and others that are just going for a win knowing these are the kinds of races where you can go from midpack to the front if you can find the right line and drafting group.”

Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 Autodesk Fusion 360/HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

You drove to a top-10 finish in your last visit to Talladega in April and you finished just one spot out of the top-10 in the Daytona 500 at Talladega’s sister track in February. Do you feel you can carry that momentum into this weekend?
“Those were solid races that we needed at the time, and I think if a thing or two would’ve gone our way at the end of those races, we would’ve ended up with even better finishes. The superspeedways have been one of our strong suits at SHR this year and I’m confident our HaasTooling.com Ford guys are bringing us a fast Mustang for this race. These are races where you can’t control a whole lot and you have to hope for the best, especially during the playoffs when guys are going all out for stage points and then at the end of the race. You have to race your race the best you can to put yourself in a good position. It can be a pretty stressful race, but I guess all of the races can be stressful if you let them.”

Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang (Xfinity Series)

You scored a fourth-place finish at Talladega back in April. What are you expecting in your return trip this race weekend?
“Talladega is unpredictable. Anything can happen and you have to be in the right place at the right time to come out on top. It really helps when you have teammates, and luckily I have my Ford teammates and we’ll work together on Saturday to try and get a win for the manufacturer. Not only did we have a good result in the spring, we also have grown our superspeedway program to where we led laps at both Daytona races this year. Now to just seal the deal and win.”

SHR Stats

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light #Hunt4Busch Ford Mustang, finished fourth in his last outing at Talladega in April. Harvick led three times for 12 laps to increase his laps-led total at the 2.66-mile oval to 276. It was his eighth top-five and 17th top-10 in 41 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega. Harvick’s eight top-fives at Talladega tie him with Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano for the second-most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers. Harvick’s 17 top-10s at Talladega are the second-most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers. Only Busch has more (21 top-10s). Among those stats is a lone win at Talladega. Harvick came out the victor in a dogfight of a NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega on April 25, 2010. There were an incredible 88 lead changes in the 200-lap race around the 2.66-mile oval and three massive accidents that collected a total of 24 cars. Harvick kept his car intact throughout each bout of calamity and despite leading only two laps, the second lap led was the one that counted most. Harvick got underneath race-leader Jamie McMurray in the track’s tri-oval to sweep past McMurray and take the win by just .011 of a second. It was just the 12th of Harvick’s 58 career Cup Series wins. In addition to his 41 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega, Harvick has eight NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, with a best result of second in April 2006.

At Talladega in October 2008, Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) enjoyed one of its most dominant days ever. The team qualified 1-2-3-4 for the first time in its history. SHR drivers then led 155 of the race’s 193 laps (80.3 percent), including the last lap by Aric Almirola, who delivered SHR’s milestone 50th points-paying NASCAR Cup Series victory and the organization’s 11th win of 2018.

With his third-place finish in the June 2020 race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Aric Almirola tied the record of eight consecutive Talladega top-10s set by Dale Earnhardt Jr., from April 2001 to October 2004. Despite seeing his streak come to an abrupt end thanks to a multicar accident on lap 57 of last October’s race on the 2.66-mile oval, followed by his 15th-place finish there April 25, Almirola’s average finish in his last 10 Talladega outings is 9.3 – best in the NASCAR Cup Series. In 23 career starts, Almirola has one win, nine top-10 finishes, five top-fives, and has led 71 laps. In the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Talladega, Almirola visited victory lane in May 2017.

Sunday’s 500-mile race at Talladega will be Cole Custer’s milestone 70th Cup Series start and his fourth on the 2.66-mile oval. The reigning Cup Series Rookie of the Year’s 10th-place finish there in April was the best of his first three Cup Series visits and was the first of his two top-10 finishes earned so far this season. The 23-year-old from Ladera Ranch, California, had promising runs in both of last year’s Cup Series events at Talladega. In the spring race, he was set to restart fifth for the green-white-checkered finish, but his Mustang began to stumble from a lack of fuel, sending him to pit road for a splash-and-go. He finished 22nd. In the fall race, he was able to drive to the front on multiple occasions, but while running fifth just past the race’s halfway point, he was collected in a multicar incident that ended his day.

Chase Briscoe and the No. 14 Ford Mustang team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) gear up for the final superspeedway race of the season at 2.66-mile Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. In Briscoe’s first NASCAR Cup Series start at Talladega, he led his first lap in Cup Series competition and finished the 188-lap race in the 11th position – his best finish over the first 10 events of the season. Briscoe has made four Xfinity Series starts at Talladega with a best finish of fourth in 2019. He also has one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start there in 2017, when he finished 22nd, and one ARCA Menards Series start in 2016, when he finished third.

The Sparks 300 on Saturday will mark Riley Herbst’s 71st career Xfinity Series start and his fourth at Talladega. While luck wasn’t on his side after being involved in accidents during his first two starts at the track, he bounced back in his last start in April when he finished fourth. Herbst also has five Talladega starts outside of the Xfinity Series – four in the ARCA Menards Series and one in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He scored a runner-up finish in the 2019 ARCA race.

Of Special Interest

Be sure to check out our merch hauler at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend! If you can’t attend in person, you can shop anytime at store.stewarthaasracing.com

SHR Post-Race Recap: Las Vegas

STEWART-HAAS RACING
South Point 400

Date: Sept. 26, 2021
Event: South Point 400 (Round 30 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 267 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/80 laps/107 laps)

Race Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 5th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 19th, Finished 14th / Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 17th, Finished 19th / Running, completed 266 of 267 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 28th, Finished 29th / Running, completed 265 of 267 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (10th with 3,036 points, seven points below top-eight cutoff)
● Aric Almirola (15th with 2,093 points)
● Chase Briscoe (23rd with 552 points)
● Cole Custer (28th with 453 points)

Playoff Standings (With two races to go before Round of 8):
1. Denny Hamlin (3,082 points) 1 win
2. Kyle Larson (3,096 points) +57
3. Kyle Busch (3,074 points) +35
4. Martin Truex Jr. (3,070 points) +31
5. Ryan Blaney (3,063 points) +24
6. Chase Elliott (3,061 points) +22
7. Joey Logano (3,045 points) +6
8. Brad Keselowski (3,043 points) +4
9. William Byron (3,039 points) -4
10. Kevin Harvick (3,036 points) -7
11. Alex Bowman (3,030 points) -13
12. Christopher Bell (3,018 points) -25

SHR Notes:
● Harvick earned his 20th top-10 of the season and his 13th top-10 in 25 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Las Vegas.
● Harvick’s 13 top-10s at Las Vegas are the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers.
● This was Harvick’s fourth straight top-10. He finished fifth Sept. 4 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, eighth Sept. 11 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, and second in the series’ prior race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
● This was Harvick’s 10th straight top-15, a streak that began July 11 with an 11th-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
● Harvick finished eighth in Stage 1 to earn three bonus points and eighth in Stage 2 to earn another three bonus points.
● Briscoe earned his ninth top-15 of the season and his first top-15 in two career starts at Las Vegas.
● Briscoe was the highest finishing NASCAR Cup Series rookie for the 26th time this season.
● Briscoe’s 14th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Las Vegas – 21st, earned in his first visit to the track in March.

Race Notes:
● Denny Hamlin won the South Point 400 to score his 46th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Las Vegas. His margin over second-place Chase Elliott was .442 of a second.
● There were four caution periods for a total of 21 laps.
● Only 12 of the 38 drivers in the South Point 400 finished on the lead lap.

Las Vegas Quotes

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Subway Delivery Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“That was about what we had tonight. We got the right-front fender nicked up a little bit, but that didn’t really change the car, so we lucked out on that. We battle and gained ground on it. That is what we wanted to do – not give it all away today. We were able to gain ground and we’ll go from there.”

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“I thought our One Cure Ford Mustang was going to be really strong when the sun went down, but we just couldn’t get the handling right. The smallest changes would take it from loose to tight, and it was really tough to get it exactly where we wanted it. Fourteenth is still a huge improvement over what we did earlier this year, and it just shows how much I’ve learned as a driver and how far this team has come.”

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Demo Day Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Another rough race for our team. We struggled with the balance of our No. 41 Dixie Vodka Greyhound Cocktail Ford Mustang and just couldn’t get it right. We’ll head to Talladega.”

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We found really good speed and balance in our Mobil 1 Ford halfway through the race today and were good enough to race inside the top-10. Then we made one small adjustment, and something just flipped a switch and our balance was way off. We’ll move on to Talladega where we’ve had a lot of success. Excited to get there and compete for a win.”

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the YellaWood 500 on Sunday, Oct. 3 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. It is the fifth race of the 10-race playoffs and the second race in the Round of 12. It starts at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-SHR-

Riley Herbst Las Vegas NXS Race Report

Herbst Finishes 33rd at Las Vegas
Early Race Accident Ruins Top-10 Bid for South Point Ford Driver

Date: Sept. 25, 2021
Event: Alsco Uniforms 302 (Round 27 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 201 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/111 laps)
Start/Finish: 10th / 33rd (Accident, completed 31 of 201 laps)
Point Standing: 11th (2,005 points, 32 behind eight-place cutoff)

Race Winner: Josh Berry of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: AJ Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Overview:
As the intensity of the playoffs heated up in the Nevada desert, Riley Herbst’s return to his hometown was cut short after only 31 laps in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The third-generation driver and the No. 98 South Point team started 10th when the green flag waved for the 201-lap race. Despite reporting that his Ford Mustang was loose, Herbst still felt the car had the speed to run up front. He stayed in the top-10 for a majority of the opening laps. Under the lap-25 competition caution, Herbst reported that there was still no rear grip, but his racecar was fast in turns one and two. Like the leaders, the No. 98 South Point team opted to keep its driver on track during the caution. Misfortune hit on the lap-30 restart as Herbst and the field was making its way through turns one and two. The 22-year-old driver was caught up in a four-wide situation when left-rear contact turned his racecar sideways. Multiple cars were involved and the damage sustained was too much for Herbst and his playoff-contending team to continue. They ultimately had to settle for a 33rd-place finish.

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 South Point Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“I think that accident occurred because of old tires and a slick track. Everybody kind of spun their tires a little bit. I know the 2 behind me got a better run than I did into turn one, so I tried to shade down and give him the room he deserved because he got to the restart box better than I did. I jumped to the outside and tried to block a little bit and then gave it back to him. Four-wide into turn one doesn’t usually work out here at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. That’s a real bummer. We fired off pretty loose but I thought we would get the South Point Ford Mustang better and have something to contend with. Now we will have to go to Talladega and who knows what will happen.”

Notes:
● Josh Berry won the Alsco Uniforms 302 to score his second career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Las Vegas. His margin over runner-up Justin Allgaier was 4.398 seconds.
● There were six caution periods for a total of 32 laps.
● Just 10 of the 40 drivers in the Alsco Uniforms 302 finished on the lead lap.
● Austin Cindric remains the championship leader after Las Vegas with a seven-point advantage over second-place AJ Allmendinger.

Next Up:
The next event on the Xfinity Series schedule is the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff Race on Saturday, Oct. 2, at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The race starts at 4:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-SHR-

In the Know – Las Vegas

“In the Know”
Las Vegas Motor Speedway

With four of the original 16 playoff drivers now eliminated in the Cup Series, the next round of playoff racing will see increased intensity. We’ve got 12 drivers set to battle it out in the next round at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on September 26th at 7 PM ET, including SHR driver of the No. 4, Kevin Harvick.

“Since Las Vegas is a low wear track, we formulate our tread compounds to specifically introduce some wear on this type of surface,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “Last fall, we were able to add a little more grip to the right-side tire at Las Vegas and a couple other similar tracks. After some positive results in 2020, we have brought that back to the track in 2021, and that has continued with earlier races at Las Vegas, Texas, Kansas and Michigan with this right-side.”

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 in the Xfinity Series, heads home to Las Vegas to kick off the 2021 Xfinity Series Playoffs. After a third-place finish at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway last Friday night, the 22-year-old Las Vegas native secured his spot in the postseason for the second year in a row, making him two-for-two in his Xfinity Series career. Catch the Xfinity Series race on September 25th at 7:30 PM ET.

The Details

NASCAR Cup Series Overview
● Event: South Point 400 (Round 30 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 26
● Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
● Layout: 1.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 267 laps/400.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 80 laps / Final Stage: 107 laps
● TV/Radio: NBCSN / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

NASCAR Xfinity Series Overview
● Event: Alsco Uniforms 302 (Round 27 of 33)
● Date: Saturday, Sept. 25
● Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
● Layout: 1.5-mile oval
● Time/TV/Radio: 7:30 p.m. EDT on NBCSN/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

What Our Drivers are Saying:

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Subway Delivery Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

You were very consistent throughout the regular season and that has continued into the playoffs. How important is it to maintain that consistency?
“We’ve gone about this a number of different ways throughout the years. We’ve pointed our way through and we’ve won our way through when our backs were against the wall. You’ve got to take what each race will give you, and there’s no way you can force things. That’s where a lot of people get themselves in trouble – when they start trying to do things outside their comfort zone of where their car is that particular day. Some days you have what you have and you need to get that finish with your car, and if you do that, usually you finish better than probably you would have otherwise. Las Vegas is no different. We’ll just have to go out there and grind away and see where we end up.”

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

How can you look back on this season and the playoff run?
“I mean, our season as a whole was not what we wanted with all of the bad luck and performance. We went to Loudon and pulled out a win, which was awesome, and then just kind of had a renewed sense of energy going into the playoffs and thought we were going to do everything we needed to do in the first round to transfer to the next round and, unfortunately, it didn’t pan out. I can’t blame it on Bristol. There were plenty of opportunities throughout the first two races where we gave up some points, as well, so I can find two points in a lot of different places. A badly timed caution at Darlington, a loose wheel at Richmond, and mechanical issues at Bristol put us right on the edge of advancing and we just didn’t have enough to get there, but I’m super proud of this team for never giving up on what has been one of the most challenging and character-building years of my career.”

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 One Cure Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You’ve only got a handful of races left in your rookie season. Are you looking forward to the offseason, or are you sad to see it end?
“It’s coming quickly. It’s crazy to think we’re almost done. It feels like the Daytona 500 was just last month. This season has been flying by and, in a way, it’s unfortunate but it’s exciting to see what the new car is going to bring. We’re getting back to what NASCAR used to be, in a way, with offseason testing and the preparation. It’ll be cool to experience that and start with a clean slate. This rookie year has been harder and harder to catch up to the veterans without practice. It’ll be kind of an even playing field and interesting to see who can figure out the new car the quickest. The people who do that will have a huge advantage at the start of the season.”

Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 Dixie Vodka Greyhound Cocktail Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Now that you’re down to the final seven races of the season, what kind of things are you looking to accomplish as you navigate the home stretch?
“The biggest thing is trying to end on a high note for all the guys who have worked so hard this year to get us going in the right direction. I think we’re doing that at Stewart-Haas Racing, it’s just a matter of doing it consistently and executing how we need to. You also want to help your teammates who are still in contention for the championship, but there’s only so much you can do, at times. You can do little things but, at the same time, it’s all about getting a championship for a Stewart-Haas car, so we’re going to do whatever we have to and help our teammates as they pursue that. The advantage of having a four-car team is being able to try different things and to share that information with whoever needs it.”

Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 98 South Point Ford Mustang (Xfinity Series)

You’re coming off back-to-back top-five finishes for the first time this season and it comes at the right time with the playoffs starting this week at Las Vegas. Talk about the momentum your team now has coming into this first race of the Round of 12.
“We’re hitting our stride and it’s honestly a really good time for that. While we struggled somewhat during the season, we were still able to make the playoffs and I think we’ve finished in the top-10 in eight of the past 12 races. We’ve still got some work to do to get ourselves into the Round of 8, but I believe in this No. 98 team. We’ve got to take it week by week.”

SHR Stats

Since joining SHR in 2014, Kevin Harvick has finished among the top-10 in seven of the 11 NASCAR Cup Series races contested at Las Vegas. In that span, Harvick has led 621 laps and won twice – March 2015 and March 2018. Harvick’s win at Las Vegas in March 2018 was his 100th career victory across NASCAR’s top-three national touring series – Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Truck. He has since scored 19 more Cup wins to bring his tally to 119 total victories – 58 in Cup, 47 in Xfinity and 14 in Truck. Only three other drivers in NASCAR history have surpassed 100 wins across NASCAR’s top-three series: Kyle Busch (222 wins), Richard Petty (200 wins) and David Pearson (106 wins). Harvick has a total of 12 top-10s at Las Vegas, the most of any active NASCAR Cup Series driver. Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano are next best with 11 top-10s apiece.

In 16 starts at Las Vegas, Aric Almirola has three top-10 finishes, which all came in his first three starts since joining SHR in 2018. Almirola locked himself into the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs with his July 18 victory at New Hampshire. He led 46 laps around the flat, 1.058-mile oval en route to his third career NASCAR Cup Series win. After a year full of adversity and bad luck, the victory put the No. 10 team, which was 27th in the standings and facing a must-win situation if it was going to compete for this year’s championship, in prime position to earn one of the 16 coveted berths in the 10-race playoffs. Although Almirola did not advance to the Round of 12, this was his fifth playoff appearance and fourth consecutive playoff appearance since joining Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR). While he can no longer compete for a championship, Almirola can compete for a top-10 points standing before the checkered flag drops at the season finale Nov. 7 at Phoenix Raceway.

Sunday’s 400-mile race at Las Vegas will be Cole Custer’s 69th Cup Series start and his fifth on the 1.5-mile oval. The reigning Cup Series Rookie of the Year’s 16th-place finish last September was the best of his first four Cup Series visits to Las Vegas. The desert oval is where Custer made his Cup Series debut in the March 2018 race, when he started 30th and finished 25th in the No. 54 Rick Ware Racing Ford. In five NASCAR Xfinity Series outings at Las Vegas from 2017 through 2019, all behind the wheel of the No. 00 SHR Ford, Custer started on the pole in each of the last three, and he posted top-10 finishes in each of the last four with a best of third in the September 2018 race. He also led a total of 54 laps in Xfinity Series competition at Las Vegas.

Despite finishing 21st at Las Vegas in March, it has been one of Chase Briscoe’s more successful tracks. He swept both NASCAR Xfinity Series races at the venue during the 2020 season and both wins aided in his pursuit of the championship. The first win on Feb. 23 secured Briscoe’s spot in the 12-driver playoff field, and the follow-up win in October locked him into the Round of 8. The No. 98 team went on to win once more at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City to advance to the Championship 4. Briscoe has five career Xfinity Series starts at Las Vegas with the two wins among three top-10s. He also made a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series appearance at the 1.5-mile oval in September 2017, starting third and leading the first 40 laps before finishing third in a Ford F-150.

The Alsco Uniforms 302 will mark Riley Herbst’s fifth career Xfinity Series start at Las Vegas. The 22-year-old driver is on the hunt for redemption at his home track after an accident ruined a top-10 run for him just 56 laps into the series’ prior race at the track in March. In his first two Xfinity Series starts at Las Vegas in September 2019 and February 2020, Herbst scored back-to-back ninth-place finishes. He finished 12th in his third career start at Las Vegas last September.

Of Special Interest

Be sure to check out our merch hauler at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend! If you can’t attend in person, you can shop anytime at store.stewarthaasracing.com

SHR Post-Race Report: Bristol

STEWART-HAAS RACING
Bass Pro Shops Night Race

Date: Sept. 18, 2021
Event: Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Round 29 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, concrete oval)
Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (125 laps/125 laps/250 laps)

Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 8th, Finished 2nd / Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 20th, Finished 13th / Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 12th, Finished 18th / Running, completed 500 of 500 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 26th, Finished 28th / Running, completed 494 of 500 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (5th with 2,123 points, 48 points ahead of top-12 cutoff… advances to Round of 12)
● Aric Almirola (13th with 2,075 points, two points below top-12 cutoff)
● Chase Briscoe (23rd with 529 points)
● Cole Custer (28th with 445 points)

Playoff Standings to Begin Round of 12:
1. Kyle Larson (3,059 points)
2. Martin Truex Jr. (3,029 points) -30
3. Ryan Blaney (3,024 points) -35
4. Denny Hamlin (3,024 points) -35
5. Kyle Busch (3,022 points) -37
6. Chase Elliott (3,021 points) -38
7. Alex Bowman (3,015 points) -44
8. William Byron (3,014 points) -45
9. Joey Logano (3,013 points) -46
10. Brad Keselowski (3,008 points) -51
11. Christopher Bell (3,005 points) -54
12. Kevin Harvick (3,002 points) -57

Failed to Advance to Round of 12:
13. Aric Almirola (2,075 points)
14. Tyler Reddick (2,075 points)
15. Kurt Busch (2,071 points)
16. Michael McDowell (2,028 points)

SHR Notes:
● Harvick’s second-place finish tied his best result so far this season. He finished second May 2 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
● This was Harvick’s second straight top-two at Bristol. He won the series’ prior race on the concrete last August.
● Harvick earned his eighth top-five and 19th top-10 of the season, and his series-leading 14th top-five and 21st top-10 in 41 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol.
● This was Harvick’s third straight top-10. He finished fifth Sept. 4 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and eighth in the series’ prior race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.
● This was Harvick’s ninth straight top-15, a streak that began July 11 with an 11th-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
● Harvick finished sixth in Stage 1 to earn five bonus points and sixth in Stage 2 to earn another five bonus points.
● Harvick led three times for 71 laps, increasing his laps led total at Bristol to 1,209.
● Harvick has now led 11,339 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 15,765 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.
● Briscoe earned his eighth top-15 of the season in his first career start on the concrete at Bristol.
● Briscoe was the highest finishing NASCAR Cup Series rookie for the 25th time this season.

Race Notes:
● Kyle Larson won the Bass Pro Shops Night Race to score his 12th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his series-leading sixth of the season and his first at Bristol. His margin over Harvick was .227 of a second.
● There were eight caution periods for a total of 71 laps.
● Only 19 of the 38 drivers in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race finished on the lead lap.

Bristol Quotes

Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Subway Delivery Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“I told him (Elliott) it was kind of a chicken-$#!& move that he did there at the end. We’re racing for the frickin’ win at Bristol. We’re three-wide in the middle and he throws a temper tantrum, like I was just trying to get the lead and race him hard. Then he pulls up in front of me and just sits there until I lose the whole lead, so I just hate it for our Subway Ford Mustang team to be able to lose a race like that. I watched him let the 24 (teammate William Byron) go by and then anytime you run into him it’s a problem. They can boo all they want. I don’t care. I lost so much there and then when I got behind the car I kept getting tight off the corner and I couldn’t run my line. I’m ready to rip somebody’s freaking head off.”

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“I’d say we had a good night overall. We were definitely working in the right direction in terms of adjustments and just doing what we needed to do to get the best finish we could. We had a really good Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford, but it would get a little tight later in the long runs, and that would hurt us a little. I’m just glad we were able to stay out of trouble and come out with a good finish.”

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Demo Day Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Man, I never thought we’d have this much bad luck in a season, but here we are. I can say I do feel good about getting the car solid at the end of the race tonight, but that getting caught up in that wreck in the second stage just set us back too far. It’s on to the next one.”

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“I’m disappointed to have it end like that just because we had battled so much adversity throughout the night and got ourselves in position to where we were running top-10 and doing what we needed to do. And then that caution came out there at the end where we had 18 laps on our tires, and we stayed out. For whatever reason, when we refired on those tires the car was up on top of the racetrack and wouldn’t turn. I didn’t have any side bite and just struggled. Hats off to our Smithfield team for fixing those mechanical issues early in the race and keeping us in contention. That’s not the way we wanted it to end, but we’ll keep going and battle it out the rest of the year and see if we can’t finish inside the top-10 in points.”

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the South Point 400 on Sunday, Sept. 26 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is the fourth race of the 10-race playoffs and the first race in the Round of 12. It starts at 7 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-SHR-

Riley Herbst Bristol NXS Race Report

Herbst Snares Third in Wild Finish at Bristol
Monster Energy Driver Secures Second Straight Playoff Berth

Date: Sept. 17, 2021
Event: Food City 300 (Round 26 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile, concrete oval)
Format: 300 laps, broken into three stages (85 laps/85 laps/130 laps)
Start/Finish: 8th / 3rd (Running, completed 306 of 306 laps)
Point Standing: 10th (624 points, 419 out of first – IN THE PLAYOFFS)
Note: Race extended six laps past its scheduled 300-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner:
AJ Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Daniel Hemric of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Overview:
Riley Herbst delivered a strong third-place drive in the Food City 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race Friday night at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. It was his second straight top-five finish, as the driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang finished fifth in the series’ prior race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. The string of strong runs punched Herbst’s ticket to the NASCAR Playoffs, as he finished 10th in the regular-season point standings to earn a spot in the 12-driver playoffs, which kick off Sept. 25 at Herbst’s hometown track – Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The third-place finish at Bristol was Herbst’s best result so far this season. It didn’t come easy. Herbst started eighth, but he got caught on the high-side of the .533-mile oval in the opening laps. This relegated him to 15th. But Herbst’s tenacity combined with savvy pit calls from crew chief Richard Boswell enabled the Monster Energy machine to line up first for a restart on lap 180. The resulting dogfight displaced Herbst to third, and despite a tight-handling racecar, he only fell back to sixth. As the race wound down toward its finish, Herbst kept his head while others lost theirs. A caution on lap 298 set up a green-white-checkered finish. The leaders beat and banged on each other in the final two laps, but Herbst kept his cool, pointing his Monster Energy Ford Mustang into the gaps left wide open as the leaders slammed doors and the wall. Herbst took third place from Justin Allgaier off turn four of the final lap while the race’s top protagonists– AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric – crashed and spun across the finish line, with Allmendinger nipping Cindric for the win and the regular-season championship.

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“That was fun. A lot of people using their bumpers out here tonight and kind of what I expected just because it’s the regular-season cutoff and playoff points are on the line. It got aggressive, but it was cool. We kept ourselves in position. Richard Boswell and the 98 team gave us a really good strategy and a really good car. Once the caution came and the overtime happened, I knew it was gonna be kind of hectic. It’s just a product of Bristol. People got aggressive. Everybody wants to win at this place. This place is awesome. It was ten tenths there the last few laps and all hell kind of broke loose, but we were able to come away third and we’ll take it headed to Las Vegas. Thank you to Monster Energy and Ford Performance. Man, I’m so excited to go home next week and try to go race for a championship. It’s gonna be fun. I’ve been looking forward to going home for a long time and I think we can win at home next week and move to the Round of 8. We’re very capable of winning and we’re ready to go do it.”

Notes:
● This is Herbst’s second straight playoff appearance. He qualified for the 2020 postseason as an Xfinity Series rookie.
● Herbst’s third-place result bettered his previous best finish at Bristol – 10th, earned last August.
● Allmendinger’s victory in the Food City 300 was his ninth career Xfinity Series victory, his fourth of the season and his first at Bristol. His margin over second-place Cindric was .082 of a second.
● There were 10 caution periods for a total of 72 laps.
● Only 14 of the 40 drivers in the Food City 300 finished on the lead lap.
● Allmendinger and Cindric both lead the playoff standings as each hold a 24-point advantage over Allgaier, their nearest pursuer.
● Herbst is 11th in the playoff standings, 43 points behind the leaders.

Next Up:
The next event on the Xfinity Series schedule is the Alsco Uniforms 302 on Saturday, Sept. 25 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is the first race of the seven-race playoffs and the first race in the Round of 12. It starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-SHR-

In the Know – Bristol

“In the Know”
Bristol Motor Speedway

This weekend’s race at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile,” takes us to the third race of the 10-race NASCAR playoffs. At the end of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, four of the 16 drivers will be eliminated from championship contention. Currently, three drivers have locked themselves into the Round of 12, either by a win or points – Denny Hamlin (won at Darlington), Martin Truex Jr. (won at Richmond), and Kyle Larson (clinched on points). This leaves nine spots up for grabs

“While only a half-mile in length, Bristol is a different animal than the other short tracks we have on the NASCAR schedule,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “The amount of banking Bristol has creates very high speeds and high loads, which more closely aligns with some of the bigger tracks we race on. Then you have the concrete surface, which we only race on a handful of times throughout the season. Laying rubber on concrete is a special challenge and is one that we have worked hard on over the past many years to get the right balance.”

The Details

● Event: Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Round 29 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 18
● Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway
● Layout: .533-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 500 laps/266.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 125 laps / Stage 2: 125 laps / Final Stage: 250 laps
● TV/Radio: NBCSN / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

What Our Drivers are Saying:

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Subway Delivery Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

The Bristol Night Race always has an electric vibe to it, but is that vibe heightened with it being a cutoff race to make the Round of 12?
“The vibe at the Bristol Night Race is always over the top. It’s always a great event. You really never know what to expect at the Bristol Night Race. It can go completely smoothly or it can be complete chaos. Usually, it’s somewhere in between those two and you just have an exciting night. Bristol is intense every lap. There’s just a lot happening every single corner to make good lap times at Bristol. There’s always something happening in front of you, so you try and look as far ahead as you can to keep yourself out of trouble. But the best way to keep yourself out of trouble at Bristol is to be on offense and going forward, so hopefully we can do that.”

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Is it a new mindset when you return to Bristol’s concrete surface after racing on the dirt?
“Bristol on dirt does not correlate at all to Bristol’s typical concrete self. One thing that I am interested in is the fact that they completely had to wash the racetrack and I believe, or I’ve heard, they had to spray a solution on there to get all of the clay and stuff off and pressure wash the racetrack, so it’ll be interesting to see how different the track is just without the rubber that’s laid down in the pores of the concrete and if that changes anything – then how they apply the PJ1 to the bottom groove. That’s always a moving target for us on whether they apply it in a small strip or if they widen it out and make it to where it’s a whole car width wide. It’s always changing the dynamic of how the cars run around the racetrack.”

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

For someone who didn’t grow up short-track racing, you found success quickly at Bristol in the Xfinity Series. How were you able to figure out such a tricky track in a short amount of time?
“Bristol is a track I’ve always enjoyed because it reminds me a lot of racing at Salem (Speedway) and Winchester (Speedway) in Indiana. Those high-banked, fast tracks are always ones I’ve enjoyed. I don’t do well on the flat tracks like Loudon or Richmond, but the higher banks seem to help me. I had high hopes for the dirt race and may have gotten a little ahead of myself, but I’ve got a lot of confidence in our Rush Truck Centers/Cummins team this weekend and I’m really looking forward to this race.”

Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 Autodesk Fusion 360/HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

You excelled at Bristol when you were in the Xfinity Series. Why do you think that was the case, or what about the track suits your driving style?
“Bristol was a good track for me in the Xfinity Series, for sure. It’s a track that has always come a little natural to me, I feel like. I like the feel of it and being able to move around in the lanes. It’s a lot about keeping momentum. The bottom is about hooking the line. Hopefully we’ll be able to make those things happen in our Cup car with the 750 (horsepower) package, managing our race from beginning to end and getting through traffic without getting caught up in someone else’s mess. It can get pretty chaotic.”

SHR Stats

Kevin Harvick is the defending winner of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. The driver of the No. 4 Subway Delivery Ford Mustang won last year’s race in dominating fashion by leading four times for a race-high 226 laps, including the final 32 tours around the .533-mile oval. Harvick beat Kyle Busch by .310 of a second to take his 58th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third at Bristol and his 35th since joining SHR in 2014. Harvick’s first NASCAR Cup Series win at Bristol came in April 2005. In his ninth start at the high-banked, half-mile, Harvick beat Elliott Sadler by an impressive 4.652 seconds for his fifth career Cup Series victory. It would be another 23 races before Harvick scored his second Bristol win. In the 2016 Bass Pro Shops Night Race, Harvick beat Ricky Stenhouse Jr., by 1.933 seconds to take his 33rd career Cup Series victory.

Aric Almirola’s most recent visit to Bristol resulted in a fifth-place finish. In 20 starts at Bristol since 2007, Almirola has two top-fives and four top-10s. His best finish there was third in the Food City 500 on March 16, 2004. In addition to his Cup Series experience at Bristol, Almirola has seven NASCAR Xfinity Series starts with four resulting in top-10 finishes.

Saturday night’s 500-lap race on the half-mile Bristol oval will be Cole Custer’s 68th Cup Series start and his third on the high-banked, .533-mile concrete oval. The reigning Cup Series Rookie of the Year’s 23rd-place finish in last year’s Bristol night race was the best of his first two Cup Series visits to Thunder Valley. In six career NASCAR Xfinity Series appearances at Bristol from 2017 through 2019, all in SHR Fords, Custer has a best finish of third from his pole starting position in the spring 2019 race. That came on the heels of his fourth-place finish in the fall 2018 race, and his pole position in the spring 2018 race that resulted in an eighth-place finish. He led 31 laps in those six Xfinity Series starts at Bristol.

In six NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Bristol, Chase Briscoe earned four top-five finishes, including a win last September. He also had one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start resulting in a 12th-place finish. This will be Briscoe’s first start on the concrete of the famed .533-mile oval with the Cup Series. Earlier this season, the Cup Series drivers competed on the dirt-covered short-track with Briscoe bringing home a 20th-place result.

Of Special Interest

Be sure to check out our merch hauler at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend! If you can’t attend in person, you can shop anytime at store.stewarthaasracing.com

SHR Post-Race Report: Richmond

STEWART-HAAS RACING
Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders

Date: Sept. 11, 2021
Event: Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders (Round 28 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Richmond (Va.) Raceway (.75-mile oval)
Format: 400 laps, broken into three stages (80 laps/155 laps/165 laps)

Race Winner: Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

SHR Race Finish:
● Kevin Harvick (Started 5th, Finished 8th / Running, completed 400 of 400 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 9th, Finished 14th / Running, completed 399 of 400 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 26th, Finished 16th / Running, completed 398 of 400 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 21st, Finished 22nd / Running, completed 397 of 400 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (6th with 2,078 points, 25 points ahead of top-12 cutoff)
● Aric Almirola (11th with 2,056 points, three points ahead of top-12 cutoff)
● Chase Briscoe (23rd with 505 points)
● Cole Custer (28th with 436 points)

Playoff Standings (with one race to go before Round of 12):
1. Denny Hamlin (2,127 points) 1 win
2. Martin Truex Jr. (2,113 points) 1 win
3. Kyle Larson (2,151 points) +88 points
4. Joey Logano (2,093 points) +40 points
5. Ryan Blaney (2,081 points) +28 points
6. Kevin Harvick (2,078 points) +25 points
7. Chase Elliott (2,072 points) +19 points
8. Christopher Bell (2,070 points) +17 points
9. Brad Keselowski (2,066 points) +13 points
10. Kyle Busch (2,061 points) +8 points
11. Aric Almirola (2,056 points) +3 points
12. Kurt Busch (2,053 points) +0 points
13. Alex Bowman (2,053 points) -0 points
14. Tyler Reddick (2,048 points) -5 points
15. William Byron (2,035 points) -18 points
16. Michael McDowell (2,015 points) -38 points

SHR Notes:
● Harvick earned his 18th top-10 of the season and his series-leading 27th top-10 in 41 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Richmond.
● This was Harvick’s second straight top-10. He finished fifth in the series’ prior race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
● This was Harvick’s eighth straight top-15, a streak that began July 11 with an 11th-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
● Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only finished outside the top-15 once at Richmond, a lone 24th-place finish in the series’ previous visit to the track in April.
● Harvick finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points and 10th in Stage 2 to earn an additional bonus point.
● Almirola earned his eighth top-15 of the season and his eighth top-15 in 19 career starts at Richmond.
● This was Almirola’s third straight top-15 at Richmond. He finished sixth in the series’ prior visit to the track in April and eighth last September.
● Almirola finished 10th in Stage 1 to earn one bonus point and eighth in Stage 2 to earn three more bonus points.
● Briscoe was the highest finishing NASCAR Cup Series rookie for the 24th time this season.
● Briscoe’s 16th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Richmond – 22nd, earned in the series’ prior race at the track in April.

Race Notes:
● Martin Truex Jr. won the Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders to score his 31st career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his fourth of the season and his third at Richmond. His margin over second-place Denny Hamlin was 1.417 seconds.
● There were five caution periods for a total of 30 laps.
● Only nine of the 37 drivers in the Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders finished on the lead lap.

Richmond Quotes

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Cummins/Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“This was one of my best runs at Richmond, for sure. I think we still have a long way to go, but I don’t hate it as much as I used to. It certainly helps when the car is handling the way it’s supposed to. The result doesn’t show the effort put in and how strong we were, but I feel like it was something that I can build on now that I kind of understand how to drive the track.”

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Demo Day Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Today was just a rough day at Richmond. We struggled with the balance of our No. 41 HaasTooling.com Demo Day Ford Mustang throughout the entire race. We’ll take what we learned today and move ahead to Bristol.”

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield/Tuesday’s Children Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We didn’t have a race-winning car, but I thought we could have run fifth to eighth, so I’m a little frustrated but it’s a team sport and we’ll go to Bristol and keep fighting.I think we’re competitive. We’re in the hunt. We had a loose lugnut and I had to pit again under green, and then got us behind. I don’t know where we finished. I think we finished 14th instead of sixth or seventh, which is about where we were running, so frustrating that we gave up those points. This situation we can’t really give up any points. It would have been a lot nicer to go to Bristol plus 12 instead of plus three or four, but it is what it is. It’s no big deal. We’ve got to put our head down and go race. It’s the same situation. We’ve just got to go racing and score as many points as we can. You just hate to give up six, seven, eight points.”

Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday, Sept. 18 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. It is the third race of the 10-race playoffs and the last race in the Round of 16. It starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-SHR-

Riley Herbst Richmond NXS Race Report

Herbst Finishes Fifth at Richmond
Tire Strategy Earns Go Bowling Team Third Top-Five of 2021

Date: Sept. 11, 2021
Event: Go Bowling 250 (Round 25 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Richmond (Va.) Raceway (.75-mile oval)
Format: 250 laps, broken into three stages (75 laps/75 laps/100 laps)
Start/Finish: 20th / 5th (Running, completed 250 of 250 1aps)
Point Standing: 11th (590 points, 403 out of first)

Race Winner: Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: A.J. Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Overview:
Riley Herbst and the No. 98 Go Bowling team’s pit strategy paid off in Saturday’s Go Bowling 250 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway as they brought home a fifth-place finish. Herbst was on a mission to gain points in the race for the NASCAR Playoffs. When the green flag waved on the 250-lap race, the Go Bowling driver quickly worked his way up to 14th before the lap-35 competition caution. He reported that his car’s balance wasn’t bad in the initial stages but could use an air pressure adjustment. He restarted 13th but was unable to hold the spot as new tires came up through the field. He fell back to 16th, where he finished the first stage. During the stage break, the team pitted for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment to combat a loose racecar. In addition, the No. 98 Go Bowling pit crew gained their driver a total of six spots on pit road to have him restart 10th for the second stage. Herbst stayed in the top-10 during the second stage, moving up to eighth by the stage end. During the final segment, Herbst was struggling with the short-run speed of his Ford Mustang and fell back to 13th on the initial run. When the caution came out on lap 183, crew chief Richard Boswell made the call to keep his driver out when the leaders came down pit road to put on their final set of fresh tires, hoping for a late-race caution. The tire strategy was successful. When the caution came out on lap 224 and Herbst was able to come down pit road to put on his final set of tires, the leaders had none to use. He restarted the race 14th, and a series of cautions that followed forced Herbst to rely on his fresh tires and short-run speeds. On the final restart on lap 244, the 22-year-old driver restarted 10th and rocketed his way to fifth in the final laps of the race. This was his third top-five finish of the 2021 season, and it grew his lead above the playoff cutline to 66 points heading into the final race of the regular season.

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Go Bowling Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“That finish was good, for sure. I wish we didn’t get the late cautions there, because maybe we could have stolen a win, but all in all I think that’s what we needed going to Bristol next week. We maintained the points, and hopefully we’ll go playoff racing back home. That tire strategy was all Richard (Boswell, crew chief), honestly. We were just playing defense because we couldn’t afford to have anybody else win, so we had to play defense instead of offense. Luckily, it paid off a little bit, and it was a good deal.”

Notes:
● Herbst finished eighth in Stage 2 to earn three bonus points.
● Noah Gragson won the Go Bowling 250 to score his fourth career Xfinity Series victory, his second of the season and his first at Richmond. His margin over second-place Justin Haley was .381 of a second.
● There were nine caution periods for a total of 58 laps.
● Twenty-seven of the 40 drivers in the Go Bowling 250 finished on the lead lap.
● A.J. Allmendinger remains the championship leader after Richmond with a five-point advantage over second-place Austin Cindric.

Next Up:
The next event on the Xfinity Series schedule is the final race of the regular season, the Food City 300, on Friday, Sept. 17, at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-SHR-

In the Know – Richmond

“In the Know”
Richmond International Raceway

NASCAR and Richmond Raceway will pay tribute to victims and first responders on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 as part of the Salute to American Heroes presented by Toyota featuring the Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race and Go Bowling 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday, Sept. 11. Many race teams will also honor and remember the victims and heroes of 9/11 with tribute or patriotic paint schemes, including our No. 10 Smithfield/Tuesday’s Children Ford Mustang.

“With the Salute to American Heroes presented by Toyota, we will honor and remember the first responders and victims of 9/11 throughout our NASCAR Playoff Weekend at Richmond Raceway,” said Richmond President Dennis Bickmeier.

The first NASCAR sanctioned event at Richmond was held in 1953, when the track was officially known as the Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds. Richard Petty holds the crown for all Cup Series racing at the track (13 wins), but Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick dominate the modern racing era at the venue. Harvick has a total of seven Xfinity Series wins and three Cup Series wins.

“Richmond has traditionally been known for putting on some great racing, and one of the reasons for that is that it has become what we consider a high tire wear track,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “As tires wear at Richmond, lap times fall off. Drivers that manage their tires early in a run will have them fall off less and gain from that later in the run. Also, as the track takes rubber, drivers will be able to search around a little or move up the track, creating multiple lanes and more side-by-side racing.”

The Details

● Event: Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders (Round 28 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 11
● Location: Richmond (Va.) Raceway
● Layout: .75-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 400 laps/300 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 155 laps / Final Stage: 165 laps
● TV/Radio: NBCSN / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

What Our Drivers are Saying:

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You’ve had a lot of success at Richmond and you’re a fan of short-track racing in general. What is it about Richmond that makes it a good track for you?
“Through the years we’ve figured out how to get some solid finishes. We had a really good Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang there earlier this year and wound up blowing a tire and not getting a very good finish. I’m looking forward to going back just because of the fact that we ran so well there at the beginning of the year. Richmond is a little bit like Darlington just in the tire fall-off and the way the cars slow down. The line doesn’t move around very much at Richmond anymore, for whatever reason, so you have to grind away at one particular spot on the racetrack and make your car work as well as possible. It’s definitely a unique short track. It’s got enough speed to where you have to be good under braking and have a good-handling car in order to make it through the long runs that you know you’re going to get throughout the night. Hopefully, we can have a good night. Based upon the first race, we should run well.”

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield/Tuesday’s Children Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

How much has changed since the first Richmond race this year?
“It’s hard to say because I feel like Richmond doesn’t change, but everybody always seems to find a way to get better, so you can’t rest on your laurels. If you were good at Richmond last time, you can’t automatically assume that you’re going to beat the competition. Everybody is always looking to find ways to make their cars better from the last race. And you just look at Darlington – I know the patch (of new pavement in turn two) was an added difference and something new about Darlington, but you go back and look at the spring race and look at the cars that ran well, and then you look at this race and there were some different cars running up front. I think the race teams, the organizations, everybody works hard to find more speed in our cars, more downforce, all those things, so that usually equates to stiffer competition in the playoffs, so everybody brings their A-game. I have no doubt that even though we’ve run well at Richmond and we ran well there in the spring, we’re still fine-tuning and tweaking on what we had there in the past to try and make it a race-winning car instead of a top-five car.”

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Cummins/Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Do you feel more confident heading into Richmond this time around?
“I think so. I’m a different driver. I’ve learned a lot since April and I feel like as a team we’ve come a long way. We saw in the first race that overcoming a starting position in the back is a really tough thing to do at a place like Richmond and I think, after how things went at Darlington, we’re going to be in just about the same position. Hopefully, we’ve got something that we won’t have to adjust on too much and we can get ahead of that early on. I think we’ll for sure see some differences between racing at night versus the day, but I know Johnny (Klausmeier, crew chief) will have a good plan for how we attack that. I’m just focused on using this as a chance to learn that track more for when we go back next year and see if I can finally figure something out.”

Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Demo Day Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

You’re coming off a near-top-10 finish on a tough racetrack at Darlington last weekend and are headed to another tricky track at Richmond this weekend. Do you feel you and the team might be mounting some momentum for the home stretch of the season?
“It felt like one of our better efforts of the season in most every respect, so that’s definitely a good thing. It was one of those typical up-and-down days, but Mike (Shiplett, crew chief) made a great strategy call that moved us up near the top-10 late in the race. Hoping what we learned at Richmond in the spring race will benefit us this weekend, although the conditions will be pretty drastically different, being that the race is under the lights. We did pretty well in the night race there last fall, and it seemed all of our SHR cars were pretty solid with this 750 (horsepower) package last weekend at Darlington, so I hope all of that bodes well for us and our HaasTooling.com/Demo Day Ford team.”

SHR Stats

In 18 starts, Aric Almirola has earned seven top-10 finishes, two top-fives, and has led one lap on the .75-mile Richmond oval. In his most recent start there, Almirola finished sixth, which was his third-best finish of the year behind Nashville Superspeedway, where he finished fourth, and his win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. His sixth-place finish in April earned him back-to-back top-10 finishes at Richmond. Almirola and the No. 10 Ford team are bringing the same car to Richmond that piloted the team to a victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon on July 18. That win locked Almirola into the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

In Chase Briscoe’s first Cup Series start at the .75-mile oval at Richmond in April, he started 26th and finished 22nd. In five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts there, he has one top-five finish and two top-10s. His best result was a fifth-place finish in September 2019. Briscoe made 15 short-track starts in the Xfinity Series, scoring two wins – last September at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and July 2019 at Iowa Speedway in Newton – among his 10 top-10s.

Kevin Harvick has made 745 career NASCAR Cup Series starts, with 120 of those starts coming on short tracks. And of his 58 Cup Series wins, seven have been at short tracks, with Richmond accounting for three of those victories. Harvick scored his first Richmond win in September 2006, his second in September 2011 and his third in April 2013. Harvick joined SHR in 2014 and has since recorded 35 of his 58 career NASCAR Cup Series wins. However, none of them have been at Richmond. But Harvick has remained stout at the .75-mile oval. In his last 14 starts at Richmond as a member of SHR, Harvick has two runner-up finishes, eight top-fives and 10 top-10s. He has only one finish outside of the top-15. Harvick has led 15,694 total laps in his NASCAR Cup Series career, with 1,180 of those laps coming at Richmond. Harvick is the winningest NASCAR Xfinity Series driver at Richmond with seven victories. (Kyle Busch is next best with six wins.) Harvick finished among the top-10 in all but six of his 21 career Xfinity Series starts at Richmond.

Saturday night’s 400-lap race at Richmond oval will be Cole Custer’s 67th Cup Series start and his fourth on the .75-mile oval. The reigning Cup Series Rookie of the Year’s 14th-place finish there last September, the best of his previous three outings. He started 21st and finished 23rd at Richmond in April. In NASCAR Xfinity Series competition, Custer’s seven career starts at Richmond is more than he’s had at any other track. Best among those starts was the April 2019 race, when he qualified fourth in the No. 00 SHR Ford, led a race-high 122 of 250 laps and took the checkered flag 2.639 seconds ahead of runner-up and fellow Ford driver Austin Cindric. He followed that up with a third-place finish in that year’s September race for his fourth Xfinity Series top-six in seven Richmond starts.

Of Special Interest

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