Month: November 2021

SHR Post-Race Recap – Phoenix Season Finale

STEWART-HAAS RACING
NASCAR Cup Series Season Finale at Phoenix

Date: Nov. 7, 2021
Event: Season Finale 500 (Round 36 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Phoenix Raceway (1-mile oval)
Format: 312 laps, broken into three stages (75 laps/115 laps/122 laps)

Champion: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Martin Truex Jr. of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

SHR Race Finish:
● Aric Almirola (Started 18th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
● Kevin Harvick (Started 9th, Finished 8th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 7th, Finished 13th / Running, completed 312 of 312 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 22nd, Finished 35th / Accident, completed 153 of 312 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (5th with 2,361 points)
● Aric Almirola (15th with 2,215 points)
● Chase Briscoe (23rd with 655 points)
● Cole Custer (26th with 575 points)

SHR Notes:
● Almirola earned his fifth top-10 of the season and his seventh top-10 in 22 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix.
● This was Almirola’s second straight top-10. He finished sixth in the series’ prior race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
● This was Almirola’s fourth straight top-15 at Phoenix.
● Harvick earned his 24th top-10 of the season and his 27th top-10 in 38 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix.
● Harvick’s 24 top-10s in 2021 is the third highest total among NASCAR Cup Series drivers. Only Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin earned more top-10s this season, with Larson securing 26 top-10s and Hamlin getting 25 top-10s.
● Harvick’s 27 top-10s at Phoenix are the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers.
● This was Harvick’s 17th straight top-10 at Phoenix. The last time he finished outside the top-10 was March 3, 2013 when he finished 13th.
● Harvick finished second in Stage 1 to earn nine bonus points and sixth in Stage 2 to earn five more bonus points.
● Harvick led one lap, increasing his laps led total at Phoenix to a series-leading 1,663.
● Harvick has now led 11,356 laps since joining SHR in 2014. He has led 15,781 laps in his entire NASCAR Cup Series career.
● Custer earned his eighth top-15 of the season and his second top-15 in four career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix.
● Custer finished seventh in Stage 1 to earn four bonus points.
● When the checkered flag dropped on the Season Finale 500, Briscoe was officially named the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year. Briscoe was the highest-finishing rookie 29 times this season.
● Briscoe is one of only three drivers to win the rookie-of-the-year title in all three of NASCAR’s top national touring series – Camping World Truck (2017), Xfinity (2019) and Cup (2021). He joins William Byron and Erik Jones.

Race Notes:
● Kyle Larson won the Season Finale 500 to score his 16th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his series-high 10th of the season and his first at Phoenix. His margin over second-place Martin Truex Jr., was .398 of a second.
● Larson earned his first NASCAR Cup Series championship by virtue of his win. He is the 35th different driver to win the series title.
● There were nine caution periods for a total of 51 laps.
● Only 24 of the 39 drivers in the Season Finale 500 finished on the lead lap.

Phoenix Quotes

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We had a really, really good long-run HighPoint.com Mustang, but our short-run speed, we were just trying to hang on. We were three-wide one time off of turn four and the 18 got into me a little and gave it a little bit of a tire rub. I think he was getting frustrated because I was just trying to hold those guys up as long as I could, because I knew if I made it 15 laps I would be OK. He got into me into (turn) three. I feel like, at the same time, my left-rear tire cut. I don’t know if that was from the damage earlier and then when he got into me the second time it finally cut it or what. At that point, I was along for the ride. It is super unfortunate. We had a top-10 car, and if we could have had some long runs maybe even a top-five car. We went all year long and never crashed a car, so to end it on the last one like that is unfortunate. You always want a good run at the end of the season to build momentum into the off-season. You just want to have good runs every week. I hate it that it ended this way, but I am looking forward to the future and everything that entails.

“It’s definitely cool to end the season as Rookie of the Year and to have that in all three series. I definitely had higher expectations coming into this year, but it was a weird year. As a company, we struggled way more than we thought we would. You base your expectations off of last year, and we just weren’t quite there from a performance standpoint, so you alter those expectations a little bit. The 14 team was competitive in a couple of races and battling for a few wins and top-fives. I think we have proved that whenever we get the car driving right and have the speed, we are fully capable of running up front with those guys. I wouldn’t say the season was a thumbs up or a thumbs down, maybe somewhere in the middle. There is still a lot that I have to learn to do better. The Cup Series guys are so good. You have to be on it 100 percent and clean up a lot of little things. I feel like going into the Next Gen car it will be nice to have a year under my belt and know all the little things to work on during the off-season to try to apply to next year.”

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“What a season. What a day. We worked so hard to finish off the season strong, and we ran where this 10 team was capable of running all year. It was such a rollercoaster of a year. We had some really high highs and really low lows. We capped off the season with two sixth-place finishes when we’re running in the midst of the championship-contending playoff drivers, and I can’t be prouder of that after the year we’ve had.”

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We started off strong today and finished in the top-10 in the first stage but then started to really struggle with the balance on our racecar in the second stage. That caution during green-flag pit stops in the final stage put us back, but we were able to recover for a top-15. Thankful for the support this season from all of our sponsors, Ford Performance and SHR. We learned a lot this season and will continue to build in 2022.”

Next Up:
The 2022 season begins with the non-points Busch Clash on Feb. 6 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before kicking off its 36-race slate of points-paying events with the 64th Daytona 500 on Feb. 20 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. FS1 will broadcast the Busch Clash at the Coliseum and FOX will broadcast the Daytona 500. Each event will be live and can also be heard on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-SHR-

Riley Herbst Phoenix NXS Race Report

Herbst Scores Strong Fourth at Phoenix
Driver of No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Rallies
from Seventh to Fourth in Green-White-Checkered Finish

Date: Nov. 6, 2021
Event: NASCAR Xfinity Series Season Finale (Round 33 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Phoenix Raceway (1-mile oval)
Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/110 laps)
Start/Finish: 5th / 4th (Running, completed 204 of 204 laps)
Point Standing: 11th with 2,157 points
Note: Race extended four laps past its scheduled 200-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Champion: Daniel Hemric of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Race Winner: Daniel Hemric of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Austin Cindric of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Daniel Hemric of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Overview:
Riley Herbst seized the opportunity of a green-white checkered finish and powered his way from seventh to finish fourth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series season finale Saturday night at Phoenix Raceway. The driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing was a top-10 mainstay during the 204-lap race, which went four laps past its scheduled 200-lap distance due to the green-white-checkered. Herbst proved resilient, for after starting fifth, he dealt with power-steering issues and a racecar that was too loose at the start of a run and too tight at the end of a run. Nonetheless, Herbst finished ninth in the first stage and 10th in the second stage. A bevy of cautions in the final laps placed Herbst seventh for the green-white-checkered finish. When the green flag dropped, Herbst darted through the traffic ahead of him to pick up his fifth top-five of the season and his second straight fourth-place finish at Phoenix. The result was also Herbst’s second consecutive top-10 as he finished 10th in the series’ prior race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Herbst ended the year 11th in the championship standings, bettering his point standing from 2020 when he finished 12th as an Xfinity Series rookie.

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“I think we had a little bit going on with the motor and the power steering, so the short runs we were loose and it was really hard to drive because I couldn’t counter-steer to the right, just because the power steering was going in and out. I was begging for long runs because once we got spread out and I could start just being easier on the front tires and then, ultimately, be easier on the steering. Thank you to Monster Energy, Ford Performance and Stewart-Haas Racing. It’s a good way to close out this year after kind of a really bumpy year to be honest with you. Hopefully, we can go into 2022 pretty strong.”

Notes:
● Herbst finished the season with five top-fives and 13 top-10s. He has a total of nine top-fives and 34 top-10s in 76 career Xfinity Series starts.
● Herbst finished ninth in Stage 1 to earn two bonus points and 10th in Stage 2 to earn one more bonus point.
● Daniel Hemric won the NASCAR Xfinity Series season finale to score his first career Xfinity Series victory. His margin over second-place Austin Cindric was .030 of a second.
● Hemric earned the Xfinity Series championship by virtue of his win.
● There were 10 caution periods for a total of 61 laps.
● Twenty-nine of the 36 drivers in the NASCAR Xfinity Series season finale finished on the lead lap.

Next Up:
The 2022 season kicks off with the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300 on Saturday, Feb. 19 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. Live coverage will be provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-SHR-

In the Know – Phoenix Finale

“In the Know”
Phoenix Raceway

The excitement is high as we head to Phoenix Raceway this weekend for the NASCAR Cup Series season finale. The Cup Series Championship will take place at 3pm ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The four drivers in the Championship round are Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports, and Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex of Joe Gibbs Racing.
The Xfinity Series will battle it out on Saturday at 8:30pm ET. Catch Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, Daniel Hemric and A.J. Allmendinger fighting for a title on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

This race marks the end of an era for the 15-inch tire. Goodyear has run 15-inch tires since the beginning of its involvement in NASCAR, which dates back to the late 1950s. The tire maker will switch to 18-inch with the debut of the Next Gen Cup car next year (the Xfinity and Truck Series will remain on 15-inch), starting a new page in the history books.

“For the Cup Series this weekend, someone will go down as the last driver to win a championship on a 15-inch tire,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “Goodyear has done a lot of development on its 15-inch racing program over the last 60-plus years, including the move from bias ply to radials back in the late 1980s, and now we transition to 18-inch for the 2022 Cup season.”

The Details

NASCAR Cup Series Overview

● Event: NASCAR Cup Series Season Finale (Round 36 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EST on Sunday, Nov. 7
● Location: Phoenix Raceway
● Layout: 1-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 312 laps/312 miles (502 kilometers)
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 75 laps / Stage 2: 115 laps / Final Stage: 122 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

NASCAR Xfinity Series Overview

● Event: NASCAR Xfinity Series Season Finale (Round 33 of 33)
● Date: Saturday, Nov. 6
● Location: Phoenix Raceway
● Layout: 1-mile oval
● Time/TV/Radio: 8:30 p.m. EDT on NBCSN/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

What Our Drivers are Saying:

Phoenix-FinaleKevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Busch Light #BuschPitBoss Stewart-Haas Racing

How would you assess this season?
“That’s a good question. For us as a group on the 4 car, I think we’ve worked through things pretty well. We’ve been in position to win two or three races, but one thing or another didn’t let that happen or didn’t make it happen, however you want to look at it. But I’ve had a lot worse seasons, I know that for sure. I’ve lived through a whole bunch that were way worse than this one. This one has been a bit of a struggle to get the finishes that we have, but in the end, I’ve raced like that for years in my career. You know, a lot of people that watch and cover the sport in this particular period forget about 20 years ago. It’s hard to explain to people some of the things that you’ve been through. I feel like my first press conference was the biggest one I’ll ever do, the first year was the most stressful I’ll ever have, 2002 was a horrendous year, and somehow we won a race that year playing the track-position game and put ourselves in the right spot. I’ve personally been through some pretty tough years and this one has just been a struggle because you had to work so hard to get everything you have. I think from a team standpoint, we’ve also learned a lot about the other side of the fence as far as having to dig your heels in and do things that you haven’t had to do. And whether you like it or not, that race is coming up next week and you’re going to have to participate, whether your car is slow or fast, and you’ve got to figure out how to make the most out of that. For us, I know we have 23 top-10s, and you look at the top-fives, they’re not where we want them to be. But when you look at the overall picture and the grind that we’ve been through this year, I think everybody’s done a good job and I think a lot of that comes from the maturity and the experience of this Busch Light team and being together so long.”

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

What’s the most important thing to be successful at Phoenix?
“You have to have everything at Phoenix. You have to have downforce, grip in your car and good brakes. You have to make sure your car turns well through the center of turns one and two, which is a sharp, banked corner. And then you have turns three and four, which are really fast and sweeping and flat. You’ve got to have a car that’s versatile and is a good compromise for both corners. We had that at Loudon, where we won, and we had it last weekend at Martinsville. ”

Phoenix-FinaleChase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You’re one race away from checking Cup Series Rookie of the Year on your list of 2021 goals. Talk about how it feels to end the season with that kind of accomplishment.
“I wish there were more guys competing for it this year. It’s always fun when you can have another points battle to be a part of, but it’s still cool to be able to win it and, more so, to win it in all three series. That’s something I always wanted to do, so it’ll be nice to cap that off. It’s still a big accomplishment even though we were only competing against one other guy. He had just as many opportunities to win it. I wish we had more high points to our season, but it’s nice to have something to hang our hat on for the year. We’ll certainly go out to Phoenix and try to execute and come out with the best finish possible, but we know we’re coming out with some kind of success at the end of the year no matter how it goes. And to be on a list of only three guys that have won Rookie of the Year in the Truck, Xfinity and Cup Series is really cool. It’s humbling. I never thought I’d even get to win a Truck race, so now to be here with a chance to be rookie of the year in all three is very humbling.”

Phoenix-finaleCole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You scored your first career Cup Series top-10 at Phoenix last year in what was then your seventh career start. How big of an accomplishment was that for you?
“It was a huge finish for us. It was a huge boost to have a really solid day and a fast Mustang. We overcame obstacles all weekend, and it really helped us continue to carry that all through the rest of the year. I think we got better most every single race in one way or another, so it was something that gave us the momentum to do that. We came back to Phoenix in November and didn’t get the finish we wanted, but we left there with the Rookie of the Year title, which obviously was special. It was definitely a rookie season with a lot of peaks and valleys, results-wise, and a really interesting season to be a rookie with no practice, no testing or qualifying, so it was a lot of just learning on the fly, but I think we all managed it very well. It’ll be good to get back there this weekend.”

Phoenix-Finale-scaledRiley Herbst, Driver of the Xfinity No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You scored a fourth-place finish thanks to a strong restart in the final laps the last time you raced at Phoenix. What’s the plan heading into Saturday’s race?
“Last time we were in Phoenix, we had an impressive finish and really started to show what this team could do if presented with an opportunity. We avoided the chaos at the end and brought home a top-five. Heading into this weekend, the ultimate goal is to win, but most of all, we want to finish out the season with another strong finish. This team has worked hard all season long. I know we can get it done.”

SHR Stats

Kevin Harvick hasn’t finished outside the top-10 in his last 16 starts at Phoenix. The last time he finished outside the top-10 was March 3, 2013 when he finished 13th. Of Harvick’s nine NASCAR Cup Series victories at Phoenix, he won four straight between November 2013 and March 2015. The streak ended when Harvick finished second at Phoenix in November 2015, but when the series returned to the track in March 2016, Harvick won again. Harvick is the only driver to win four Cup Series races in a row at Phoenix. Johnson was next best with three straight wins between November 2007 and November 2008. Only five drivers have won consecutive Cup Series races at Phoenix, but Harvick is the only driver to win consecutive races twice, as he also swept both races in 2006. In 37 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Phoenix, Harvick has earned an average finish of 8.8, the best of any active Cup Series driver. Denny Hamlin is next best with an average finish of 10.8 over 32 Cup Series starts.

The 312-lap race around the desert mile oval will be Cole Custer’s 75th Cup Series start and his fourth at Phoenix. The 23-year-old from Ladera Ranch, California, scored his first nine career Cup Series top-10s in the March 2020 Phoenix race, which was just his seventh career Cup Series start, en route to earning Rookie of the Year honors. He followed up that ninth-place finish with another near-top-10 in this race a year ago, which was derailed by an unscheduled pit stop to replace a loose wheel during the final stage. He finished 28th. Last March at Phoenix, another top-10 bid was ruined when contact from behind in the closing laps sent Custer into the wall and relegated him to a 31st-place finish.

In Chase Briscoe’s first start at Phoenix in March of this year, and just his fifth in a Cup Series car, he started 26th and finished 22nd. Since then, the No. 14 team has earned three top-10s with a best finish of sixth earned twice – May 23 at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, and July 4 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. In the first 35 races this season, the HighPoint.com Ford Mustang finished inside the top-20 19 times. The 26-year-old driver from Mitchell, Indiana, has four career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the Phoenix mile oval and each resulted in top-10 finishes. His best is sixth, scored twice – March 2019 and March 2020.

Phoenix is the track where Aric Almirola has arguably been most consistent in recent years. In his last eight starts there, he has earned four top-10 finishes – two of those being top-fours. He’s also led 33 laps at the mile oval.

When the Xfinity Series rolled into Phoenix back in March for its fifth race of 2021, Riley Herbst emerged with a solid fourth-place finish thanks to some savvy driving in the closing laps. Saturday’s race will be Herbst’s fifth career Xfinity Series start at Phoenix. In addition to the fourth-place result earned in March, he finished among the top-11 in two of his other three starts.

Of Special Interest

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

F948BDE2-4E62-4297-AF59-9211BC260940

SHR Post-Race Recap: Martinsville

STEWART-HAAS RACING
Xfinity 500

Date: Oct. 31, 2021
Event: Xfinity 500 (Round 35 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)
Format: 500 laps, broken into three stages (130 laps/130 laps/240 laps)
Note: Race extended one lap past its scheduled 500-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner: Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

SHR Race Finish:
● Aric Almirola (Started 23rd, Finished 6th / Running, completed 501 of 501 laps)
● Kevin Harvick (Started 9th, Finished 12th / Running, completed 501 of 501 laps)
● Chase Briscoe (Started 22nd, Finished 22nd / Running, completed 501 of 501 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 24th, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 501 of 501 laps)

SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (6th with 2,318 points)
● Aric Almirola (15th with 2,184 points)
● Chase Briscoe (23rd with 653 points)
● Cole Custer (26th with 547 points)

Championship 4 Drivers:
1. Kyle Larson (5,000 points)
2. Chase Elliott (5,000 points)
3. Denny Hamlin (5,000 points)
4. Martin Truex Jr. (5,000 points)

Failed to Advance to Championship 4:
5. Kyle Busch (4,116 points) -3 points
6. Brad Keselowski (4,111 points) -8 points
7. Ryan Blaney (4,099 points) -20 points
8. Joey Logano (4,077 points) -42 points

SHR Notes:
● Almirola earned his fourth top-10 of the season and his sixth top-10 in 26 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville.
● Almirola finished 10th in Stage 1 to earn one bonus point and sixth in Stage 2 to earn five more bonus points.
● Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has only finished outside the top-20 once at Martinsville – a lone 33rd-place finish in October 2014.
● Briscoe’s 22nd-place result bettered his previous best finish at Martinsville – 27th, earned in his first start at the track in April.

Race Notes:
● Alex Bowman won the Xfinity 500 to score his sixth career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his fourth of the season and his first at Martinsville. His margin over second-place Kyle Busch was .478 of a second.
● There were 15 caution periods for a total of 91 laps.
● Twenty-five of the 38 drivers in the Xfinity 500 finished on the lead lap.

Martinsville Quotes

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield/IHOP Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Today we ran where we know we could run all year. We had a great car, and the pit crew was on it. We had the balance pretty close right off the start and we tried not to adjust too much today, and it paid off. We were best on the long run, and with all of the cautions at the end, we didn’t get to find that long-run speed where it mattered. But I’m so proud of this team for capping off the season with solid speed. Looking forward to Phoenix, where I think we have a good shot at it again.”

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Finishing on the lead lap at Martinsville is never a small accomplishment, but it was a frustrating day in a couple of areas. Braking is so important here, and I had little to no brakes for about the whole race. And that made it difficult to find just the right changes to make to help our struggle with a tight-handling racecar and keeping the rear end on the racetrack. We’ve got one more shot to get a good finish for everyone out at Phoenix, so we’ll try to take advantage of the extra track time and get something out of it.”

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 Dixie Vodka Peach Cocktail Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Honestly, we just struggled all day. Martinsville is a tough track, and that proved to be true in this race. We struggled with the balance on the No. 41 Dixie Vodka Peach Cocktail Ford Mustang and just couldn’t get it right. Wish we could’ve gotten a better finish for Dixie Vodka, but we’ll head to Phoenix.”

Next Up:
The NASCAR Cup Series season finale is Sunday, Nov. 7 at Phoenix Raceway. The championship race starts at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-SHR-

Riley Herbst Martinsville NXS Race Report

Herbst Rallies to Finish 10th at Martinsville
Monster Energy Driver Rebounds from
Late-Race Incident to Score 12th Top-10 of Season

Date: Oct. 30, 2021
Event: Martinsville 250 (Round 32 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)
Format: 250 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/130 laps)
Start/Finish: 16th / 10th (Running, completed 257 of 257 laps)
Point Standing: 11th with 2,121 points
Note: Race extended seven laps past its scheduled 250-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner: Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Austin Cindric of Team Penske (Ford)
Stage 2 Winner: Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Overview:
Riley Herbst proved resilient in Saturday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang finished an impressive 10th after getting collected in a multicar accident that left him 26th with less than 60 laps remaining. Prior to the accident on lap 194 that ensnared Herbst and four of his counterparts and led to a 10-minute and 47-second red flag stoppage, Herbst was running eighth. That track position went out the window as Herbst was forced to pit so his Monster Energy crew could fix some right-front damage and get him back onto the .526-mile with four fresh tires and fuel. Herbst methodically made his way forward, rejoining the top-10 on lap 227. He then survived two late-race restarts and held steady among the top-10 to collect his 12th top-10 finish of the season.

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“Proud of the No. 98 Monster Energy team for never giving up. We definitely had a car that could run up front, but that incident in the last stage really put us back in the pack. Luckily, we caught a break with a quick caution and raced our way back up into the top-10. Still got one more shot at the win in Phoenix.”

Notes:
● Herbst finished eighth in Stage 2 to earn three bonus points.
● Noah Gragson won the Martinsville 250 to score his fifth career Xfinity Series victory, his third of the season and his first at Martinsville. His margin over second-place Austin Cindric was .064 of a second.
● There were 13 caution periods for a total of 75 laps.
● Twenty-seven of the 40 drivers in the Martinsville 250 finished on the lead lap.

Next Up:
The NASCAR Xfinity Series season finale is Saturday, Nov. 6 at Phoenix Raceway. The championship race starts at 8:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBCSN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

-SHR-