A three-way battle for the win saw Riley Herbst gain his second victory of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career at one of the world’s most hallowed speedways.
Herbst won the Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after chasing down teammate Cole Custer in the closing laps and passing Aric Almirola on the final lap. Herbst locked himself into the 2024 Xfinity Series playoffs with his win at the Brickyard.
“This is Indianapolis,” Herbst told USA Network. “This is the most famous track in the world. It’s an honor to just walk in this place, let alone win. We’ve had speed all year, and I felt like we could win. I just messed up on the restarts a little bit. It was a good fight. I thought I had Cole clear, and then he said bottom of three with the 20.
“I’m proud of these guys, proud of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing. Obviously [with] the news of us shutting down, these guys could’ve given up on me, gone to different teams, but they stuck behind me and Cole. That’s back-to-back wins for Stewart-Haas Racing. I’m going to go home, drink beer and turn my phone off for three weeks.”
Custer completed the Stewart-Haas Racing 1-2 finish after leading for a majority of the final green flag run. Custer led a race-high 44 laps. It completes a weekend that included his announcement to run full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series with Haas Factory Team in 2025.
“You could see us beating doors down the frontstretch,” Custer said post-race. “You’re going to do anything it takes to win at Indy. I was doing everything I could to get the thing to turn. I just needed one less lap.
“What an awesome day for SHR. Two cars at the front all day, we qualified 1-2, finished 1-2. So, unbelievable day for SHR, and we’ll hopefully keep this rolling.”
Almirola made a three-wide pass on both SHR drivers coming to the white flag but lost the lead in turn 3 to Herbst and was beaten by Custer to the line for third. Almirola recovered from a spin earlier in the race to challenge for the lead on the last lap.
Shane van Gisbergen earned his career-best oval finish after crossing the line fourth by taking four fresh tires on the final caution, and Sheldon Creed completed the top five.
Austin Hill, Daniel Dye, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil rounded out the top 10 in sixth through 10th, respectively.
The Xfinity Series return to the Brickyard wouldn’t take long for a massive pileup on the first lap in turn 3 as Sam Mayer, battling for sixth with Allmendinger, spun and triggered a massive 12-car pileup that involved Jesse Love, Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Josh Berry, Conor Daly, Jeb Burton, Parker Retzlaff, Leland Honeyman, Jeremy Clements and Chandler Smith.
“I got a really good restart, shoved the 98 out there, and got stacked up between [turn] 1 and 2,” Mayer said. “Everyone filled to the bottom right away, and I was the only unlucky one not to be able to get down. Everyone got a run on me and put me three-wide, and that’s pretty much all she wrote from there. So, really frustrating to be put in that sandwich for no reason on the first lap, first time getting up to speed. So, definitely pretty frustrated, but we all make mistakes, and that’s a really sorry one to be in that situation to begin with.
“I don’t know what else I could have done other than just try to squeeze the 88 down. I was trying to be respectful, give enough room, but it looked like no one else was being respectful out there. So, I guess that’s noted going into Michigan [International Speedway] because it’s going to be the exact same thing, and I’m going to do my absolute best to put everybody in a bad spot respectfully.”
After the second caution for the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 81 of Smith losing power, the field split into strategies, as Brandon Jones, Allgaier and Custer, along with others, pitted as Herbst led those who stayed out to win stage one.
Allmendinger finished second, and Ryan Sieg, Jones and Allgaier completed the top five at the end of stage one.
Pit strategy continued to play a key role as Jones led those who pitted during stage one initially until he lost the lead to Custer while battling with JR Motorsports teammate Allgaier for the lead.
Custer was en route to win stage two, but a caution for Brennan Poole‘s engine expiring on lap 55 allowed Sieg to stay out while almost everyone pitted, and Sieg survived a one-lap shootout with Almirola and Herbst to win stage two.
Allmendinger and Allgaier rounded the stage two top five respectively.
Herbst rocketed past the battling pair of Almirola and Allmendinger on the stage three restart, however, Almirola spun a lap later after falling to seventh after slight contact with Hill in turn 1.
Allmendinger held off the SHR drivers on the final restart, but on lap 76, Custer made his way by the Kaulig Racing No. 16, and on lap 81, Herbst passed Custer.
However, Anthony Alfredo and Dye ran into each other on lap 84 out of turn 1, and Alfredo’s tire went down, which resulted in Retzlaff running into the back of the No. 5 Our Motorsports Chevrolet that ran up in the top 10 most of the day. Josh Williams was also collected in the crash.
The strategy once again split as Herbst, Custer and Allmendinger all stayed out, and Custer shot to a 1.5-second lead, but Herbst reeled his teammate in on the closing laps and after a three-way battle on the final lap, Herbst crossed the line victorious.
Xfinity Indianapolis Results
After almost a month-long break, the Xfinity Series will make its return to Michigan for the Cabo Wabo 250 on Saturday, August 17 at 3:30 p.m. ET. Broadcasting will be provided by USA Network
About the author
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime
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Watching the cars going into turn 4 I had images of them spinning down the front straight and the 1967 Indy 500 last lap when AJ Foyt had to drive past wrecked cars to win his fourth 500.
Check it out:
https://www.google.ca/search?q=1967+indy+500+last+lap&sca_esv=710025c8d917181e&sca_upv=1&source=hp&ei=1HqcZu7yMNLaptQPi8C6kAc&iflsig=AL9hbdgAAAAAZpyI5H3MDYmGf9AmUE21IYUQxk7bEwj8&ved=0ahUKEwjurIaKk7eHAxVSrYkEHQugDnIQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=1967+indy+500+last+lap&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IhYxOTY3IGluZHkgNTAwIGxhc3QgbGFwMgUQIRigATIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigATIFECEYnwUyBRAhGJ8FMgUQIRifBTIFECEYnwUyBRAhGJ8FMgUQIRifBUiBQlAAWLo9cAB4AJABAJgBvAGgAbsQqgEEMTguNLgBA8gBAPgBAZgCFqAC2hHCAgsQABiABBixAxiDAcICDhAuGIAEGLEDGIMBGIoFwgILEC4YgAQYsQMYgwHCAgUQLhiABMICBRAAGIAEwgIIEAAYgAQYsQPCAgsQLhiABBixAxjUAsICCBAuGIAEGLEDwgIREC4YgAQYsQMYgwEYxwEYrwHCAgQQABgDwgIHEAAYgAQYCsICBhAAGBYYHsICCBAAGBYYHhgPwgILEAAYgAQYhgMYigXCAggQABiABBiiBMICBBAhGBXCAgcQIRigARgKmAMAkgcEMTMuOaAH3I8B&sclient=gws-wiz#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:e576bd36,vid:biADfhgKe2g,st:0
15 car wrecks on 1st lap Hailie Deegan can’t drive!
She wasn’t driving the 15. It was Josh Berry.