Stewart-Haas Racing: Richmond NXS Advance (Cole Custer | Riley Herbst)

NASCAR Xfinity Series Overview

Cole Custer Notes of Interest

•  The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Richmond (Va.) Raceway for Saturday’s Richmond 250 and Cole Custer couldn’t be happier to be racing at a short track. After racing from the back of the field into a top-three position during last Saturday’s race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, the No. 00 Haas Automation driver looked to be in contention to fight for the win with AJ Allmendinger and Sheldon Creed. Contact with another car derailed those plans, however, as Custer fell off the lead lap and had to settle for a 32nd-place finish. He’s looking to turn his luck around at Richmond and hopes to continue to show speed as he heads to one of his best tracks on the schedule.

•  The Richmond 250 will be Custer’s eighth Xfinity Series start at Richmond. Since his first start at the track in 2016, he has never finished outside of the top-15. In his last fulltime season in the Xfinity Series in 2019, Custer led a race-high 122 laps in the April race at Richmond and scored the win in his No. 00 Ford Mustang. He beat runner-up Austin Cindric by 2.639 seconds. He followed up that victory with a third-place finish when the series returned to Richmond in September. Custer and his SHR Ford also started on the pole and led 43 laps en route to a sixth-place finish in the April 2018 race there. In his first Xfinity Series start at the track in April 2016, he scored a sixth-place finish driving the No. 5 JR Motorsports entry.

Riley Herbst Notes of Interest

•  Riley Herbst isn’t slowing down. As the only fulltime Xfinity Series driver to finish in the top-10 every race this season, the No. 98 Monster Energy driver hopes to keep the momentum going during Saturday’s Richmond 250. After weeks of running in the top-three and contending for wins, Herbst is looking forward to his return to his favorite track on the circuit – Richmond Raceway. He has come to excel on the short tracks in the Xfinity Series, as was evident last season. In the four races at the tracks less than a mile in length, Herbst scored three top-fives last season, including a fifth-place finish in April on the .75-mile Richmond oval. He was third in November at the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Raceway paperclip, and fifth at the half-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in September. He just missed a fourth short-track top-five last year when he finished sixth in the April race at Martinsville. Saturday’s race at Richmond will mark Herbst’s 16th on a short track. After finishing an impressive sixth in his first career start in June 2018 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Herbst has gone on to earn 11 more top-10s, including his last six short-track starts dating back to a third-place finish in September 2021 at Bristol.

Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang

Time to put COTA behind you and move on to a track where you’ve won in the past. How excited are you to head to Richmond in search of another victory?

“I’m ready for Richmond. It’s a track that I’ve won at before, so I’m hoping we can find a little magic there this weekend. It’s going to be hard, though. Unlike the race I won, this is a day race. The track’s going to be hot and slick. Honestly, it can be a really frustrating racetrack. I feel like you go there and fight the same thing every single time. The difference is just how emphasized your problems are, so hopefully we can get into the corner how we want to and go for the win.”

The SHR short-track program has been strong in the past, but even more so the past few years. What are your goals, both as a driver and a team, in these short-track races?

“I mean we want to go and win every race that we’re in, both myself as a driver and the overall team. Obviously, Riley (Herbst) has had some good runs on short tracks in his career and with SHR. I’m hoping to kind of lean on him with this new package and get us both up there to compete for the win at the end. We want both cars to be as competitive as possible, so we’ll continue to work together as one team.”

Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang

We’re heading to Richmond Raceway for the first true short-track race of the season. How do you think the new rules and package on the Xfinity Series cars will affect the racing there?

“I don’t think anyone knows how this package will affect the short-track races. It’s going to be different, for sure. We’ve put some simulator time in to try and figure it out, but I don’t think we’ll know until we hit the track on Saturday for practice. I could definitely see it forcing the drivers to come off the corners a little straighter but, again, there are things you just have to figure out by getting behind the wheel of the car. I’m excited to get to Richmond, though. It’s one of my favorite racetracks on the circuit. I feel like if we can do everything right, we’ll be a contender at the end of the race.”

You came out of the gate strong in 2023, now the only driver to finish in the top-10 in every race so far, and you’re contending for wins. How close do you think you are to scoring that first career Xfinity Series win?

“I think we’re close, but we’re always coming into a race competing to win. That’s never not been the plan. I could see us winning one of these next few races, though, and that’s exciting. There’s a new confidence on this team, and it’s honestly just showing how much hard work we’ve put in these past few years. I’m proud of how much I’ve matured as a driver, and I couldn’t have asked for a better team to grow with. I’m hoping to put them and my biggest supporters at Monster Energy in victory lane soon.”

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