Stewart-Haas Racing: NXS Race Report from Portland

Race Winner:    Cole Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)

Stage 1 Winner: Sheldon Creed of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)

Stage 2 Winner: Cole Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing (Ford)

 

SHR Race Finish:         

●  Cole Custer (Started 2nd / Finished 1st, Running completed 77 of 77 laps)

●  Riley Herbst (Started 12th / Finished 32nd, Accident, completed 65 of 77 laps)

 

SHR Points:

●  Cole Custer (4th with 457 points, 65 out of first)

●  Riley Herbst (10th with 346 points, 176 out of first)

 

Victory Notes:

●  Cole Custer’s victory at Portland marked SHR’s 19th Xfinity Series victory, its first of the season, and its first at Portland.

●  This was Ford’s first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Portland.

●  This was Custer’s 11th career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory and his 10th with SHR.

●  This was Jonathan Toney’s first win as a crew chief in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

 

SHR Notes:      

●  Custer earned his first victory of the season and his first victory in one career NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Portland.

●  This was Custer’s seventh straight top-10. He finished fifth April 1 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, third April 15 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, fourth April 22 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, seventh April 29 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, third May 13 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, and third last week at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

● Custer finished seventh in Stage 1 to earn four bonus points and won Stage 2 to earn 10 more bonus points and one playoff point.

● Custer led two times for five laps – his first laps led at Portland.

●  Herbst’s 32nd-place finish bettered his previous best finish at Portland– 35th, earned in the inaugural race at the track last year.

●  Herbst finished 10th in Stage 1 to earn one bonus point and eighth in Stage 2 to earn three more bonus points.

 

Race Notes:      

●  There were five caution periods for a total of 10 laps.

●  Twenty-seven of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

●  John Hunter Nemechek leaves Portland as the championship leader with a 14-point advantage over second-place Austin Hill.

 

Sound Bites:

“I mean, I was just trying to not make mistakes. I did the same exact thing as the leaders earlier in the race. I saw them drive in there so deep, and I did the same thing two restarts before. Man, I’m just so happy. I’ve never won a road course race before in the Xfinity Series. I’ve been so close so many times, and it’s just awesome to win this. I can’t thank Haas Automation and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing in the Xfinity program and the Cup program. It’s just a great day. This is JT’s (Jonathan Toney, crew chief) first win as a crew chief. It’s awesome to get this trophy and get that out of the way. I’m so pumped for the rest of the year. We’ve got fast cars, and we’re putting it all together.” – Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang

 

“Man, that’s a tough one. We had a fast No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang all day and ran in the top-10 for most of the race. The race just didn’t go our way with the issues near the end. We’ll keep our heads up and head to Sonoma next weekend. Hopefully, the bad luck will truly be behind us now.“ – Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang

 

Next Up:          

The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the DoorDash 250 on Saturday, June 10 at Sonoma (Cali.) Raceway. The race begins at 8 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

 

TSC PR