Bittersweet Xfinity Finale for Stewart-Haas Racing

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Stewart-Haas Racing assured they’re going to go out with a bang at Phoenix Raceway. As far as the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race, they certainly did with Riley Herbst having a career night, leading 167 of 213 laps en route to his second NXS win of the season.

While Herbst had the thrill of victory, his SHR teammate Cole Custer dealt with the agony of defeat. The defending series champion was unsuccessful in his title defense as he finished eighth while Justin Allgaier took the best runner-up result as it meant he was finally crowned as the champion.

At one point, Custer had to fend off Allgaier and his JR Motorsports teammates Connor Zilisch and Sam Mayer. All while battling Jesse Love for second as Herbst was nine seconds ahead of the competition.

Then for the second time this season, an accident involving Leland Honeyman shook the entire complexity of the 200-lap race that extended into overtime. It now meant pit strategies were critical and it certainly was for both Custer and Herbst. Austin Hill was the first out of pit road over the SHR duo and Allgaier.

Therefore, both the race and also the title battle came down to the final two restarts where the gloves were off. Both Custer and Allgaier fought hard, knowing the title was on the line. Allgaier made a three-wide pass for the championship lead only for another caution coming out for a wreck involving Parker Retzlaff.

Suddenly, Custer saw himself from being a few laps away of going back-to-back years as champion to having a huge task of working his way back to the title picture. However, Allgaier had enough of a gap amongst his title rivals that all he had to do was not put himself in trouble like a wreck.

Herbst made quick business on Allgaier and with several battle scars and tire rub, he got his third career win and the last for SHR in the Xfinity Series.

“I was going to move him,” Herbst on his battle with Allgaier. “He luckily, I think — I listened to the spotter replay. Eddie said that we’re not racing him, so he kind of gave me the bottom. But I was going to move him off the bottom in 3 and 4.”

Herbst’s confidence was apparent and while he has no intentions in replying to the naysayers who’ve criticized each of his wins, he’s curious as to what people will say. This includes an unnamed podcast, but what mattered most for the Nevada racer was being the man who lead to SHR ending on top in the Xfinity Series.

After Sunday, Tony Stewart and Gene Haas’ NASCAR race team is done. Herbst commented how the win goes beyond scoring one last triumph for Stewart.

“It’s for the 300 plus employees that — it was an emotional week last week. There was a lot of crying people in that race shop,” Herbst explained. “It’s been home to a lot of good people for a long time, including myself. It was validating to win for myself, to win for Davin and everybody on the 98 team, but all the men and women at the shop who don’t get the notoriety and they work 9:00 to 5:00 every single day of the week, even the off-season.

“Those guys mean the most to us, and this win is just as much theirs as it is mine. I’m excited for all of them and to go out on top.”

Defeated, but content for Allgaier, Custer explained his final run was altered by Hill’s strategy of going for fuel rather than new tires. It led to the pass by Allgaier that ultimately dashed his title aspirations. More so that it’s Custer’s final race before moving back up to the Cup Series next season.

“That’s a long time coming for (Justin). He’s a deserving champion, for sure,” said Custer. “What it came down to for us was that restart when the 21 stayed out on older tires. Honestly, it just came down to who you were behind. He made his car really wide, very hard to get by which is his right.

“We’re all going for a championship, but that ended up screwing us worse than it did the 7 and the 7 was able to slip by. That’s what sucks. I really wanted to win this championship for SHR and finish it out strong, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

“It just sucks that it comes down to tire strategies and situational restarts and things like that, but the 7 car was great all day. They definitely had a fast car, but I can’t say enough about our team. JT (Jonathan Toney, Custer’s crew chief) and all these guys did a great job all year.

“We’ll keep digging. This definitely stings because we were so close, but we’ll move on.”

As Custer will drive for the Haas Factory Team in the Cup Series, Herbst’s future remains unknown as he doesn’t have a confirmed ride in 2025. HFT’s Xfinity program will consist of Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer, thus it puts the series veteran at a crossroads. But after the dominant victory at Phoenix, there’s no telling what’s next for Herbst.

“I don’t know if this has anything to do with it. Mainly just more to myself. Just more validation to myself,” said Herbst. “Now I’m a multiple time winner in this series at the highest level and really unique circumstances, all three different circumstances.

“Mainly to myself, mainly to Davin to give him the confidence, mainly — yeah, it’s just an all-around good win for myself to be confident in whatever I hop into next year and to know that I can run with the best of them and go win.”