Three Drivers Led Last Three Laps at Indy but Herbst Led the Important Last Lap

Riley Herbst and AJ Allmendinger early in the Pennzoil 250

(SPEEDWAY, IN – JULY 20, 2024 – RIS) Riley Herbst took the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for his second career Xfinity win, in a thrilling final lap battle with teammate Cole Custer and Aric Almirola. “Thisis the most famous race track in the world – it’s an honor just to walk into this place,” said Herbst in celebrating the victory. “I’m going to go drink beer and turn by phone off for three weeks.”

The Pennzoil 250 did not run even one lap before the caution flag flew for the spin by Sam Mayer that took out Josh Berry’s car and affected several others. The spin occurred when AJ Allmendinger jogged to the outside of a bunch and made contact with Mayer’s car to start the incident.

Josh Berry commented that: “It looked like Sam (Mayer) got three-wide middle and got loose and we all stacked and couldn’t see and so we all kind of stacked up and wrecked…. we were just in the wrong spot at the wrong time there. I hate that we didn’t get the results that we should have.”

Chandler Smith slowed on the back stretch and brought out a second caution which pulld many teams into the pits.

Riley Herbst went on to take the first stage, followed by Allmendinger, Rian Sieg, Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier.

Brennan Poole brought out a caution with only five laps left in the second stage, setting up strategy calls for teams to stop for fuel and tires before the end of the stage. Ryan Sieg was the sole front runner to bypass the pits, with Riley Herbst gaining two spots in the pits, 

In addition to Sieg, Leland Honeyman and Garrett Smithley stayed on the track. Sieg and Honeyman led the field to the green flag leading to the end of the stage, with Herbst, Custer, Almirola, Allmendinger, Allgaier, Austin Hill, Shane Van Gisbergen and Brandon Jones the rest of the top ten at the restart. Sieg held off Aric Almirola’s attempt to take the lead and gained the points for leading at the end of the stage.

The fnial stage began with Almirola and Herbst leading Allmendinger and Allgaier. Herbst used a good push from Allgaier to move into the lead but the caution flew when Aric Almirola spun through two complete revolutions coming off the first turn from slight contact with Austin Hill’s car. Almirola eased around to the pits for new tires and continued without hitting the wall or being hit by another car.

Allmendinger led the restart but Cole Custer and Riley Herbst drove around into the lead but the green flag session lasted only until Anthony Alfredo, Josh Williams, Parker Retzlaff and Daniel Dye crashed on the back straight after Alfredo got rear-ended by Retzlaff and then smashed into the inside Safer barrier.

At the green flag, Custer and Herbst ran one-two with Allmendinger taking second but Almirola took the position with ten laps left. Shane Van Gisbergen and Sheldon Creed had stopped for new tires and closed on the leaders while Herbst moved to within a length of Custer’s car with two laps left. The battle between Custer and Herbst allowed Aric Almirola to sweep into the lead approaching the white flag then Herbst got around for the win followed by Custer with Almirola, Van Gisbergen and Creed the rest of the top five.

Unofficial Results: Pennzoil 250 Presented by Advance Auto Parts, July 20, 2024 - Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
 1) 2, Riley Herbst, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford, 100, 1, 3, 4, 30, 6, 58, Running
 2) 1, Cole Custer, No. 00 Haas Automation Ford, 100, 6, 6, 4, 47, , 45, Running
 3) 3, Aric Almirola, No. 20 He Gets Us Toyota, 100, 8, 2, 2, 5, , 46, Running
 4) 23, Shane Van Gisbergen #, No. 97 WeatherTech Chevrolet, 100, , 7, , , , 37, Running
 5) 12, Sheldon Creed, No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota, 100, , 10, , , , 33, Running
 6) 14, Austin Hill, No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet, 100, , 8, , , , 34, Running
 7) 22, Daniel Dye(i), No. 10 Black Widow Trucks Chevrolet, 100, , , , , , 0, Running
 8) 8, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Celsius Chevrolet, 100, 2, 4, 1, 4, , 45, Running
 9) 9, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet, 100, 5, 5, , , , 40, Running
10) 7, Carson Kvapil, No. 88 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet, 100, 9, , , , , 29, Running
11) 27, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 Sci Aps Ford, 100, 3, 1, 1, 4, 1, 44, Running
12) 38, Parker Kligerman, No. 48 Spiked Lite Tropical Coolers Chevrolet, 100, 7, , , , , 29, Running
13) 15, Jesse Love #, No. 2 Whelen/NLEOMF Chevrolet, 100, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 16, Conor Daly, No. 26 Polkadot Toyota, 100, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 6, Brandon Jones, No. 9 Menards/Pennington Chevrolet, 100, 4, , 1, 10, , 29, Running
16) 29, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 38 ReMA Ford, 100, 10, , , , , 22, Running
17) 17, Joe Graf Jr, No. 19 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota, 100, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 21, Sammy Smith, No. 8 TMC Transportation Chevrolet, 100, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 11, Jeb Burton, No. 27 iHeart Media/Q95 Rocks Chevrolet, 100, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 25, Leland Honeyman #, No. 42 Distributor Wire & Cable Co Chevrolet, 100, , 9, , , , 19, Running
21) 30, Brennan Poole, No. 44 Macc Door Systems Chevrolet, 100, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 31, Kyle Sieg, No. 28 Night Owl Ford, 100, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 34, Ryan Ellis, No. 43 Renascent Demolition Chevrolet, 100, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 35, Joey Gase, No. 35 Bell Helmets Chevrolet, 100, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 28, Kyle Weatherman, No. 91 DriveSmartWarranty.com Chevrolet, 100, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 36, David Starr, No. 14 SHAR Ford, 100, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 32, Josh Bilicki, No. 92 Rita's Ice Chevrolet, 100, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 33, BJ McLeod, No. 13 Falling In Reverse Chevrolet, 100, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 24, Blaine Perkins, No. 29 AutoParkit.com Ford, 100, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 18, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 Wings Etc Grill & Pub Chevrolet, 99, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 26, Garrett Smithley, No. 45 Trophy Tractor/RichMar Florist Chevrolet, 97, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 37, Greg Van Alst, No. 07 CB Fabricating Chevrolet, 91, , , , , , 5, Ignition
33) 13, Chandler Smith, No. 81 QuickTie Toyota, 86, , , , , , 4, Running
34) 5, Anthony Alfredo, No. 5 Dude Mint Chill Chevrolet, 83, , , , , , 3, Accident
35) 20, Parker Retzlaff, No. 31 FUNKAWAY Chevrolet, 83, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 19, Josh Williams, No. 11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet, 83, , , , , , 1, Accident
37) 4, Sam Mayer, No. 1 Huck's Market Chevrolet, 0, , , , , , 1, Accident
38) 10, Josh Berry(i), No. 15 Klutch Vodka Ford, 0, , , , , , 0, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 100 Laps, 250. Miles
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 28 Mins, 8 Secs.
Average Speed: 101.26 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.167 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 98, 16, 39, 9, 7, 00, 48, 20, 88, 38
Stage 2 Top 10: 39, 20, 98, 16, 7, 00, 97, 21, 42, 18

Comments: Riley Herbst has won the Pennzoil 250 Presented by Advance Auto Parts at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, his second career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty. for the reason(s) indicated:  No. 18 (Engine Change), Nos. 21, 48 (Unapproved Adjustments).

Cautions: 7 for 29 laps;
Laps: 2-7 (No. 1, 15, 8, 2, 16, 51, 31, 26, 27, 28, 19, 81 Incident Turn 3 [None]);
18-20 (No. 81 Slow on Backstretch [None]);
32-34 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]);
56-59 (Possible Fluid From No. 44 [81]);
62-65 (Stage 2 Conclusion [44]);
68-71 (No. 20, 21 Incident Turn 2 [81]);
85-89 (No. 11, 5, 31, 10 Incident Backstretch [45]).

Lead Changes: 12 among 6 drivers;
C. Custer 1-17;
R. Herbst 18-31;
B. Jones 32-41;
C. Custer 42-57;
R. Sieg 58-61;
A. Almirola 62-65;
R. Herbst 66-71;
A. Allmendinger 72-75;
C. Custer 76-80;
R. Herbst 81-89;
C. Custer 90-98;
A. Almirola 99;
R. Herbst 100.