Rounding up the Round of 8 after Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS — Riley Herbst’s charge to a dominant win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday left an unclaimed spot available in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4.
John Hunter Nemechek’s runner-up finish led the eight racers eligible in the Round of 8 ahead of fellow playoff participants Cole Custer, Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer, Justin Allgaier and Austin Hill, who finished third through seventh, respectively. Sheldon Creed finished 15th, one lap down, while Sammy Smith was scored 17th, two laps down.
Four drivers will advance to Phoenix Raceway to fight for the 2023 championship. With Herbst’s victory, at least two of those spots will be filled based on points standings.
MORE: Race results | Creed explains decision to leave RCR for 2024
Nemechek, who owns a series-best seven wins this year, was forced to rally from the rear of the field for the second week in a row after an oil leak sprung during Friday’s practice session. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota gained a whopping 19 positions within the first four laps of the race and maximized the day, extending his cushion above the provisional elimination line to 47 points.
“What makes a championship team is how you overcome things like that,” Nemechek said. “We had a fast Toyota GR Supra. (Sponsor) Pye-Barker colors looked good again. Sucks that we couldn’t get them into Victory Lane but we finished second, so solid day. Solid points day for us, and we’re just gonna continue to push forward onto Homestead next week.”
Custer appeared to have one of the fastest cars in Saturday’s race, but the balance of the vehicle shifted too far loose, with its rear end slipping through the corners. He netted a race-best 19 stage points after leading 62 laps with a third-place finish and heads to Homestead on the bubble — but with a smile on his face.
“It’s awesome. I mean, we had a really fast car today,” Custer said. “Our guys did a great job. Just got loose on the long run and as the run went there. And you know, I was like, man, the track’s gonna tighten up here eventually, and it didn’t. So I would just kind of stay free the whole time. And, you know, wish we had one more run there, maybe.”
Behind him on the track was Chandler Smith, who has embraced the underdog role throughout the course of these playoffs. The Kaulig Racing driver led 118 laps at Vegas in the spring before finishing third and nabbing fourth after leading 23 laps Saturday, his most since Nashville Superspeedway in June. Yet despite a strong finish and a second-best 14 stage points in Las Vegas, Smith lost four points to the elimination line, sits fifth and trails Custer by 15 points entering next week’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“That’s the sucky part is … you feel like you had such a good day today, then I go look at the point standings,” Smith said. “I was minus (11) going in, now minus 15. So that sucks, for sure. But it’s nobody’s fault but ours. We did a horrible job in the regular season and we’re kind of paying (for) that now.”
Mayer was busy celebrating one week ago with a clutch victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course to advance into the Round of 8. But an ill-handling car early set the No. 1 JR Motorsports team behind before he rallied for a fifth-place finish after failing to score stage points. The result in standings? Sixth, 16 points beneath the line to advance.
“We worked our tails off today,” Mayer told NASCAR.com “We obviously finished well but did not give ourselves a good outlook on the next two races. But I have confidence in all our guys. I mean, we clutched up to get here in the first place. So silver lining is we’re here, but obviously, we want to make the most of it. So we’re gonna have to go to Homestead I think more than anything there to make something happen because we’re obviously in the hole right now. So we’re gonna have to dig deep.”
Allgaier, his JRM teammate, seemed poised for a better day than sixth place but told NASCAR.com that nose damage suffered on an early restart — combined with missing the balance transitioning from Friday’s sessions to Saturday’s race — factored into a mid-top-10 run. The good news is sits second in points, 26 markers behind Nemechek, but up 21 on the elimination line.
“I think yesterday’s conditions versus today’s conditions,” Allgaier said. I probably would’ve adjusted a little more yesterday had we known, but on the other side of it, you don’t want to overadjust when conditions aren’t the same. Today was just off. We battled. We got stage points. We did all the right things. Are we safe by any means on these playoff points? No, but a non-playoff car winning today definitely makes that a little bit better.”
MORE: At-track photos: Las Vegas | Latest points standings
Hill was victorious in Vegas back in March by virtue of a late-race pass on Chandler Smith, but the No. 21 Richard Childress Chevrolet never truly factored into the fight for the lead, netting six stage points in the first stage but none in Stage 2, the team hindered by a loose wheel in the early goings of the contest.
“We definitely had to dig deep for today. It didn’t come easy,” Hill told NASCAR.com. “You know, we got through Stage 1 and thought we just needed to tighten up some. I didn’t think we needed a ton; we just needed to be a little tighter overall. Had a loose wheel on that stop. My guys have been awesome all year so like, can’t get mad at them about it. You know, nobody’s perfect. Everybody’s human. So things are gonna happen.
“So I just put my head down and tried to dig deep through there through Stage 2 and try to put ourselves back in a good spot. And you know, we were able to get back up there inside the top 10 and we really just need a few more cautions to kind of fall our way and I think you would have seen us get back in the top five. I thought we had a top-five car. Not sure we had a winning car but I thought we had a good, solid top-five car.”
Hill holds the third spot in the title standings for the time being, 19 points above the elimination line heading into Homestead.
His teammate Creed struggled through Saturday’s event and did not score any stage points en route to his 15th-place run. JGR’s Sammy Smith suffered two loose wheels, including one during a green-flag pit cycle that forced him back to pit road a second time. Smith sits seventh in the standings, 35 points beneath the elimination line, while Creed enters Homestead eighth, 41 points out.
