Race Results

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200

Darlington Raceway

September 2nd, 2023

Race #25 of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Season

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Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200
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Laps Scheduled: 147
- Extended to 148 laps
Miles Raced : 202.2
Time of Race : 01 Hours 53 minutes 53 seconds
Average Speed: 106.826 mph
Margin of Victory : 00.657 seconds
Cautions: 7
Caution Laps: 34
Lead Changes: 15
Cars in Race : 38
Finished On Lead Lap: 32 (84%)

Denny Hamlin celebrates with a burnout — Darlington, South Carolina - September 2nd, 2023: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #19 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway. Photo by Jared C Tilton | Getty Images

FIN	ST	Car #	Driver	Make	TOT PTS	F PTS	B PTS	PO PTS	Laps	Led	x Led	S1	S2	STUS
1	2	19	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	0	0	0	0	148	14	3	2	4	Running
2	9	21	Austin Hill	Chevrolet	49	35	14	0	148	29	7	6	2	Running
3	1	20	John Hunter Nemechek	Toyota	54	34	20	2	148	99	4	1	1	Running
4	4	0	Cole Custer	Ford	44	33	11	0	148	0	0	5	6	Running
5	7	8	Josh Berry	Chevrolet	32	32	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
6	15	98	Riley Herbst	Ford	34	31	3	0	148	0	0	10	9	Running
7	3	7	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	43	30	13	0	148	0	0	4	5	Running
8	16	2	Sheldon Creed	Chevrolet	29	29	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
9	14	10	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	148	0	0	8	0	Running
10	6	11	Daniel Hemric	Chevrolet	32	27	5	0	148	0	0	7	10	Running
11	5	1	Sam Mayer	Chevrolet	26	26	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
12	10	16	Chandler Smith	Chevrolet	31	25	6	0	148	0	0	9	7	Running
13	19	31	Parker Retzlaff	Chevrolet	27	24	3	0	148	5	1	0	8	Running
14	8	9	Brandon Jones	Chevrolet	23	23	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
15	17	24	Corey Heim	Toyota	0	0	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
16	22	45	Rajah Caruth	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
17	11	18	Sammy Smith	Toyota	20	20	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
18	24	27	Jeb Burton	Chevrolet	19	19	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
19	27	7	Stefan Parsons	Chevrolet	18	18	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
20	31	6	Brennan Poole	Chevrolet	17	17	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
21	26	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	16	16	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
22	33	8	Chad Finchum	Ford	15	15	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
23	21	91	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
24	13	48	Parker Kligerman	Chevrolet	13	13	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
25	18	25	Brett Moffitt	Ford	12	12	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
26	34	38	Joe Graf Jr	Ford	11	11	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
27	32	53	Matt Mills	Toyota	0	0	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
28	30	26	Kaz Grala	Toyota	9	9	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
29	36	43	Ryan Ellis	Chevrolet	8	8	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
30	20	39	Ryan Sieg	Ford	7	7	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
31	28	4	Kyle Weatherman	Chevrolet	6	6	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
32	29	66	Timmy Hill	Ford	0	0	0	0	148	0	0	0	0	Running
33	23	78	Anthony Alfredo	Chevrolet	4	4	0	0	147	0	0	0	0	Running
34	35	2	Blaine Perkins	Chevrolet	3	3	0	0	147	0	0	0	0	Running
35	25	28	Kyle Sieg	Ford	2	2	0	0	147	0	0	0	0	Running
36	38	35	Patrick Emerling	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	145	0	0	0	0	Running
37	37	92	Josh Williams	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	143	0	0	0	0	Running
38	12	17	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	117	1	1	3	3	Running

Race Infractions

Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway

Driver	Infraction	Penalty	Lap	Lap Assessed	Flag
Matt Mills	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments	Tail End	0	0	White
Patrick Emerling	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments	Tail End	0	0	White
Sam Mayer	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments	Tail End	0	0	White
Sammy Smith	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments	Tail End	0	0	White
Sammy Smith	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	12	14	Yellow
Josh Williams	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	43	45	Yellow
Kyle Larson	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	91	93	Yellow
Brandon Jones	Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area	Tail End	92	94	Yellow
Kyle Larson	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	93	95	Yellow
Jeremy Clements	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	103	105	Yellow
Kyle Larson	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	104	106	Yellow
Brett Moffitt	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	104	106	Yellow
Ryan Ellis	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	104	106	Yellow
Anthony Alfredo	Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area	Tail End	104	106	Yellow
Kyle Sieg	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	107	109	Yellow
Ross Chastain	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	133	135	Yellow
Jeremy Clements	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	136	138	Yellow
Kyle Larson	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	142	144	Yellow

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Race Fast Facts

Darlington Raceway
Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200
Race Winner: Denny Hamlin
Age: 42
Team : No. 19 - Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota
Owner: Joe Gibbs
Crew Chief: Jason Ratcliff
Denny Hamlin won the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200, his 18th victory in 164 Xfinity Series races.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2023.
This is his sixth victory and 13th top-10 finish in 15 races at Darlington Raceway.
Austin Hill (second) posted his fifth top-10 finish in five races at Darlington Raceway. It is his 18th top-10 finish in 2023.
John Hunter Nemechek (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in five races at Darlington Raceway.
Chandler Smith (12th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Austin Hill leads the point standings by 23 points over John Hunter Nemechek.

Race Recap

Denny Hamlin scores sixth win at Darlington in NASCAR Xfinity Series car

September 2nd, 2023

By Reid Spencer - NASCAR Wire Service

Denny Hamlin resumed his NASCAR Xfinity Series mastery of Darlington Raceway on Saturday, winning the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 to raise his victory total at the track to six.

Hamlin passed series leader Austin Hill after a Lap 147 restart that pushed the race one circuit into overtime. Parker Kligerman’s consequential spin off Sam Mayer’s bumper on Lap 141 brought out the seventh caution of the race and set up the final two-lap shootout.

“I really needed some long runs,” said Hamlin, who led 14 laps and didn’t make his move until the final stage. “But I didn’t really want to show everything that we had till the very end of the race there.

“We really did a good job of maintaining everything that we had.”

Hamlin, who was running his annual Xfinity Series race for Joe Gibbs Racing, picked up his 18^th victory in the series. On Sunday, he starts his quest for the NASCAR Cup Series title in the Playoff-opening Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

John Hunter Nemechek ran third after leading 99 laps and sweeping the first two stages. Cole Custer was fourth, followed by Josh Berry and Riley Herbst, who passed Parker Kligerman for the final Playoff-eligible position with one race left to decide the postseason field.

Herbst holds a one-point lead over Kligerman, who finished 24^th after contact from Mayer’s No. 1 Chevrolet sent him spinning from the 12^th position with six laps left in regulation.

Kligerman was not pleased with Mayer and said so after the race, especially since the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet had overcome a slow pit stop and a brush with the outside wall to gain on Herbst.

“To come back from that and have to make a bunch of adjustments, then just get flat run over by the 1 car,” Kligerman said. “It’s so disappointing… He’s got to clean it up.”

Mayer, who finished 11^th, took responsibility for the incident with the concise admission: “I effed up.”

On multiple occasions, Hill took the lead with quick work on pit road but couldn’t hold it through the restarts. Nevertheless, he leaves Darlington with a 23-point lead over Nemechek in the battle for the Xfinity regular-season championship.

“I just need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what I’m doing wrong on the restarts there, because that was really frustrating all day today,” Hill said. “It didn’t matter where I was restarting, I would buzz the tires really bad and just lose track position every time I’d do it.

“So I got to do a better job of that if I’m going to win a championship. All in all, solid for us. That’s kind of something that we’ve been preaching the last six races that if you can’t be first, besecond. If you can’t be second, be third. We were second today, but it still stings a little bit when you want to win.”