Race Results

NASCAR Xfinity Series

Xfinity Series Championship

Phoenix Raceway

November 4th, 2023

Race #33 of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Season

Previous Race
Xfinity Series Championship
Next Race

Laps Scheduled: 200
- Extended to 202 laps
Miles Raced : 206.4
Time of Race : 02 Hours 13 minutes 53 seconds
Average Speed: 90.527 mph
Margin of Victory : 00.601 seconds
Cautions: 8
Caution Laps: 46
Lead Changes: 12
Cars in Race : 38
Finished On Lead Lap: 29 (76%)

Cole Custer celebrates in victory lane — Avondale, Arizona - November 4th, 2023: Cole Custer, driver of the #00 Haas Automation Ford, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway. Photo by Chris Graythen | Getty Images

FIN	ST	Car #	Driver	Make	TOT PTS	F PTS	B PTS	PO PTS	Laps	Led	x Led	S1	S2	STUS
1	7	00	Cole Custer	Ford	40	40	0	6	202	96	4	2	1	Running
2	5	2	Sheldon Creed	Chevrolet	38	35	3	0	202	4	1	0	8	Running
3	8	7	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	34	34	0	0	202	0	0	7	9	Running
4	9	98	Riley Herbst	Ford	34	33	1	0	202	0	0	0	10	Running
5	16	1	Sam Mayer	Chevrolet	32	32	0	0	202	0	0	5	2	Running
6	15	8	Josh Berry	Chevrolet	35	31	4	0	202	0	0	0	7	Running
7	2	21	Austin Hill	Chevrolet	44	30	14	0	202	21	1	4	4	Running
8	6	16	Chandler Smith	Chevrolet	43	29	14	0	202	0	0	3	5	Running
9	1	18	Sammy Smith	Toyota	33	28	5	0	202	11	1	6	0	Running
10	24	26	Kaz Grala	Toyota	27	27	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
11	20	9	Brandon Jones	Chevrolet	34	26	8	0	202	0	0	8	6	Running
12	18	27	Jeb Burton	Chevrolet	25	25	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
13	14	31	Parker Retzlaff	Chevrolet	24	24	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
14	13	17	Rajah Caruth	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
15	19	25	Brett Moffitt	Ford	23	22	1	0	202	0	0	10	0	Running
16	30	48	Parker Kligerman	Chevrolet	21	21	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
17	21	91	Kyle Weatherman	Chevrolet	20	20	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
18	11	39	Ryan Sieg	Ford	19	19	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
19	17	07	Dawson Cram	Chevrolet	18	18	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
20	25	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	17	17	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
21	12	10	Daniel Hemric	Chevrolet	16	16	0	0	202	4	1	0	0	Running
22	4	19	Myatt Snider	Toyota	17	15	2	0	202	0	0	9	0	Running
23	34	45	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	14	14	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
24	38	78	Anthony Alfredo	Chevrolet	13	13	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
25	26	92	Josh Williams	Chevrolet	12	12	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
26	27	43	Ryan Ellis	Chevrolet	11	11	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
27	28	35	Joey Gase	Ford	10	10	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
28	3	20	John Hunter Nemechek	Toyota	9	9	0	1	202	66	5	1	3	Running
29	29	6	Brennan Poole	Chevrolet	8	8	0	0	202	0	0	0	0	Running
30	33	66	Timmy Hill	Ford	0	0	0	0	200	0	0	0	0	Running
31	37	28	Joe Graf Jr	Ford	6	6	0	0	200	0	0	0	0	Running
32	32	02	Blaine Perkins	Chevrolet	5	5	0	0	200	0	0	0	0	Running
33	36	4	Stefan Parsons	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	194	0	0	0	0	Running
34	10	24	Connor Mosack	Toyota	3	3	0	0	180	0	0	0	0	Accident
35	31	53	Chris Hacker	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	178	0	0	0	0	Suspension
36	35	08	JJ Yeley	Ford	1	1	0	0	101	0	0	0	0	Accident
37	23	11	Derek Kraus	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	84	0	0	0	0	Accident
38	22	38	Kyle Sieg	Ford	1	1	0	0	14	0	0	0	0	Vibration

Race Infractions

Xfinity Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway

Driver	Infraction	Penalty	Lap	Lap Assessed	Flag
Anthony Alfredo	Pre-Race to the Rear Engine Change	Tail End	0	0	White
Blaine Perkins	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments	Tail End	0	0	White
Timmy Hill	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	5	7	Yellow
Stefan Parsons	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	6	7	Yellow
Stefan Parsons	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	9	12	Yellow
Kyle Sieg	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	9	12	Yellow
Sheldon Creed	Unspecified Pulling out of line on the restart	Pass Thru	12	16	Green
Derek Kraus	Tire violation	Tail End	48	52	Yellow
Sammy Smith	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	48	52	Yellow
Joey Gase	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	49	52	Yellow
JJ Yeley	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	103	0	Yellow
Myatt Snider	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	138	142	Yellow
Brett Moffitt	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	139	142	Yellow
Brandon Jones	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	139	142	Yellow
Chris Hacker	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	171	175	Green
Connor Mosack	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	183	0	Yellow
Chris Hacker	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	185	0	Yellow
Stefan Parsons	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	197	0	Yellow

Dabble in Draftkings or Fan Duel?

My OWNER Subscription has these DFS tools:
Dominator Points Cheatsheet.
Salary Cap Calculator.
Season Salary Trends.
Points by Track.
Points by Start Position.
Season Points Trend.
Points by Race.
Season Boxscore.

Race Weekend Links

New links are added as the race weekend progresses.

Race Fast Facts

Phoenix Raceway
NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship
Race Winner: Cole Custer
Age: 25
Team : No. 00 - Haas Automation Ford
Owner: Stewart Haas Racing
Crew Chief: Jonathan Toney
Cole Custer won the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship race, his 13th victory in 143 Xfinity Series races.
This is his third victory and 21st top-10 finish in 2023.
This is his first victory and sixth top-10 finish in eight races at Phoenix Raceway.
Sheldon Creed (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in five races at Phoenix Raceway. It is his 15th top-10 finish in 2023.
Justin Allgaier (third) posted his 18th top-10 finish in 27 races at Phoenix Raceway.
Chandler Smith (eighth) was the highest finishing rookie.
Cole Custer wins the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship.
Sammy Smith has won the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors.
Chevrolet has won the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Manufacturer's Championship.
Driver Champion: Cole Custer
Team: No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford
Cole Custer has won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series championship; his previous best finish in the final series standings was runner-up (twice) in 2018 and 2019.
Custer has become the 33rd different driver to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship.
Custer has won the season finale at Phoenix Raceway to claim the NASCAR Xfinity Series title.
Custer made 33 starts this season, posting three wins, 14 top fives, 21 top 10s and six poles.
In the Playoffs this season, Custer has posted one win, four top fives, five top 10s and two poles in seven starts.
In total, Custer has made 143 starts in the Xfinity Series career, putting up 13 wins, 55 top fives, 96 top 10s and 18 poles.
Custer, from Ladera Ranch, California has become the third NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from the state of California; joining Kevin Harvick (Bakersfield, 2001 and 2006) and Tyler Reddick (Corning, 2018 and 2019).
Owner Champion: Tony Stewart & Gene Haas, Stewart-Haas Racing
This is Stewart-Haas Racing’s first NASCAR Xfinity Series driver championship (2023).
This is Stewart-Haas Racing’s second owner championship (2018, 2023).
Stewart-Haas Racing is the 20th different organization to win a driver championship in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (2023), and one of 18 different organizations to win an owners championship (2018, 2023).
Stewart-Haas Racing has 22 wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series among three drivers – Cole Custer (11 wins), Chase Briscoe (nine wins) and Riley Herbst (one win).
Stewart-Haas Racing began its NASCAR Xfinity Series program in 2017 at Daytona International Speedway with driver Cole Custer.
Crew Chief Champion: Jonathan Toney
This is Jonathan Toney’s first career NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in his first full season of competition in the series.
Toney is the 31st different crew chief to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.
Toney has won three times in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, all with Cole Custer.

Race Recap

Cole Custer claims NASCAR Xfinity title after electrifying overtime restart

November 4th, 2023

By Reid Spencer - NASCAR Wire Service

After an overtime restart that saw title contenders engage in a breathtaking three-wide battle down the backstretch, Cole Custer deftly negotiated a tightly bunched pack of cars to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship race and the series title on Saturday at Phoenix Raceway.

The victory was the third of the season for Custer, who returned to full-time Xfinity Series racing this year after a lackluster three-year stint in the NASCAR Cup Series that produced a single victory.

But Custer proved his mettle after slipping from first to third in the running order moments after the final restart. Championship 4 driver John Hunter Nemechek held a fleeting lead but couldn’t turn his No. 20 Toyota in Turn 1 and lost the top spot to title contender Just Allgaier.

Custer steered his No. 00 Stewart Haas Racing Ford to the inside of Allgaier’s Chevrolet as the three championship hopefuls raced side-by-side down the backstretch before Custer emerged with the lead. A lap later, Custer crossed the finish line 0.601 seconds ahead of charging Sheldon Creed and another 0.007 seconds ahead of Allgaier to win for the first time at Phoenix and the 13th time in his career.

“I thought it was over,” said Custer, who had two previous runner-up finishes in the series standings. “I mean, went from first to third, and I was able to shift the car all night. And Doug Yates horsepower worked out, pulled me off the corner. I can't believe we won that thing after going back to third on that restart.

“Man, I can't say enough about these guys (his Stewart Haas team). We started the year off and it was a struggle, and we had to kind of dig deep with each other, really talk about how to get better and to see how much this group has grown through the year.

“I've been waiting to hear (congratulations from Xfinity Series director) Wayne (Auton) on the radio for a few times now, so I'm pumped.”

Allgaier spun underneath Nemechek on Lap 3 and worked his way back to the front from 38th in the running order, but Custer had the superior car on short runs and proved it after the final restart.

“I don't know if I'll get another shot at it again next year,” said the 37-year-old Allgaier. “We at least will have a shot at it, but I don't know if we'll make it. But so proud of the effort of this team and what we were able to accomplish. The restart was fantastic. I thought we did everything right.

“The 20 (Nemechek) kind of missed the bottom and drove all the way up, and honestly, I was afraid I was going to run into the back of him. When I tried to turn back down the hill, it just was enough to let the 00 (Custer) get back to my inside and ultimately getting down into Turn 3...

“I don't know, I'm going to replay this one back in my head a couple times. I drove in there pretty deep and just kind of washed up. The 00 had the turning car all night, and we were just a little bit too free.”

Riley Herbst ran fourth on Saturday, followed by title contender Sam Mayer. Nemechek, a series-best seven-time winner this season, suffered a flat tire after the final restart, slammed the outside wall and finished 28th.

“Drove in, and it didn't turn,” Nemechek said of Turn 1 after the final restart. “I don't know if we had a right front (tire) start going down or what exactly it was, but just drove in and didn't turn.

“Toyota GR Supra was really fast, but drive down, it doesn't turn, it's not a very good thing. Then once we got pinched in the fence there off of (Turn) 2, it kind of hurt the right sides even more. I think we had a right rear start going down, as well.

“It sucks to end up where we finished. Had a really strong effort all day. Proud of this whole 20 crew. Proud of this whole group. Just sucks to end our season this way, but overall, a really successful season for this 20 team, Joe Gibbs Racing. Was proud to be behind the wheel of this 20 car all year, and seven wins is a lot to be proud of.”

In a race that produced eight cautions for a total of 46 laps, Custer led 96 of 202 laps to 66 for Nemechek.

Josh Berry, Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, pole winner Sammy Smith and Kaz Grala completed the top 10.