Information By: ASHLYN SISKE / STEWART-HAAS RACING – DAYTONA BEACH, FL
STEWART-HAAS RACING
United Rentals 300
Date: Feb. 19, 2024
Event: United Rentals 300 (Round 1 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
Format: 120 laps, broken into three stages (30 laps/30 laps/60 laps)
Race Winner: Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Jesse Love of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
SHR Race Finish:
● Riley Herbst (Started 11th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 120 of 120 laps)
● Cole Custer (Started 17th, Finished 13th / Running, completed 120 of 120 laps)
SHR Points:
● Riley Herbst (3rd with 35 points, 24 out of first)
● Cole Custer (9th with 31 points, 28 out of first)
SHR Notes:
● Herbst earned his fifth top-10 in 10 career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Daytona.
● Herbst finished seventh in Stage 2 to earn four bonus points.
● Herbst led twice for eight laps to increase his laps-led total at Daytona to 35.
● Custer earned his fifth top-15 in nine career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Daytona.
● Custer finished fourth in Stage 2 to earn seven bonus points.
● Custer led once for six laps to increase his laps-led total at Daytona to 16.
Race Notes:
● Austin Hill won the United Rentals 300 to score his seventh career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory and his third at Daytona. His margin over second-place Sheldon Creed was .591 of a second.
● There were nine caution periods for a total of 44 laps.
● Twenty-two of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
● Hill leaves Daytona as the championship leader with an 11-point advantage over second-place Creed.
Sound Bites:
“You can look at any restart today in the 500 and everybody gives the leader the right, the edge, because that is what they earned as the leader. I did the same thing I’ve done my whole life restarting on the front row and gave the leader the opportunity to fire first. I saw his nose pick up and I went off that. We raced for I think a whole lap and a half and then there was a caution and NASCAR called that I laid back to my teammate on the restart.” – Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
“We were leading the line and somebody hit me in the back and I got turned in the fence. It’s just a product of everybody pushing and sometimes you just get pushed wrong. But before that, I feel like it was pretty impressive how the Fords worked together. That green-flag pit stop was one of the best ones I’ve ever seen us work together and still keep the lead. It was definitely a good day for the Fords and showed a lot of promise. We just have to keep it going. I think these superspeedways you never know what’s gonna happen, but we did everything we could all day.” – Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the RAPTOR King of Tough 250 on Saturday, Feb. 24 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race begins at 5 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.