SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Anticipation had been building up for NASCAR’s return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, and Saturday’s (July 20) Xfinity Series race was an absolute thriller that more than delivered.
The Stewart-Haas Racing duo of Cole Custer and Riley Herbst had been the dominant cars of the day, as the pair combined to lead 77 of the race’s 100 laps. It was Custer in the lead following the final restart of the race with 11 laps to go, but Herbst began reeling him in for the lead as the laps ticked down to zero.
The two were bumper-to-bumper with two to go, and their battle for the lead allowed Aric Almirola to make a three-wide pass on the outside to lead the white flag lap.
As the field rounded turn 1 for the final time, Almirola was clear to the lead with Herbst second and Custer third. But Almirola fell into the clutches of the No. 98 on the backstretch, which allowed Herbst to execute the pass for the win in turn 3 and cruise to the yard of bricks as Almirola and Custer were left fighting for second.
“We had speed all year and I felt like we could win, but I just messed up on the restarts a little bit,” Herbst told NBC after the finish. “It was a good fight. I thought I had Cole clear, and then he slid bottom of three with [Almirola] and I thought it was going to be tough. I just continued to work.
“It has been a pretty tough week on me mentally to be honest with you. I am proud of these guys and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. Obviously, the news of us shutting down, these guys could have given up on me, gone to different teams, but they stuck behind me. …
“I am going to go drink beer and turn my phone off for three weeks.”
Indy marked the first time Almirola was in a Joe Gibbs Racing Xfinity car since early May, and while he made all the right moves at the end of race, he didn’t have the power to keep the SHR duo at bay.
“It was great to get back in the car,” Almirola said. “These guys always bring fast race cars to the racetrack every week and have a shot to win every time you get in it. Came up so close. Man, two corners away, but the Stewart-Haas cars, they were the class of the field all day. Happy for Riley and Davin [Restivo] (crew chief) and all of those guys, those guys work really hard.
And while Herbst did make contact with the No. 20 car in turn 3 on the final lap, Almirola took zero issue with it.
“It was fair racing, what [Riley] did,” Almirola…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at …