KANSAS CITY, Kans. — Aric Almirola passed Cole Custer for the lead with four laps to go to win Saturday’s Xfinity playoff opener at Kansas Speedway.
Custer finished second, the highest finisher among the playoff drivers. Chandler Smith, a playoff driver, was third. Connor Zilisch was fourth. Playoff driver Sheldon Creed finished fifth.
MORE: Kansas results
MORE: Driver points after Kansas
After the race, Riley Herbst and Austin Hill spoke for about two minutes on pit road. Hill turned Herbst on the last lap of the second stage.
“Sorry doesn’t cut it, obviously,” Hill told the CW Network. “He lost stage points there. There was nothing intentional. Nothing malicious.”
Hill told Herbst he was looking in his mirror, seeking to move up the track and block Creed when they made contact.
“It is just frustrating because I feel out of everyone in the garage me and Austin race each other really hard but really clean,” Herbst said. “We make it difficult on each other but we have fun doing it. We don’t lay fenders. But I feel like he slipped and got into my left rear and spun us out. That was a frustrating day.”
#NASCAR … Austin Hill and Riley Herbst talked to for about 2 minutes after the race about the contact from Hill that spun Herbst at the end of the second stage. Here is part of that conversation that ended with them fist bumping. pic.twitter.com/e7C2hjza2I
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) September 28, 2024
Custer was upset with how Smith raced him as they dueled for the lead for several laps. Smith passed him for the lead with 45 laps to go, squeezing Custer into the wall and then spent several laps holding off Custer.
“After I got back in front of (Custer) there, made an aggressive move to get back by him, I got control of the race, drove off,” Smith said. “I knew he was going to come back. I knew he was going to catch me. It was just a matter of that time period I was trying to come up with a quick game plan. How am I going to keep this guy behind me?
“At the end of the day we’re racing for the championship. ... It’s not the regular season. I’m not just going to move over and give him more room than I usually would. We’re racing for the win. That advances us to the next round. With two wildcard races coming up, this race was definitely really key for us. I did what I could for the 81 group.”
Said Custer after the race about Smith: “Yeah, I am just sick of getting cleared and him just driving me into the fence. He didn’t have me clear and just drove me into the fence. It is just a joke. I told him that if he is going to race me like a clown, I am going to race him like a clown.”
Custer got by Smith with 10 laps to go but could not hold off Almirola, who overcame a cut tire earlier in the race.
Stage 1 winner: Aric Almirola
Stage 2 winner: Sam Mayer
Who had a good race: Cole Custer (second) has placed in the top 2 in five of the last nine races. ... Chandler Smith (third) has had six consecutive top 10s. ... Connor Zilisch (fourth) has placed in the top five in both of his Xfinity races. ... Shane van Gisbergen (eighth) scored his first top 10 at a 1.5-mile track.
Who had a bad race: Justin Allgaier had contact with Sheldon Creed that sent Allgaier down the track into the inside wall. After some repairs, Allgaier returned to the track but the left front tire blew, sending him into the wall and ending his day. He finished 36th.
Next: The second race of the opening round of the playoffs will take place Saturday, Oct. 5 at Talladega Superspeedway (4 p.m. ET on CW Network)