Christopher Bell holds on to Xfinity Series victory at Darlington: Christopher Bell survived a near-disaster with Cole Custer on the first lap of overtime and held on to win Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 over Custer and snakebit Sheldon Creed.(Read more)(8-31-2024)

In dominant fashion, #20-Christopher Bell won the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway. Bell led 108 of 150 laps, but needed an overtime restart to get ahead of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate #18-Sheldon Creed, whose team had a slow pit stop and dropped two spots. This is Bell’s second win in as many starts this season. It’s the #20 team’s seventh victory in 23 races.
#00-Cole Custer finished second, with #18-Creed falling to third. #17-Chase Elliott took the checkered flag in fourth as #8-Sammy Smith rounded out the top five.
#2-Jesse Love, #97-Shane van Gisbergen, #81-Chandler Smith, #21-Austin Hill and #7-Justin Allgaier completed the top 10.
Bell won the opening stage. Creed scored his first stage of the season in Stage 2.
There were 12 lead changes among four drivers and six cautions for 29 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 110.940 mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.

Darlington Paint Schemes

Race Fast Facts – Darlington:
Christopher Bell won the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200, his 19th victory in 79 Xfinity Series races.
This is his second victory and second top-10 finish in 2024.
This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in four races at Darlington Raceway.
Cole Custer (second) posted his seventh top-10 finish in seven races at Darlington Raceway. It is his 17th top-10 finish in 2024.
Sheldon Creed (third) posted his fourth top-10 finish in six races at Darlington Raceway.
Jesse Love (sixth) was the highest finishing rookie.
Justin Allgaier leads the point standings by 28 points over Cole Custer

Xfinity Series Standings after Darlington(Race 23 of 33):
1))#7-Justin Allgaier (2 wins, regular season championship leader)
2)#97-Shane van Gisbergen (3 wins)
3)#21-Austin Hill (2 wins)
4)#81-Chandler Smith (2 wins)
5)#1-Sam Mayer (2 wins)
6)#00-Cole Custer (1 win)
7)#98-Riley Herbst (1 win)
8)#2-Jesse Love (1 win)
9)#18-Sheldon Creed 704, +109
10)#16-AJ Allmendinger 700, +105
11)#48-Parker Kligerman 639, +44
12)#8-Sammy Smith 605, +10
Currently below elimination line
13)#39-Ryan Sieg 595, -10
14)#9-Brandon Jones 473, -132
See the Drivers Points Standings and Owners Points Standings.

Race Updates:
Lap 150: #20-Bell hangs on for the win, his second in two races this season. #00-Custer, #18-Creed, #17-Elliott, #8-Smith, #2-Love, #97-van Gisbergen, #81-Smith, #21-Hill and #21-Allgaier round out the top 10.
Lap 148: #20-Bell and #00-Custer make contact on the backstretch for the lead; Bell escapes with the lead.
Lap 145: #20-Bell wins the race off pit road. #00-Custer, #18-Creed, #8-Smith and #2-Love are the top five. Creed’s team was slow changing the right-rear tire and dropped two spots.
Lap 142: #16-Allmendinger cut a right-front tire after contact with #00-Custer and clobbers the Turn 1 wall.
Lap 138: #18-Creed gets #20-Bell loose in Turns 1 and 2 to take the lead with nine laps remaining.
Lap 134: #18-Creed has cut the deficit to under one second.
lap 127: #20-Bell leads #18-Creed by 1.5 seconds after stretching the lead earlier in the run to nearly four seconds.
Lap 111: #26-Heim makes another unscheduled pit stop for a flat right-front tire.
Lap 102: #18-Creed lets #21-Hill by for second to get a piece of debris off his grille with water temps climbing to over 265 degrees.
Lap 97: #20-Bell overdrives Turn 3 to surge ahead of #18-Creed for the race lead.
Lap 90: #18-Creed wins his first stage of the season, barely ahead of #20-Bell. #16-Allmendinger, #8-Smith, #7-Allgaier, #00-Custer, #21-Hill, #48-Kligerman, #30-Gragson and #17-Elliott all earn stage points.
Lap 88: #26-Heim makes an unscheduled pit stop for a possible flat tire.
Lap 80: #16-Allmendinger reports smoke in the cockpit while running in third position.
Lap 76: #20-Bell went to lap #07-Van Alst and makes contact, costing him the lead to #18-Creed.
Lap 58: #20-Bell passes his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate #18-Creed to re-take the lead.
Lap 52: #91-Weatherman had a right-front tire go flat and pancaked the outside wall. #18-Creed grabbed the lead on the restart.
Lap 45: #20-Bell wins the opening stage. #21-Hill, #16-Allmendinger, #48-Kligerman, #18-Creed, #8-Smith, #7-Allgaier, #14-Finchum, #00-Custer and #81-Smith score stage points.
Lap 44: #97-van Gisbergen gets into the rear of #9-Jones, who spins into the inside wall on the backstretch.
Lap 39: #1-Mayer has a flat left-rear tire and spins on the apron of the track.
Lap 30: Caution is out for debris in Turn 3.
Lap 28: #1-Mayer makes a slide job on #20-Bell to get the lead.
Lap 22: #1-Mayer takes second place from #18-Creed. #20-Bell continues to lead by one second.
Lap 16: #5-Alfredo hit the wall in Turns 1 and 2 and has a flat right-side tire.
Lap 14: #98-Herbst pounded the outside wall and has a flat right-front tire.
Lap 12: #15-Logano has smoke billowing from the pipes with an engine expire.
Lap 11: #15-Logano smacks the wall in Turn 3 while racing #92-Chastain.
Lap 8: #29-Perkins has gone to the garage.
Lap 5: The caution comes out with #31-Retzlaff stalled on pit road with no power.
Lap 1: #20-Bell leads the opening lap. #31-Retzlaff missed a shift and goes to pit road.

Cars to the rear: none report #2-Jesse Love, #14-Chad Finchum, #38-Matt DiBenedetto and #42-Leland Honeyman Jr. (unapproved adjustments)

Pit Stall Selections

Making just his second Xfinity Series start of the 2024 season, #20-Christopher Bell wins the pole for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200. Bell’s speed of 164.865 mph was nearly a tenth of a second faster than the field.
Joe Gibbs Racing sweeps the front row, with #18-Sheldon Creed turning the second quickest time (164.331 mph). #1-Sam Mayer (164.111 mph), #16-AJ Allmendinger (163.272 mph) and #81-Chandler Smith (163.056 mph) round out the top five.
#21-Austin Hill, #9-Brandon Jones, #98-Riley Herbst, #31-Parker Retzlaff and #48-Parker Kligerman complete the top 10.
Did Not Qualify: #74-Dawson Cram.
See the complete Darlington Starting Lineup.

Qualifying Fast Facts – Darlington:
Christopher Bell(i) won the Pole Award for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 with a lap of 29.828 seconds, 164.865 mph.
This is his 13th pole in 79 NASCAR Xfinity Series races.
This is his first pole and first top-10 start in 2024.
This is his first pole in four races at Darlington Raceway.
Sheldon Creed (second) posted his 17th top-10 start of 2024 and his fifth in six races at Darlington Raceway.
Sam Mayer (third) posted his fifth top-10 start at Darlington Raceway. It is his 12th in 23 races this season.
Jesse Love (23rd) was the fastest qualifying rookie

Qualifying Order

Practice for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway is complete. The top five, slowest, news and notes:
#21-Austin Hill 163.848 mph
#30-Noah Gragson 163.603 mph
#31-Parker Retzlaff 163.522 mph
#9-Brandon Jones 163.407 mph
#26-Corey Heim 163.261 mph
Slowest: #14-Chad Finchum 154.166 mph
Most laps run: 30-Gragson, 15-Joey Logano, 20-Christopher Bell, 19-Joe Graf Jr. and #18-Sheldon Creed all ran 27 laps.
Notes: #17-Chase Elliott had a flat right-rear tire.
See full Darlington Practice Results.

Crew Rosters

Goodyear Tire Notes

There are 39 drivers/teams on the entry list for the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway. One car will miss the race.
Notables: #07-Greg Van Alst, #14-Chad Finchum, #15-Joey Logano, #17-Chase Elliott, #19-Joe Graf Jr., #20-Christopher Bell, #26-Corey Heim, #30-Noah Gragson #35-Joey Gase, #45-Garrett Smithley, #74-Dawson Cram, #88-Carson Kvapil, #92-Ross Chastain.
See the full Darlington Entry List.

Darlington At-Track Schedule