The 2023 Contender Boats 300 was the 31st stock car race of the

2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series The 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series was the 42nd season of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season started with the 2023 Beef. It's What's for Dinner. 300, Beef. It's What's fo ...

, the second race of the Round of 8, and the 29th iteration of the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

. The race washeld on Saturday, October 21, 2023, in

Homestead, Florida Homestead is a city within Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in the United States, U.S. state of Florida, between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west. Homestead is primarily a Miami suburb and ...

Homestead–Miami Speedway Homestead–Miami Speedway (formerly known as the Homestead Motorsports Complex from 1995 to 1998) is a oval-shaped Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Homestead, Florida. It has hosted various major auto racing series thr ...

, a permanent oval shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. In a wild finish,

Sam Mayer Samuel Adam Mayer (born June 26, 2003) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Haas Factory Team. His father is the founder of QPS Em ...

, driving for

JR Motorsports JR Motorsports (pronounced "Junior Motorsports") is an American professional stock car racing team based in Mooresville, North Carolina, co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kelley Earnhardt Miller, L. W. Miller, L.W. Miller, and Rick Hendrick. It c ...

, would take the lead in the late stages of the race, and held off a fast-charging

Riley Herbst Riley Dederick Kern Herbst (born February 24, 1999) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 35 Toyota Camry (XV80), Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing and part-time in the ...

in the closing laps to earn his fourth career

NASCAR Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level NASCAR Cup Series, Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a Undercard, support ...

win, his fourth of the season, and his first win on an oval track. He would also earn a spot in the Championship 4.

Cole Custer Cole Matthew Custer (born January 23, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 41 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Haas Factory Team. H ...

would dominate the majority of the race, winning the first stage and leading a race-high 114 laps, until hitting the wall and blowing a tire in the late stages. To fill out the podium, Herbst, driving for

Stewart–Haas Racing Stewart–Haas Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in both the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team was co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, founder ...

, and

John Hunter Nemechek John Hunter Nemechek (born June 11, 1997) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 42 Toyota Camry (XV80), Toyota Camry XSE for Legacy Motor Club. He is the son of NASCAR ...

, driving for

Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization founded by Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs. His son, J. D. Gibbs, ran the team with him until his death in 2019. Founded in Huntersville, North Carolina, ...

, would finish 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Background

is a

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

track located in

. The track, which has several configurations, has promoted several series of racing, including

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

, the

NTT IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

and the Grand-Am

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

. From 2002 to 2019, Homestead-Miami Speedway has hosted the final race of the season in all three of

's series: the

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

and

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock car racing, s ...

. The track has since held races on different dates in 2020 (June) and 2021 (February), which were both effected by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, before being moved back into the Playoffs as the second race of the Round of 8 in 2022, with the date being kept for 2023.

Entry list

* (R) denotes rookie driver. * (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points. * (P) denotes playoff driver. * (OP) denotes owner's playoffs car.

Practice

The first and only practice session was held on Friday, October 20, at 6:05 PM EST, and would last for 20 minutes.

, driving for

, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 32.964, and an average speed of .

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Friday, October 20, at 6:35 PM EST. Since

is an intermediate racetrack, the qualifying system used is a single-car, one-lap system with only one round. In that round, whoever sets the fastest time will win the pole.

, driving for

, would score the pole for the race, with a lap of 32.608, and an average speed of

Race results

Stage 1 ''Laps: 40'' Stage 2 ''Laps: 40'' Stage 3 ''Laps: 120''

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings *Note: Only the first 12 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

{{NASCAR on NBC NASCAR races at Homestead-Miami Speedway Contender Boats 300 Contender Boats 300 Contender Boats 300