The 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race was the 33rd and final 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 Championship 4 race, and the 25th 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 was held on Saturday, November 4, 2023, in

Avondale, Arizona Avondale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 89,334, up from 76,238 in 2010 and ...

Phoenix Raceway Phoenix Raceway (formerly known as ISM Raceway from 2018–2020, Phoenix International Raceway from 1964–1973 and 1976–2017, and FasTrack International Speedway from 1973–1976) is a Oval track racing#Unique shapes, dogleg oval track in A ...

, a permanent tri-oval shaped racetrack. The race was originally scheduled to be contested over 200 laps, but was increased to 202 laps, due to a

NASCAR overtime 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 ...

finish. In a wild overtime restart,

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 ...

, 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 ...

, took advantage of the lead, and held off the rest of the field to earn his 13th 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, and his third of the season. Custer also dominated the race, winning the second stage and leading a race-high 96 laps. To fill out the podium,

Sheldon Creed Sheldon Michael Creed (born September 30, 1997) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 00 Ford Mustang (seventh generation), Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Haas Factory ...

, driving for

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard C ...

, and

Justin Allgaier Justin Myrl Allgaier (born June 6, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet SS for JR Motorsports and part-time ...

, 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 ...

, finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively. In addition to winning the race, Custer also claimed the

championship, finishing in two positions ahead of his closest competitor,

. This was the first championship for Custer after previously finishing second in the standings from

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, and the first championship for

in the Xfinity Series.

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 ...

finished in fifth and ranked third in the championship.

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 ...

had dominated the early stages of the race, leading 66 laps and winning the first stage. He ultimately hit the wall on the final lap and finished 28th while running in the top five; he finished fourth in the championship.

Background

Phoenix Raceway – also known as PIR – is a one-mile, low-banked

tri-oval A tri-oval is a shape which derives its name from the two other shapes it most resembles, a triangle and an Oval (geometry), oval. Rather than meeting at sharp, definable angles as the sides of a triangle do, in a tri-oval these angles are instea ...

race track located in

. It is named after the nearby metropolitan area of Phoenix. The

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two

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 ...

race weekends annually. PIR has also hosted the

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 ...

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

, USAC and the

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 ...

. The raceway is currently owned and operated by

International Speedway Corporation International Speedway Corporation (ISC) was a corporation whose primary business was the ownership and management of motorsports race tracks. ISC was founded by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. in 1953 for the construction of Daytona International ...

. The raceway was originally constructed with a

road course Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily closed publi ...

that ran both inside and outside of the main tri-oval. In 1991 the track was reconfigured with the current interior layout. PIR has an estimated grandstand seating capacity of around 67,000. Lights were installed around the track in 2004 following the addition of a second annual NASCAR race weekend. Phoenix Raceway is home to two annual NASCAR race weekends, one of 13 facilities on the NASCAR schedule to host more than one race weekend a year. The track is both the first and last stop in the western United States, as well as the fourth and the last track on the schedule.

Championship drivers

advanced after winning at Homestead–Miami. *

advanced after winning at Martinsville. *

advanced by virtue of points. *

advanced by virtue of points.

Entry list

* (R) denotes rookie driver. * (i) denotes driver who is ineligible for series driver points. * (CC) denotes championship contender.

Practice

The first and only practice session was held on Friday, November 3, at 4:05 PM MST, and lasted for 50 minutes.

, 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, ...

, set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 27.679, and an average speed of .

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Saturday, November 4, at 12:30 PM MST. Since

is a mile oval, the qualifying system used was a single-car, one-lap system with only one round. In that round, whoever set the fastest time won the pole.

Sammy Smith Samuel L. Smith (born June 4, 2004) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet SS for JR Motorsports and part-time in t ...

, driving for

, scored the pole for the race, with a lap of 27.153, and an average speed of .

Race results

Stage 1 ''Laps: 45'' Stage 2 ''Laps: 45'' Stage 3 ''Laps: 110''

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 Phoenix Raceway

NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race The NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race is a NASCAR Xfinity Series event held at the Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. Since 2020, it has been the season-finale for the series. History The race was first run in 1999 as the Outback Steak ...