2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Sixteen New Hampshire

Cars in field: 38
Pole: Cole Custer (00)
Outside Pole: Chandler Smith (81)
Stages: 45-45-110
Weather: Rain, 64°F, Wind E 2 mph, Gusts 3 mph

PRN initially reported rain when their broadcast began. They also said NASCAR is deciding whether to have the cars put on rain tires. They have brought the field to pit road at 1504 eastern. After calling them rain tires for a segment they return from commercial break and say that NASCAR has approved the wet weather tires and that NASCAR has been very careful to NOT call them rain tires.

That’s always the bad thing about this time of the season. Generally I prefer not to listen to PRN broadcasts, but during the NBC portion of the season I’m without a viable alternative. The NBC broadcasts are more objectionable with only Rick Allen sounding like someone who should be talking on television and only Parker Kligerman sounding like someone who knows something about racing. Such is life.

Competition caution on lap 10 of 200 to allow, according to PRN, NASCAR to determine if they’ll keep the wet weather tires or switch to the slicks.

Doug Rice felt the need to “editorialize” about NASCAR starting the event on wet weather tires and how much time it saved, rather than having them wait until the track was totally dry. He claims he will be retiring from on-air at some point this year. We’ve been hearing about it for so long I’ve gotten into the ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ frame of mind. Generally when I listen to Doug Rice on PRN broadcasts, I find myself quoting the character Bobby Singer from Supernatural, “Don’t you ever get tired of being wrong?”.

Someone – one of the turn announcers I believe – apparently encountered Justin Bonsignore’s surname for the first time. What a mess. He didn’t know what to do with it and tried multiple starts before completely massacring the name. Justin Bonsignore is a multiple-time championship winning driver in the NASCAR Whelen Modified series.

Caution on lap 28 of 200 for Patrick Emerling (07) stopped on the track. PRN says Patrick gave up some administrative duties to concentrate on racing, but has had a hard sled of it this season.

Caution on lap 34 of 200 for a spin by Parker Kligerman (48).

Turns out Mark Garrow stumbles over Justin Bonsignore’s surname, while Doug Rice mangles it. Apparently few of the PRN guys have ever watched a Whelen Modified race, nor have they talked to Justin, nor have they listened when people who follow the series talked to Justin and said his name. Sad. Once upon a time the people in the professional media could be depended upon to find out the correct pronunciation of a competitor’s name and relay it to a listening audience. I guess the days of knowledgeable professional broadcasters have been consumed by the current time of ‘Influencers’. So far, it has been my experience that Influencers demonstrate the old saying ‘the blind leading the blind’.

Sam Mayer (1) wins stage one.

PRN’s Doug Rice reports Armani Williams (6), in 22nd position, is NASCAR’s first autistic driver proving anybody can do anything if they really put their mind to it. In all the times I’ve seen Armani Williams race, that’s the first time I’ve heard that Armani is “autistic”, or as people say these days, on the autism spectrum.

Now that Justin Bonsignore is running in second position on lap 73 of 200 they seemed to have come to a consensus on how to pronounce his name. They also mentioned he won the earlier Whelen Modified race today.

Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) cruises to a stage two win 4.172 ahead of Justin Bonsignore (19) in second position.

Terrible pit stop for Justin Allgaier (7) – trouble on right side, the lugnuts fell off on the front left, he started to leave, backed up in the stall, then was finally waved out. He finished the stage in sixth position and will restart around 24th place.

The Cup race green flag have been moved up to 1406 eastern tomorrow due to anticipated bad weather.

Cole Custer (00) beat Christopher ‘CBell’ Bell (20) off pit road and leads the field to the green flag on lap 98 of 200.

Caution on lap 100 of 200 for a spin by Armani Williams (6).

Justin Bonsignore (19) is still in the top five, so his name continues to get mangled every third time PRN’s Doug Rice and one of the turn announcers attempt to say it.

PRN reports on lap 113 of 200 that Armani Williams (6) is very slow on the track, though he is ‘under power’. TV isn’t showing Williams. they’re instead showing a replay of some car getting loose at some point in the event.

And still listening to the mess that is the PRN broadcast is exponentially better than listening to the combo-whine of Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte.

PRN is reading the graphic NBCSports just had onscreen about Justin Bonsignore’s accomplishments.

Doug Rice says there’s a lot of talk around the garage that Gene Haas may use the Cup charter SHR will retain to put Cole Custer (00) back in the Cup series. Custer must have a sponsor deal/relationship like Aric Almirola’s that will allow him to race as long as he wants to.

NASCAR Digital states green flag pit stops are underway as Ryan Sieg (39) pits on lap 141 of 200. The television broadcast is showing a couple of cars racing for eighth position.

CBell (20) pits on lap 148 of 200.

Custer (00) follows him in on lap 149 of 200 along with Justin Bonsignore (19).

All of the teams appear to be making green flag pit stops around lap 150 of 200.

‘Justin Signore’…Doug Rice’s latest trampling of Justin Bonsignore’s name.

The Junior Motorsports (JRM) drivers have stayed out and are running first to third. Carson Kvapil (88) is followed by teammate Brandon Jones (9), and Alex Bowman (17). Alex may be officially a Hendrick Motorsports car, but JRM is closely aligned with HMS.

This morning’s race was Justin’s third NH win. He passed his cousin, Kyle Bonsignore, on his way to the win. Doug Rice mangled Justin and Kyle’s names differently while telling that story. Mark Garrow tries to say it correctly after Rice murders the name.

Alex Bowman pits under green and gets dinged for an uncontrolled tire and will have to serve a pass-through penalty.

Carson Kvapil (88) comes in on lap 167 of 200 for his green flag pit stop.

Caution on lap 168 of 200 for Armani Williams (6) tagging the wall. His right side tires are down. I’m not sure if its from the spin and wreck – watching it in slo-mo replay, he seemed to have both tires up as he’s sliding with the nose on the inside wall.

Custer (00) and CBell (20) pit along with Chandler Smith (81), Parker Kligerman (48), Sammy Smith (8), Austin Hill (21), Sheldon Creed (18), Justin Bonsignore (19), Riley Herbst (98) and Justin Allgaier (7) among others.

Doug Rice says NASCAR bought itself about an extra half hour which means they may get in the race tomorrow since he’s pretty sure they will have weather tomorrow and the track doesn’t have lights.

Restarting on lap 174 of 200 with Jesse Love (2), Carson Kvapil (88), Cole Custer (00), CBell (20), Chandler Smith (81), and Parker Kligerman (48) up front.

Carson Kvapil (88) gets the early lead.

Caution on lap 176 of 200 as Chandler Smith (81) goes around in front of the field off someone’s bumper. The camera shot was so high I couldn’t tell who he spun off of. Watching the television replay, that’s at a relatively normal height, I can see Chandler was underneath Sheldon Creed (18) in the inside lane and lost the back-end, going around. Luckily no one hit him while he was sitting across the track.

Restarting on lap 181 of 200 with Carson Kvapil (88) and Cole Custer (00) up front followed by CBell (20), Jesse Love (2), Sheldon Creed (18), Justin Bonsignore (19), Sammy Smith (8), Justin Allgaier (7), Parker Kligerman (48), Austin Hill (21), and Ryan Sieg (39).

Doug Rice mangled Justin’s name trying to give him a shout out.

Caution on lap 181 of 200 for a crash including Sam Mayer (1), Austin Hill (21), Riley Herbst (98), Justin Bonsignore (19), Shane Van Gisbergen (97), AJ Allmendinger (16). NBC doesn’t have a decent camera shot of the incident. PRN hoped they would be able to see what happened watching the replays, but can’t see. Justin Bonsignore (19) went around, as did Mayer (1), but there isn’t a decent camera shot showing what really happened. Kyle Weatherman, Alex Bowman also get damage.

Mark Garrow asked Doug Rice if he had dinner reservations because he misstated the number of laps remaining in the event. I was wondering the same thing since he has been talking about the end of the race from early in the event.

PRN says Cole Custer has led 100 laps of this event on lap 187 of 200.

Restarting on lap 187 of 200 with Cole Custer (00), Carson Kvapil (88), Christopher Bell (20), Jesse Love (2), Sheldon Creed (18), Justin Allgaier (7), Parker Kligerman (48), Sammy Smith (8), Ryan Sieg (39) and Riley Herbst (98) up front.

Cole Custer gets the early lead.

Cauton on lap 189 of 200 for a crash involving Hailie Deegan (15) and Nathan Byrd (92). Byrd’s read end is wrapped around the left side of the car. Again it appears NBC doesn’t have a decent shot of the incident to show what sent Byrd around and heading toward the outside wall. Deegan clipped Byrd’s rear-end doing the damage visible there.

Doug Rice is saying everything but Sheldon Creed is not a good enough driver to be in the Xfinity series. He mentioned liking him and said he was a pretty good driver, but Ryan Truex who isn’t a ‘mainstay’ of the Xfinity series gets in one of the JGR cars and wins. Now he’s saying it was a half-hour ago we were 12 laps to go, now we have 9 laps to go. Seriously Rice – dinner reservations, or a hot date?

Restarting on lap 194 of 200 with Cole Custer (00), Christopher Bell (20), Sheldon Creed (18), Justin Allgaier (7), Carson Kvapil (88), Parker Kligerman (48), Ryan Sieg (39), Jesse Love (2), Sammy Smith (8) and Riley Herbst (98) up front.

Custer gets the early lead. CBell catches him in turn three and they’re racing door-to-door.

Caution on lap 195 of 200 for an incident involving Mason Massey (14) and Hailie Deegan (15). The right door of the 43 of Ryan Ellis is peeled open. Looks like Massey got Chandler Smith’d sending him around. I’m guessing on the car that sent Mason Massey around, because, as usual, NBC doesn’t have a decent shot of the incident.

Doug Rice says he’s not upset at all that they have to stay a little later.

Restarting in overtime on lap 201 of 203 with Cole Custer (00), Christopher Bell (20), Sheldon Creed (18), Justin Allgaier (7), Carson Kvapil (88), Parker Kligerman (48), Ryan Sieg (39), Riley Herbst (98), and Alex Bowman (17) up front. Sheldon Creed chose to not lineup behind his teammate Christopher Bell.

Custer gets the early lead.

Creed gets to second.

Bell is on the inside in turn two taking them three-wide.

They – Creed, Custer, Bell – are three wide coming across the line for the white flag.

Christopher Bell (20) has the lead coming to the flag. He wins, finishing 0.254 seconds ahead of Sheldon Creed (18).

Justin Allgaier (7) finished fourth.

Carson Kvapil (88) finished fifth.

Something happened with Justin Allgaier coming to the race that the PRN pit reporter calls a scary incident.

Cole Custer says it really stings. He said he really wanted to win that one. He led 114 of 203 laps.

PRN says this is Sheldon Creed’s third runner-up finish this season. Sheldon Creed has tied for the most runner-up finishes without a win. He said it was a stat he didn’t want to win. Brian Scott, and Stacy Compton are tied for second place with four runner-up finishes before a win.

Doug Rice just came up with a different way to say Justin Bonsignore as he’s doing the rundown of the finish.

CBell just out-drove them. He is a better driver than both Sheldon and Custer and the final laps proved it.

The majority of the event was boring. Only the last 20 laps were worth watching. That said, the last restart, in overtime, was exciting, hard racing – very worth watching.

Justin Allgaier said, in his television interview, they started the weekend with an engine on the airplane blowing up then the wheels just fell off. He said they brought a very good car when asked what allowed him to drive back up to the front after having the bad pit stop. Allgaier said they saw a little bit of smoke on the broadcast and decided to come down pit road to look at it, and that it wasn’t the right call in the end because nothing was leaking. He continued, saying that he’s been in this game long enough to know you say everything is alright then twenty laps later you’re sitting in the garage.

Carson Kvapil (88) said he did his first green flag stop today. He added that if you would’ve asked him if he would’ve been happy with a top five finish he would’ve said yes, but being that close to the front at the end, of course he wanted to win the race.

Congrats to Ryan Sieg (39) on a sixth place finish.

Parker Kligerman (48) said it was a hard fought seventh place finish. He said they finished three-wide smashing doors with Alex Bowman and Riley Herbst. Parker said they got spun in every stage at some point.

Justin Bonsignore, 36 years old, finished 23 after getting caught up in the crash, on lap 175 of 200, late in the race. Marty Snider said Justin was apologizing throughout the race. He said if you’re in a JGR car you’re expected to perform even though it was his first time there. He said he hopes they can put something together for another race. He also said he hopes it shows the Modified series and the national series, that they can do well in these cars.

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2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Sixteen New Hampshire

Next Race: Nashville

GO 7 & 97!!!!