Entering Friday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway, Cole Custer needed a perfect storm to capture the regular-season championship.
With an extremely convincing victory, and some trouble for regular-season championship rival Justin Allgaier, things happened to work out just right for the defending series champion.
After putting the No. 00 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang Dark Horse out front for a race-high 104 of 300 laps, Custer was able to establish an advantage of more than one second and maintain it throughout the race’s final run.
The recovery for the Stewart-Haas Racing driver was immaculate, after cutting down a tire on the third lap of the event and making significant contact with the outside wall. Custer was able to continue after coming to the attention of his crew and having the damage repaired.
“Man, it’s just unbelievable. It’s a testament to these guys,” said Custer. “It’s been a really hard month, but everyone at the shop really kept their heads in it. I can’t thank High Point enough. It’s awesome to get them a win. Ford Performance. All the guys did such a great job. It was an unbelievable car all night. I’m ready to get to the playoffs.”
Custer managed to take the lead from Sheldon Creed just after the race’s final restart, after the driver of the No. 18 Toyota GR Supra had a slight bobble, allowing the blue and white No. 00 to sneak inside and begin his path to the checkered flag.
For the second straight weekend, and the 13th time in his NASCAR Xfinity Series career, Sheldon Creed finished in the runner-up position, coming up less than nine-tenths of a second short of scoring his first career victory in the second-tier series.
RESULTS: 2024 NXS Food City 300 at Bristol
After an incredibly hard-fought battle in the final laps with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sheldon Creed, Chandler Smith had to settle for a third-place finish after winning the pole and leading 29 laps.
Rookie of The Year contender Jesse Love brought home a fourth-place result in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway, while part-time driver Ryan Truex rounded out the top-five, after holding off JR Motorsports teammates Brandon Jones and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who ended up sixth and seventh.
Ryan Sieg finished eighth, but despite a spirited battle with Sammy Smith throughout the Summer months of the regular season, will not qualify for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. Sam Mayer and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top-10.
Justin Allgaier, who entered Friday’s event with a 43-point advantage on Cole Custer in the regular-season point standings, looked to have one of the fastest cars all evening long but ended up having a horrendous night.
It all started with an incident on Lap 53, where Austin Green cut down a tire and slammed the outside wall before coming down the racetrack and slicing the rear bumper cover off the back of the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro.
With no bumper on his racecar, Allgaier was driving through the field and making incredible time, until another incident, where contact with Sheldon Creed sent him nose-first into the inside wall. Then, while trying to fix the damage, Allgaier drove off a block the team had under the car trying to fix the splitter and ran over a saw, which just made a bad situation even worse.
Allgaier would finish a disappointing 30th on the night, picking up seven points, while Custer’s victory propelled him to the regular-season championship.
Cole Custer and Justin Allgaier will be joined by Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, Sheldon Creed, AJ Allmendinger, Jesse Love, Riley Herbst, Parker Kligerman, Sammy Smith, Shane Van Gisbergen, and Sam Mayer in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.
The 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff opener will take place at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, September 28. Coverage will begin at 4:00 PM ET on The CW.
