For Cole Custer, a promising day ended in frustration.
As Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race headed for overtime, Custer was fourth in the running order, lined up in the top lane behind race leader Austin Hill.
Hill had escaped pit road in the top spot, having taken seven-lap scuffed tires on the right side of his car.
Custer had four fresh tires and planned a move to the outside in Turns 1 and 2, but Hill, lacking grip, slid up in front of the defending series champion, bottling up the No. 00 Ford and costing him five positions before Parker Retzlaff’s crash on the first overtime lap forced a second extra period.
When the race restarted on Lap 212, Custer was seventh in the running order, too far back to make a move for the win. Justin Allgaier surrendered the lead to race winner Riley Herbst on the last overtime lap and secured his first series championship with a runner-up finish.
Custer came home eighth ahead of fellow Championship 4 drivers AJ Allmendinger and Hill and finished second in the final standings in his last Xfinity Series season—and the last season for Stewart-Haas Racing. Custer will move up to the NASCAR Cup Series with Haas Factory Team in 2025.
In defeat, Custer was characteristically gracious as the torch passed to Allgaier.
“I think any driver can do something a little bit different,” Custer said of the penultimate restart. “I tried to go high, I tried to go middle, I tried to go everywhere I could, but he (Hill) made his car pretty wide going into Turn 1—we’re all going for a championship, right?
“It ended up screwing us over worse than it did the 7 (Allgaier), and he was able to slip by. Man, I can’t say congratulations enough to Justin and all those (JR Motorsports) guys. He’s definitely a deserving champion. They were fast all night.”
Custer led twice for seven laps, as Herbst dominated with 167 circuits led, but Custer had control of the championship until Allgaier, on fresher tires, tracked him down and passed him on Lap 194, taking the top position among the Championship 4 drivers.
Allgaier appeared headed for the title in regulation until Leland Honeyman crashed in Turn 4 on Lap 198 to force overtime.
“I hate it came down to tire strategy and stuff like that, but, man, I can’t say enough about our group… Everybody in that shop worked so hard. I wished we could have ended it out with a championship for SHR, but it just wasn’t meant to be on those restarts.”
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