Twelve races into the NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Cole Custer finally had his moment.
The Stewart-Haas Racing driver held off a late race charge from JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier in the closing laps at Portland International Raceway, fending the No. 7 off by .142 seconds at the finish line.
“Man, I’m just so happy. I’ve never won a road course race before. I’ve been so close, so many times. It’s just awesome to win this. I can’t thank Haas Automation, everybody at Stewart-Haas and the Xfinity program,” Custer said. “It’s awesome to get this trophy and get that out of the way. I’m pumped for the rest of the year. We got fast cars, and starting to put it all together.”
Allgaier finished second, and was followed by teammates Sam Mayer and Josh Berry.
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill completed the top five.
How It Happened
ThorSport Racing’s Ty Majeski led the 38-car field to the green at the 1.967-mile road course.
RCR’s Sheldon Creed made his way into the lead early and was battling closely with Joe Gibbs Racing’s John Hunter Nemechek towards the end of stage one. The No. 20 shot past Creed entering turn one on lap 25, but eleven turns later, Nemechek got wide and the No. 2 Chevrolet was able to swoop back into the lead.
Creed scored the stage win the following lap.
On the restart, Creed continued to lead Nemechek around the curvy Portland facility. The man on the move in stage two was Allgaier, who began making his way through the pack, pestering Nemechek for second on lap 33.
However, the No. 2 held steady out front until lap 50 when he spun in turn eleven. The cause was related to contact from Nemechek’s No. 20 Toyota. It set up another drag race to the stage end, as Nemechek and Custer fought to the finish line.
The No. 00 Ford claimed stage two.
Allgaier took the lead following the restart after Custer missed the chicane in turn one and slipped back to ninth.
Meanwhile, Nemechek and Creed didn’t wait long to find each other again, as the two battled for second on lap 56. Creed repaid the nudge he received from Nemechek earlier in the race and tapped the No. 20 in turn 12. The JGR driver fell back to 19th, where more trouble awaited him.
Sammy Smith, who was a lap down, hit Nemechek’s rear bumper on lap 60. A few turns later, the No. 20 then door-checked the No. 18. Both cars were forced to pit.
A caution came out for Riley Herbst after his engine blew on lap 67.
On the restart, a jostle of positions put Allgaier in the lead and Creed into second. Another caution flew on lap 73 for debris on the backstretch, setting up a wild four-lap dash to the finish. On the lap 75 restart, as Allgaier and Nemechek held the front row, Parker Kligerman pushed into Allgaier in turn one and caused the trio to miss the turn.
Meanwhile, Custer, who started sixth on the restart, surged into the lead.
Custer continued to hold his position to the end, picking up his first win of the season, with last week’s winner Allgaier trailing behind.