XFINITY: Cole Custer Takes Bristol Win and Regular Season Championship
There's a reason race winners and champions aren't crowned before every last lap is completed in a race, regular season, or season. You just never know what can happen. Friday's NASCAR Xfinity Series Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway was a prime example of why.
Heading into the night, Justin Allgaier was looking to cap off a Regular Season championship as he carried a nearly insurmountable 43-point lead over Cole Custer. On Lap 3 of the 300-lap race, it appeared Allgaier had it all but sewed up.
As Allgaier took the lead on the opening lap of the race, Custer would find trouble as he would cut a tire down and skidded into the outside wall.
Fortunately, Custer's car suffered minimal damage, and even more fortunate, debris led to NASCAR calling a caution which saved Custer from losing multiple laps on pit road. However, Custer's charge to a Regular Season championship still seemed like a far-fetched idea with Allgaier leading and Custer in the rear of the field fighting for his life.
Then, the tables turned as Allgaier began to endure more bad luck than anyone could ever imagine. On Lap 56, Austin Green went into the outside wall, skidded down the track, and collided with Allgaier, the leader of the race. The collision ripped the rear bumper cover off of Allgaier's car and on the impending restart, Allgaier would lose the lead.
While he wasn't the leader anymore, he remained a solid top-five contender. Then, in Stage 2, Allgaier would again be swept up in an incident while running inside the top five. This time, he would be clipped by Sheldon Creed in a battle for position inside of the top five. He would spin and nose his car into the inside wall.
The Nos. 7 and 81 make contact and @J_Allgaier goes for a slide down the backstretch! pic.twitter.com/rjoKhEQJVr
— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) September 21, 2024
Allgaier's car was never the same after that crash.
As Custer continued to climb through the field, eventually taking the lead for the first time on Lap 151, Allgaier suffered his third and final incident of the night with a spin on Lap 199.
Custer would go on to lead 104 of the final 150 laps in the race, including the final 92 circuits to win the race. The win coupled with troubles for Justin Allgaier resulted in Custer collecting the NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season championship by a mere three points over Allgaier.
"Man, it's unbelievable," Custer exclaimed after climbing from his car. "Just a testament to these guys. Really hard month, but everybody at the shop really kept their heads in it. Can't thank High Point enough, awesome to get them the win, Ford Performance. All the guys did such a great job. Unbelievable car all night. Ready to get to the Playoffs."
Custer had a nine-race stretch of leading the Regular Season championship standings, and it looked like the California native was going to cruise to the crown. That is, until he found trouble.
Three DNFs, and four finishes outside of the top-20 over his last five races put Custer and the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing team far behind the eight-ball, or rather the No. 7 car in the championship standings.
However, they didn't give up, and on Friday night they were rewarded for their undying efforts.
"It's huge to get this momentum because our confidence was going down this last month, so, to get this win really means a lot," Custer said.
While it was an night filled with elation for Custer, it was a painful night for Allgaier, who felt he had the best car in the field and was doing everything right, but unfortunate circumstances continued to unfold one after another.
"Just, what a frustrating night," Allgaier explained.
While Allgaier had a horrendous night, his mind is still focused on the ultimate prize, which is picking up his first career NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. Despite missing out on the regular season title, he'll head into the Round of 12 of the Playoffs as the No. 1 seed.
"Disappointed, frustrated, sad. I don't even know what all of the emotions I've got right now are. But we'll rebound. We'll go into next week, like you said, we've still got the points lead. I've got a great team behind me, and there is no doubt in my mind we can go and win Kansas," Allgaier said.
Sheldon Creed would score his 13th career runner-up finish, and he'd be followed by Chandler Smith, Jesse Love, and Ryan Truex, who was making his final start of the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
With finishes of 15th and 16th, Sammy Smith and Parker Kligerman officially locked up the final two spots in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs on Friday night, while Ryan Sieg, who finished eighth came up shy of his bid to make it in.
The 12 drivers who will compete for the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship include Allgaier, Custer, Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, Shane van Gisbergen, Jesse Love, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Sheldon Creed, AJ Allmendinger, Sammy Smith, and Kligerman.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was making his lone start of the year, came home an impressive seventh after battling back from a plague of radio issues, which forced him to pit road multiple times in the early portion of the race.
"Radio harness or something went out on the pace laps, so I didn't have a radio for about 50 laps. Swapped out the ear plugs, still didn't work. Swapped out the helmet, still didn't work. So, probably ran about 100-120 laps without really much communication with [spotter] TJ Majors," Earnhardt explained. "Finally, they stuck a radio with a short harness in it with a button I could clip to my chest. And I could hear them and talk to them under the caution. It worked out."
While the radio issues were frustrating, Earnhardt still enjoyed racing near the front, and spent a good portion of time after the race sharing beers with his fellow competitors on pit road. Prior to the race, Earnhardt announced that he has no plans to return behind the wheel in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs will begin next weekend with the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway. That race is set for Saturday, September 28 and will be televised on The CW with coverage beginning at 4 PM ET. The Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide radio coverage of that race.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.