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NASCAR XFINITY Series

Custer Steals Xfinity Series Race at Portland in NASCAR Overtime

(Photo: James Gilbert | Getty Images)

PORTLAND, Ore. — It’s all about the right place at the right time.

After lining up fifth for NASCAR Overtime, the seas parted in front of Cole Custer and he took advantage, winning the Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Raceway for his first Xfinity Series victory of the season.

“It’s just an awesome win for our team. First one of the year, first one in a long time,” Custer said after the race. “I’m pumped for all our guys. They’ve worked really hard all through the offseason and we’re starting to put it all together now.”

Although he qualified second Saturday morning, Custer dropped to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments and quickly went to work. He got up to seventh at the end of Stage 1 and won Stage 2 after John Hunter Nemechek spun Sheldon Creed from the lead in the final corner.

With eight laps to go, Riley Herbst’s car caught on fire and it brought out a caution. Custer got as high as third on the impending restart, but after a series of spins led to debris on the racetrack, NASCAR called another caution to set up overtime.

Parker Kligerman, who was third, dove inside of Justin Allgaier and Creed on the restart and made it three-wide entering the chicane in Turn 1. Kligerman locked his brakes and bumped into Allgaier who hit Creed, shooting the latter two into the runoff area. Custer snuck by all of them and took the lead.

While Creed dropped outside the top five, Allgaier remained in the mix. He trimmed down his deficit on Custer and had a chance in the final corner but couldn’t get to the leader’s back bumper.

“I knew that was a very good possibility that would happen [on the final restart]. I did the same exact thing I think one or two restarts ago,” Creed said. “I’m trying to smoke it off in there and I was gonna try and get right around them, and it worked out perfectly … we had to come back from adversity a couple of times today, so it speaks a lot to our team and what we can do.”

Custer competed in Friday’s ARCA Menards Series West race at Portland, and while he fell just short of a win, gained valuable track time for Saturday.

“I think it was big for me to get those laps [Friday] with High Point Racing and really try and get a feel for the track because there’s some really awkward corners,” Custer said. “Definitely helped a lot just getting up to speed.”

Allgaier, last week’s winner at Charlotte Motor Speedway, finished second after leading 23 laps. His JR Motorsports teammates, Sam Mayer and Josh Berry, finished third and fourth, respectively. Austin Hill finished fifth and Myatt Snider, competing in his second race of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing, finished sixth.

“I’m really proud of the boys from the 19 team for putting in such a great effort,” Snider said. “We were working on drive off all day, but to end up sixth with all of the craziness that happens is pretty awesome.”

Creed, the dominant car of the afternoon, ended up seventh after the chaos on the final lap. He led 47 of the 77 laps and fell just short of his first win in the series.

“There was three corners that maybe was the difference between our race,” Creed said. “I feel like I could have led every lap if I was better in [Turns] 6, 7 and 12. I just struggled there and [cars] could really make ground there.”

Results

STAGE 1: Sheldon Creed, John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier, Austin Hill, Josh Berry, Jordan Taylor, Cole Custer, Myatt Snider, Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst

STAGE 2: Cole Custer, John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier, Parker Kligerman, Jordan Taylor, Sheldon Creed, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Austin Hill, Jeb Burton

FINAL: Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer, Josh Berry, Austin Hill, Myatt Snider, Sheldon Creed, Connor Mosack, Chandler Smith, John Hunter Nemechek

 

Nathan Solomon serves as the managing editor of The Podium Finish. He has been part of the team since 2021 and is accredited by the National Motorsports Press Association. Solomon is a senior in the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University. Contact him at NSolly02@Yahoo.com.

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