Custer Wins Bristol, Xfinity Regular Season as Allgaier Falters

By David Morgan, Associate Editor

BRISTOL, Tenn. – One driver’s misfortune was another’s gain.

Coming into Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway to close out the NASCAR Xfinity Series season, it appeared to be Justin Allgaier’s points lead to lose with a healthy lead over Cole Custer and others in the points standings.

It was going to take some misfortune on Allgaier’s part for Custer and the others to be in position to strike and that’s exactly what happened.

After leading the opening 60 laps, Allgaier found himself caught up in an accident not of his own doing when Austin Green ricocheted back across the track, making contact with the rear of Allgaier’s Chevrolet, ripping the rear bumper cover off and sending him to pit road for repairs. That incident would drop him out of the top-20, but he was able to rebound to 18^th at the end of the first stage.

Allgaier would again be involved in an incident on Lap 154 when he was spun on the backstretch after contact with Sheldon Creed, the front-end impact with the inside wall was the more devastating hit for Allgaier, who would eventually fall a number of laps down and finish in 30^th place.

With Allgaier out of the picture, Custer went to work, climbing to the lead on Lap 209 and never relinquishing it, streaking to the finish ahead of the Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Creed and Chandler Smith.

Banking his second win of the season, the victory was enough to propel him past Allgaier in the points race, earning him the regular season championship and the points bonus that comes with it as he looks to defend his championship from a year ago before moving back to the Cup Series in 2025.

“It’s huge to get this momentum because our confidence was going down there this last month, so to get this win really means a lot,” Custer said.

“Man, what a car. What a race. I mean, these guys did such a great job with this thing. I can’t thank HighPoint.com enough. Every race we’ve wanted to do better with them and this was finally a race we put it all together. It was just an unbelievable car. I could really drive through the field and do everything I needed. It’s a real testament to this team of what we can bring to the Playoffs.”

Jesse Love came home in fourth place, followed by Ryan Truex and Brandon Jones as the top-six drivers.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. overcame a host of issues of his own to finish in seventh, with Ryan Sieg, Sam Mayer, and AJ Allmendinger comprising the remainder of the top-10.

As for Allgaier, he leaves Bristol battered, but still standing in the fight as he retains the points lead in the Playoffs thanks to an outstanding regular season.

He gave the nod to his team for trying their best to get the car back in raceable shape, but it was just not enough to salvage the night. Nonetheless, he and the team are turning their attention to the Playoffs that start next weekend in Kansas, hoping to make another run to the Championship 4 and try to capture that elusive Xfinity Series title.

“What a frustrating night. I can’t say enough to everybody on this Brandt Professional Agriculture Camaro team. We fired off the race, we did all the right things, we led the beginning of the race. Felt like we had the best car in the field and were able to drive away from the 81 there,” Allgaier said.

“We felt like we were doing all the right things and when the 32 blew the right front and came back across and tore the rear bumper cover off, it changed the game for us and put us behind. Then from there, you’re trying to maintain the best you can.

“I’ll have to go back and watch the replay with what happened with the 18. I felt like he came off the wall, but at that point, it doesn’t matter, we’ve got what we’ve got. The team did a great job trying to fix the car all night, it was just so damaged. And all the damage was up where it really mattered.

“Disappointed. Frustrated. Sad. I don’t know what all the emotions I’ve got right now are, but we’ll rebound. We’ll go to next week. We’ve still got the points lead. I’ve got a great team behind me. There’s no doubt in my mind that we can’t go win Kansas, so that’s what we’re going to focus on.”