Cole Custer Tag

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen claimed his first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory in Saturday’s Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Raceway. The popular Kiwi celebrated the hard-earned win with a burnout all the way around the 1.967-mile road course and then climbing out of his Chevy and topping it off by kicking a soccer ball into the thrilled crowd. It was a popular win all-around for the 35-year-old three-time Australian Supercar champion, but he had to work for it. The series rookie –Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DARLINGTON, S.C. — Justin Allgaier finally beat Murphy’s Law to the checkered flag in Saturday’s Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200 at Darlington Raceway. This time, there were no bizarre circumstances to keep the driver of the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet out of Victory lane, like the late cut tire that deprived Allgaier of a near-certain win at Phoenix in the fourth race of the season. After crossing the finish line 3.407 seconds ahead of runner-up Austin Hill, Allgaier had his first victoryRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service The hometown favorite, Ryan Truex prevailed in a thrilling double-overtime finish in the BetRivers 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, leading only the two final laps to earn back-to-back victories at the one-mile track. The New Jersey native and defending race winner started alongside 20-year old Carson Kvapil on the front row for the final overtime re-start then pulled away to take the lead and ultimately the white flag – signaling one lap to go. An accident elsewhere onRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor TALLADEGA, Ala. – Redemption. It may have taken two overtimes to get there and the stress of a fuel tank running dry, but Jesse Love is a winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, holding off the field to win Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega. In the second race of the season at Atlanta, Love seemed destined to win, only to have his fuel tank run dry and snatch victory from his hands, but this time around, he had enough to see him through to the finish,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor FORT WORTH, Texas – They say everything’s bigger in Texas and Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway lived up to the hype, coming down to a photo finish to determine the victor. In the end, Sam Mayer and JR Motorsports would inch their way past Ryan Sieg and the little team that could, RSS Racing, by just .002 seconds at the finish line to bank the win in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 – the second closest finish in Xfinity Series history. SiegRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service MARTINSVILLE, Va. — With a dramatic victory Saturday night at Martinsville Speedway, Aric Almirola removed an asterisk from his career record and collected a $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus in the process. With considerable help—perhaps unintentional—from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sheldon Creed after an overtime restart, Almirola grabbed the lead from Sam Mayer and won the DUDE Wipes 250 under caution when Riley Herbst, pole winner Brandon Jones and Ryan Ellis wrecked in Turn 2 on the final lap. The victory was Almirola’s firstRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Chandler Smith led a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep at Richmond (Va.) Raceway Saturday afternoon cruising to a 4.495-seconds victory over teammates Aric Almirola and Tanner Gray in the ToyotaCare 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race. It marks back-to-back wins in this race for Smith – answering his first career Xfinity Series victory last Spring – and he led the final 60 laps in the No. 81 JGR Toyota, 76 laps on the day for his third career win, second of the season. It was hisRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Kyle Larson was ultimately both patient and smart taking the lead on the final overtime lap to win an aggressive Featured Health 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), the first road course test for the series this year that earned an “A” for high-drama and close competition. New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen and Austin Hill were duking it out for the lead – and pushing each other high off the race line as the field approached the checkered flag.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. — Chandler Smith had a message for his Joe Gibbs Racing team after taking the checkered flag in overtime in Saturday’s Call811.com Every Dig. Every Time. 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix Raceway. “We’ll take ‘em when we can get ‘em,” Smith radioed before celebrating his second career victory with a burnout near the start/finish line. It was good fortune—combined with Justin Allgaier’s disastrous bad luck—that put Smith in Victory Lane after 205 laps at the one-mile track in the SonoranRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS — Chandler Smith won the battle. John Hunter Nemechek won the war.  The Joe Gibbs Racing teammates spent most of Saturday afternoon racing each other for the top spot in The LiUNA!, a 300-mile NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was Nemechek who proved superior in the long run.  After Smith won the first two stages of the race—the second with a deft last-lap pass of Nemechek’s No. 20 Toyota—Nemechek asserted his dominance.  By the time Nemechek crossedRead More