LOUDON, N.H. — It all came down to one last overtime restart.
Christopher Bell dominated the first half of the SciAps 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Cole Custer dominated the second half.
And Sheldon Creed nearly pulled the rug out from under them both.
Bell’s name will be the one in the record books, his perfect Xfinity Series record at NHMS intact. But rewind a couple of laps and it didn’t look like that would happen.
Custer led the field to the last green flag of the day but couldn’t run away from Creed, who went door-to-door with him for a lap before pulling ahead. Creed led a three-wide battle at the white. Bell led at the checkers after squeezing by Creed in turn 2 on the last lap. Bell had good position on the inside and used that to gain an advantage to the line, and he had a tire donut on the No. 20 to show for it.
And nobody went home angry.
Disappointed, sure. Custer, in particular, led a season-high 114 laps en route to his third-place finish.
“That was good racing,” Custer said. “At the end of the day, we were hitting each other’s doors and trying to get position on each other into the corners and in the center. That’s as good as it gets around here. It just sucks that we … got the short end of the stick. I honestly don’t know if anybody lost it or won it.
“Sometimes it doesn’t go your way.”
For Creed, it might have been a bit more bitter to swallow as he set an Xfinity Series record for runner-up finishes (10) without a win.
“I thought I did all the right things to be clear of the [No.] 00 and be clean about it. Obviously the [No.] 20 was able to get inside. I still thought I was in the best place to be there; I just think the 00 was able to … give me a little nudge right there in the middle.
“I was already free on the short run, so it got me just enough to let the [No.] 20 clear both of us. So, not a spat there.”
If you were looking for hard feelings, none were evident. Bell was complimentary of the way he was raced at the end.
“It was fun,” Bell said. “I had a good time racing, and it was just enjoyable to go out there and race.
“Winning is never easy. I blew it on pit road today. I lost control of the race, and once we lost control of the race, it looked like I was going to lose until we had that fortunate overtime restart … we snuck one out today.
“In that scenario, whenever you’re dead even and banging doors like that … I don’t think any of us meant to do that.”
Custer leaves New Hampshire with the point lead, with Creed in fifth. Bell sticks around to race in the Cup Series race scheduled for Sunday (June 23) afternoon.
All three drivers saw the finish for what it was: a hard-fought battle. It would be easy to go home angry, especially for Custer, who is searching for his first win of 2024, but really, there was nothing to be angry at. Creed raced Custer clean, and that battle allowed Bell to take advantage and squeeze by them both. There was respect all around on the final run.
That could reap benefits down the line as Custer and Creed battle for a championship. Drivers have long memories, and while that can mean holding a grudge, it also means remembering how they were raced on days like this one, when either driver could have crossed a line and held it instead.
And the fans were treated to a fantastic finish in the process. That’s a win for the series and the sport.
About the author
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.
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Am I the only one who thinks Xfinity is better racing than Cup
on ovals?
Agreed