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Xfinity Breakdown: Cole Custer Wins an (Almost) Tame Bristol Race

Every once in a while there’ll be a race that doesn’t have a lot of attrition at a track that’s known to have just that.

Such was the case at Bristol Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Food City 300 Friday night (Sept. 20).

It didn’t start out that way, though. There were four cautions for incidents in the first two stages and one two-thirds of the way into the race. But after that? Nothing but green-flag racing, with Cole Custer leading the majority of laps in that last stage.

Custer took the lead from Sheldon Creed on a restart and never looked back, earning not only the race win, but the regular season title as well.

Creed was second, polesitter Chandler Smith was third, Jesse Love took home fourth and Ryan Truex rounded out the top five.

See also
Justin Allgaier's Crash Opened the Door, Cole Custer Slammed It Shut

The Winners

It was a much-needed win for the No. 00, as since his Pocono Raceway win he’s had two second-place finishes and four results of 21st or worse. While Custer had to bank on the misfortune of rival Justin Allgaier in order to win the regular season championship, he still needed to execute well to win the race.

In the end, he overcame a 43-point hole (as well as a flat tire near the start of the race) to claim the top spot in the regular season.

If the team can carry this momentum into the playoffs, there’s no reason why Custer can’t go back-to-back at Phoenix Raceway and earn his second straight Xfinity title.

Love earned his fourth straight top 10 at a place the rookie had never visited in Xfinity. He stayed in the top 10-15 spots much of the race, finishing second in stage one and sixth in stage two. In the final 50 laps, the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing driver battled Creed and Smith for second and third. He ended the race just behind them in fourth.

After a not-so-good August, Love has been steady the past four races. If he keeps this up, he could be a surprise contender for the championship.

Truex took home a top five in what is his final scheduled start of the year. In 10 races this season, he’s amassed two wins, three top fives and six top-10 finishes. It’s truly a shame that this sport is so dependent on sponsorship, because he’s certainly proven himself worthy to remain in the series at least in some capacity.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. had quite the night in his lone start of the season (and perhaps final Xfinity race ever). He couldn’t hear his spotter over the radio for about the first 50 laps before the team did a helmet swap.

That didn’t work, so they changed out the wire harness. Finally, Jr. could hear his crew, and they could hear him. The only problem was he didn’t have his glasses, as they were in the other helmet.

His team handed him his glasses on a later pit stop, and he was ready to tackle the Last Great Colosseum.

Despite all the radio issues and multiple pit stops, he had a fast No. 88 Chevrolet. Earnhardt kept it in the top 10 and even fought for a top five at some points during the race. He eventually brought home a seventh-place finish in a very strong night for the JR Motorsports team owner, who turns 50 next month. If this was his last race, he certainly went out on a high note.

Lastly, I’d like to give a shout out to Alpha Prime Racing, which had to change engines on the No. 45 after qualifying. They finished with about eight minutes left before the race went green, which is very impressive.

Stefan Parsons finished 33rd, but even just making it out there is a win in my book.

The Losers

Allgaier had the regular season championship in his grasp. He had a fast car, took the lead and appeared to set sail for the stage one win.

Then, the first case of ‘anything that could go wrong, did go wrong’ happened. Austin Green appeared to cut a tire and hit the outside wall. He bounced off, right as Allgaier went by, and clipped the rear bumper cover on the No. 7 before making contact with Parker Retzlaff.

This actually could’ve helped Allgaier’s car, in a way. He had to pit so the team could cut the bumper cover off, and despite starting further in the pack, that missing piece appeared to help his car aerodynamically.

But then around lap 154, while racing tightly with Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed, Allgaier made contact off of Creed and spun down into the inside barrier.

The pit crew started working on repairing that damage, and before they got done, they needed to let Allgaier go back out to try to stay on the lead lap. Unfortunately, they left a reciprocating saw there, which the driver of the No. 7 took with him onto the track.

The team did what they could on his car so he could at least make some laps. Before all was said and done, the No. 7 spun around lap 200.

This series of unfortunate events allowed Custer to close the gap for the points lead. Losing the regular season championship could have implications further down the road; just ask Kyle Larson. But Allgaier’s team is too good and fast to go a similar route as Larson.

A couple other losers this week are Jeffrey Earnhardt and Retzlaff. Earnhardt qualified in the top 10 and was running well before he hit the wall. He ended up going to the garage and out of the race.

Retzlaff was a victim of having nowhere to go when Green came down the track after hitting the wall. While Allgaier’s damage was minimal, Retzlaff’s was terminal for the Jordan Anderson Racing driver. As you see in the video above, Retzlaff was visibly frustrated afterward.

The Playoff Pit

It’s playoff time for Xfinity drivers, with Sammy Smith making it in on points over Ryan Sieg and Brandon Jones. Parker Kligerman, AJ Allmendinger and Creed are also in the playoffs on points.

The Round of 12 consists of Kansas Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL. Anything can happen at Talladega, but where things stand now heading to Kansas, Creed, Allmendinger, Kligerman and Smith are all below the cut line.

See also
Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Full Season in 1 Race

Paint Scheme of the Week

Sometimes, the simple schemes are better than some of the other designs. Such was the case with the No. 14 of Chad Finchum.

A red base with a red stripe and red border around a black number just worked so well.

Finchum didn’t have a bad starting spot at Bristol; he began in 18th. Unfortunately, his day didn’t end well, as he finished 20 laps down in 32nd.

Fuel for Thought

Short track racing, especially at Bristol, often has a bit more accidents, as cars are so close together and their patience wears thin.

I recall last year’s race where Creed and Austin Hill had their issue on the track, which allowed Allgaier to win. Another year, Allmendinger and Austin Cindric crashed coming to the checkered, causing a large melee.

Why was this race so tame compared to others in the past?

Who knows. Perhaps some respect was shown between the drivers in that final green-flag run. But you didn’t see that from leader Custer, who got to the rear bumper of the lapped cars.

Could it be that some resin or PJ1 was needed to help add a second racing line? This could’ve worked, but Custer was so fast on the last restart that it was hard for the others to even try to get near him to pass him. It also could’ve made the track slippery instead of providing grip for the tires, so that could’ve allowed for more wrecks and spins.

It may have seemed boring and that cars weren’t able to pass, but I personally don’t mind a long green-flag period that has less attrition. That means fewer wrecked racecars, right? And that’s always good for the teams (especially with another superspeedway coming up).

Where to Next

The Xfinity Series playoffs begin next week at Kansas Speedway with the Kansas Lottery 300. Coverage starts Saturday, Sept. 28 at 4 p.m. ET on the CW and the Motor Racing Network.

Joy Tomlinson

Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.