NASCAR
Cole Custer Takes 10th Career Xfinity Series Win in California Domination
FONTANA, Calif. – Saturday may have been a marathon race for the Xfinity Series, but three overtimes couldn’t keep Cole Custer from winning. After three successive late restarts he had to nail, the Ladera Ranch, California native earned another Auto Club win. This time however, Custer took Bobby Dotter’s No. 07 Mustang to victory lane, holding off Noah Gragson.
Although Custer was the dominant driver of the day, he did not take the lead until midway through Stage 2. Stage 1 would go to Trevor Bayne, making his first start in the No. 18 Toyota. Once Custer took command though, he asserted himself as the class of the field.
Custer lost ground on each trip down pit road. However, he was able to regain lost ground both quickly and methodically. On one restart, Custer lined up eighth, and had the lead again in less than a lap.
Custer seemingly took the lead for good with 15 laps left. However, a series of late cautions briefly gave the top spot to the 9 of Gragson. On one overtime restart, Brandon Jones would get sent into the sand barrels at pit entry, causing a 23-minute red flag for cleanup. Despite the agonizing wait, Custer still held serve in triple-overtime to secure the victory.
"Why do you guys put barrels filled with sand at the beginning of pit road?"
Because this (red flag is out, Brandon is okay): pic.twitter.com/ZfxROxtjSL
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) February 27, 2022
Custer’s Winning Reaction
“Man it was just an awesome car,” Custer said after winning. “I mean that thing was just a rocket ship all day. I can’t thank Bobby Dotter enough, everyone who was involved on this car. It was just unreal how fast we were. Production Alliance Group, it’s his race, the Production Alliance Group 300, and we got him in victory lane. I can’t thank Dale Sahlin enough. It is awesome to win at home and I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
Custer further broke down the pivotal final restart. “I just knew we needed a good push and we were starting to get the timing of it but the last one we kind of got separated a little bit and I was a little nervous because the 23 had new tires. This thing was a rocket ship all day. I can’t thank Production Alliance Group enough and everyone that worked on this car. It was an honor to drive it today and it is awesome to win at home.”
“Getting my second win here, I came to this track when I was five years old, so it is pretty amazing to come here and win at your home track. I have always loved coming to this place and I hope we keep coming here in the future.”
This marks the first-ever Xfinity Series victory for Bobby Dotter’s SS-Green Light Racing. Over the offseason, they entered into an alliance with Stewart-Haas, thus Custer driving the 07 in this race.
Top 10 Xfinity finishers from Auto Club were Custer, Gragson, Bayne, Josh Berry, Anthony Alfredo, Sam Mayer, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, Riley Herbst, and Ryan Sieg.
The Xfinity Series will be back in action next Saturday from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Alsco Uniforms 300 will go green at 5:00 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to James Gilbert/Getty Images for NASCAR
