NASCAR
Cole Custer Wins Weather-Affected The Loop 121 in Chicago
CHICAGO, ILL. – For the second-straight Xfinity Series road course race, Cole Custer finds himself in victory lane. Under very unusual circumstances on the Chicago Street Course, Custer’s No. 00 Mustang was ruled the winner. Custer led all 25 laps ran Saturday in Grant Park. Once a lightning delay began though, the remainder of The Loop 121 was pushed to Sunday morning. Persistent rain and standing water forced NASCAR’s hand to call the race complete shy of halfway. The Stewart-Haas Racing 00 crew have now won two of the last three races.
From the pole Cole Custer was unstoppable in Stage 1, leading wire-to-wire. This opening segment was only slowed by one caution, when Justin Marks’ engine expired on the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. Nashville’s winning car owner had a very short-lived one off Xfinity start.
Stage 2 had a very similar feel, with Custer’s 00 maintaining out front. Custer’s march to an easy Stage-sweep would only be halted by nearby lightning strikes. The weather delay lasted until Sunday morning, with the race never being able to resume.
NASCAR did clarify why the race could not restart and the unique reasons behind calling it official in a statement.
“It’s been an awesome weekend overall,” Custer said. “The whole event, the whole thing that NASCAR’s put on here—the whole city—it’s been pretty unreal. The course is such a blast to drive.”
“Today, we definitely wish we could have run all the laps. We don’t want to win it this way, but at the end of the day, we had a really fast car. I think everybody knew that.”
Behind Custer, Chicago’s top-10 finishers were: John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier, Brett Moffitt, Austin Hill, Sammy Smith, Daniel Hemric, Chandler Smith, Parker Kligerman, and Kaz Grala.
The Xfinity Series will return to action Saturday night from Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Alsco Uniforms 250 will go green at 8:00 p.m. ET on USA, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Georgia native and superspeedway ace Austin Hill will prove tough to beat, going for a third-straight victory on the high banks.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Sean Gardner/Getty Images for NASCAR
