Last Lap Pass Gives Cole Custer Xfinity Series Win at Pocono

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LONG POND, PA - RIS -Cole Custer passed Tyler Reddick on the final lap to win the Green 250 NASCAR Xfinity race at Pocono Raceway in overtime.  It was the third win of the year for Custer and the fifth of his career. He wound up leading four times for a total of 58 laps in his Stewart Haas Ford Mustang, including the final circuit.

“I was nervous once he got by me,” Custer said. “He just drove in the corner real deep and I had my downshift timed right and hoped we’d get by him.

“Tyler gave me a real run for my money there. I have no idea how he made it stick on that restart on the bottom passing me, but he did. He was unbelievable on the brakes at the end. I was just able to kind of force a mistake a little bit trying to pack air on him. It was a fun end of the race. I wish I didn’t have to do it like that, but it probably made it exciting.”

Reddick was forced to settle for second and his ninth top-five performance of the season.

“I tried to really get it stopped and make sure I covered the bottom,” Reddick explained of the final pass for the lead. “We just fought tight over the last half of the race. Thought we had a really good restart, got by Cole, but I was too tight out front in clean air. I just got loose in Turn 3 and gave it back.”

Chase Briscoe, Ryan Preece and Christopher Bell, who spun out earlier in the race, rounded out the top five.

Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, Michael Annett, Justin Haley and Austin Dillon completed the first 10 finishers. Custer and Justin Allgaier won the first two stages of the race.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series now heads to Michigan International Speedway next Saturday afternoon.

Unofficial Race Results: 4th Annual Pocono Green 250 Recycled by J.P. Mascaro - June 1, 2019 - Pocono Raceway

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, St1, St2, Pts, Status
1) 1, Cole Custer, No. 00 FIMS Manufacturing Ford, 103, 4, 58, 6, 1, 5, 56, Running
2) 6, Tyler Reddick, No. 2 TAME the BEAST Chevrolet, 103, 1, 1, , 3, 2, 52, Running
3) 12, Chase Briscoe #, No. 98 Nutri Chomps/Orscheln Ford, 103, , , , , 4, 41, Running
4) 8, Ryan Preece(i), No. 8 Planters Chevrolet, 103, , , , , 10, 0, Running
5) 2, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem Toyota, 103, 1, 7, , , 3, 40, Running
6) 15, Noah Gragson #, No. 9 Switch Chevrolet, 103, , , , 10, , 32, Running
7) 3, Austin Cindric, No. 22 MoneyLion Ford, 103, 1, 6, , 5, 6, 41, Running
8) 4, Michael Annett, No. 1 Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet, 103, , , , , 7, 33, Running
9) 13, Justin Haley #, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 103, , , , 6, 9, 35, Running
10) 11, Austin Dillon(i), No. 10 Maestros Classic Chevrolet, 103, , , , 4, , 0, Running
11) 9, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 Klondike Chevrolet, 103, 3, 27, 1, 2, 1, 45, Running
12) 23, John Hunter Nemechek #, No. 23 ISM Connect Chevrolet, 103, 1, 4, , 9, 8, 30, Running
13) 27, Brandon Brown #, No. 86 ABS Vans Chevrolet, 103, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 14, Ross Chastain, No. 4 Georgia Watermelon Association Chevrolet, 103, , , , 7, , 27, Running
15) 22, Josh Williams, No. 36 Starbright Star Tron/Simcraft Chevrolet, 103, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 28, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet, 102, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 16, BJ McLeod, No. 15 Teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 102, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 17, Ray Black II, No. 07 ISOKERN Fireplaces & Chmny/ScbLf Chev., 102, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 21, Timmy Hill, No. 66 LeithCars.com Toyota, 102, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 18, Gray Gaulding, No. 08 Chevrolet, 102, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 30, Ronnie Bassett Jr., No. 90 Bassett Gutters & More Chevrolet, 102, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 10, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 18 iK9 Toyota, 102, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 25, Stephen Leicht, No. 01 Teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 102, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 31, David Starr, No. 52 GeorgesToolRntl.com/ATS/Whtbrgr Chev., 101, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 33, Vinnie Miller, No. 78 Koolbox/JW Transport LLC Chevrolet, 101, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 5, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 C2 Freight Resources Chevrolet, 100, , , , 8, , 14, Running
27) 32, Todd Peck(i), No. 99 Pulse Transport Chevrolet, 100, , , , , , 0, Running
28) 35, Mike Harmon, No. 74 The JourneyHomeProject/Crl Dnls Chev., 99, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 34, Garrett Smithley, No. 0 Trophy Tractor Chevrolet, 86, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 38, Matt Mills, No. 5 J.F. Electric Toyota, 65, , , , , , 7, Brakes
31) 36, John Jackson, No. 13 CrashClaimsR.US Toyota, 36, , , , , , 6, Vibration
32) 29, Camden Murphy(i), No. 17 RWR Chevrolet, 36, , , , , , 0, Vibration
33) 19, Joey Gase, No. 35 MBM Motorsports Toyota, 34, , , , , , 4, Engine
34) 20, Josh Bilicki, No. 93  Chevrolet, 33, , , , , , 3, Vibration
35) 37, Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Visone RV Chevrolet, 31, , , , , , 2, Handling
36) 24, Jeff Green, No. 38 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 22, , , , , , 1, Electrical
37) 26, Chad Finchum, No. 42 Smithbilt Homes Toyota, 10, , , , , , 1, Accident
38) 7, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Juniper Toyota, 6, , , , , , 1, Accident
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 7 Mins, 5 Secs.
Total Race Length - 103 Laps - 257.5 Miles
Average Speed: 121.574 MPH
Margin of Victory: 0.226 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 00, 7, 2, 10, 22, 11, 4, 39, 23, 9
Stage 2 Top 10: 7, 2, 20, 98, 00, 22, 1, 23, 11, 8

Race Comments: Cole Custer won the 4th running of the Pocono Green 250 Recycled by J.P. Mascaro at Pocono Raceway, his 5th victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. 
Prior to the start of the race, the following car(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: Nos. 5, 23 (backup car), 2 (transmission) and 90, 74 (unnapproved adjustments).

Caution Flags: 7 for 26 laps;
Laps: 7-9 (No. 19 Spin Turn 1 [74]);
12-15 (No. 42, 35 Incident Short Chute [93]);
18-20 (No. 20 Spin Turn 1 [99]);
27-31 (Stage 1 Conclusion [8]);
52-56 (Stage 2 Conclusion [78]);
95-97 (No. 18, 22 Spin Turn 2 [86]);
99-101 (No. 7, 07, 22 Inciden Turn 1 [36]).

Lead Changes: 10 among 6 drivers;
C. Custer 1-27;
J. Nemechek # 28-31;
C. Bell 32-38;
J. Allgaier 39-52;
A. Cindric 53-58;
J. Allgaier 59-65;
C. Custer 66-79;
J. Allgaier 80-85;
C. Custer 86-101;
T. Reddick 102;
C. Custer 103.