Cole Custer Wins Xfinity Race for His 4th Victory of 2019

Nam Y Huh

JOLIET, IL – RIS - Cole Custer held off Joey Logano on Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway for his fourth NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the season.  The 21-year-old Custer had the strongest car all day long, leading 151 of the 200 laps for the 300-mile race. But he had to come back after Michael Annett and Noah Gragson stayed on the track while the leaders went for a pit stop, and then benefited from a timely caution when B.J. McLeod got into the wall.  In all, Custer led 151 of the 200 laps in the race.  A dominating performance.

“I think you can see we’re going to hit it hard this summer,” Custer said after the race. “We’ve got some great cars. The guys did an awesome job with the car this weekend – I don’t how you could get the car any better than in that last run.

“This is a great track. I love it. I’ve been wanting to win here for a long time.”

After 140 laps, Custer’s lead over Bell had increased to more than 3 seconds. Logano continued to run third, 4.5 seconds behind the leader.

With 49 laps to go, Logano was the first among the contenders to make his green-flag pit stop. Custer made his stop with 47 laps remaining.

With 28 laps to go, two lead-lap cars still had not pit but B.J. McLeod hit the wall to bring out a caution. Custer had made his way back to third at the time.

The end came mand Custer had his Ford Mustang 2.917 seconds ahead of second place Logano, who was impressed.

When asked where he was getting beat by Custer on track, Logano grinned and deadpanned, “At Chicagoland.’’

“They did a good job. They had the fastest car in practice and Cole did an amazing job,’’ Logano said.

The top five was made up of Custer, Logano, Bell, Michael Annett, and Brandon Jones.  A full agate is posted below.       

Unofficial Race Results for the 19th Annual Camping World 300 - June 29, 2019 - Chicagoland Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 2, Cole Custer, No. 00 Haas Automation Ford, 200, 1, 3, 5, 151, 6, 58, Running
2) 1, Joey Logano(i), No. 12 Snap On Ford, 200, 5, 1, 3, 20, , 0, Running
3) 5, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem Toyota, 200, 3, 2, , , , 51, Running
4) 16, Michael Annett, No. 1 Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet, 200, 8, , 1, 25, , 36, Running
5) 6, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Menards/Bali Toyota, 200, 4, 4, , , , 46, Running
6) 7, Austin Cindric, No. 22 Discount Tire Ford, 200, 7, 7, , , , 39, Running
7) 10, Noah Gragson #, No. 9 MagnaFlow Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 14, Justin Haley #, No. 11 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet, 200, , 8, , , , 32, Running
9) 3, Ross Chastain(i), No. 10 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet, 200, 10, 10, , , , 0, Running
10) 9, Tyler Reddick, No. 2 KC Motorgroup Chevrolet, 200, 2, 5, , , , 42, Running
11) 8, Riley Herbst(i), No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota, 200, , , , , , 0, Running
12) 15, John Hunter Nemechek #, No. 23 Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 12, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 Big Green Egg Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 24, Running
14) 19, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 17, Gray Gaulding, No. 08 WorldWide Safety Consulting Chevrolet, 200, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 11, Chase Briscoe #, No. 98 Ford Performance Ford, 199, 9, , , , , 23, Running
17) 21, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 81 Comcast NBCUniversal Salute to Service Toyota, 199, , , 1, 1, , 20, Running
18) 13, Zane Smith, No. 8 Canadamark Diamond/BN3TH Chevrolet, 199, , 6, 1, 3, , 24, Running
19) 22, Shane Lee, No. 28 Titan Mining Rigs Toyota, 199, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 20, Landon Cassill, No. 4 Gerber Collision and Glass Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 25, Ray Black II, No. 07 ISOKERNFrplcs&Chmnys/ScubaLife Chev, 199, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 30, Stephen Leicht, No. 01 Gerber Collision Chevrolet, 199, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 31, Brandon Brown #, No. 86 BMSRaceTeam.com Chevrolet, 198, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 18, BJ McLeod, No. 15 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 196, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 26, Chad Finchum, No. 42 NLBHtng&Clng/Ryn'sCllsnSrvce Toyota, 195, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 35, Garrett Smithley, No. 0 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 195, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 34, Josh Williams, No. 36 Starbrite Star Tron/Simcraft Chevrolet, 195, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 24, Matt Mills, No. 5 J.F. Electric Chevrolet, 195, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 28, Tommy Joe Martins, No. 99 Diamond Gusset Jeans/The Podgoats Toyota, 194, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 37, Vinnie Miller, No. 78 JW Transport Chevrolet, 194, , , , , , 7, Running
31) 33, Ronnie Bassett Jr, No. 90 Bassett Gutters and More Chevrolet, 193, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 29, Camden Murphy(i), No. 74 RonaldHouseChicago.org Chevrolet, 192, , , , , , 0, Running
33) 4, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet, 127, 6, 9, , , , 11, Accident
34) 27, Joey Gase, No. 35 Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network , 111, , , , , , 3, Engine
35) 32, Timmy Hill, No. 66 OCR Gaz Bar Toyota, 71, , , , , , 2, Electrical
36) 23, Josh Bilicki, No. 17 RWR Chevrolet, 55, , , , , , 1, Vibration
37) 36, David Starr, No. 52 Dealer Associates Inc/FLURRY Chevrolet, 52, , , , , , 1, Engine
38) 38, Jeff Green, No. 38 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 11, , , , , , 1, Electrical
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race:2 Hrs, 20 Mins, 33 Secs
Total Race Length: 200 Laps - 300. Miles
Average Speed:128.068 MPH
Margin of Victory:2.917 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10:00, 2, 20, 19, 12, 7, 22, 1, 98, 10
Stage 2 Top 10:12, 20, 00, 19, 2, 8, 22, 11, 7, 10

Race Comments:Cole Custer won the 19th Annual Camping World 300, his sixth career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory.
Prior to the start of the race the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: No. 78 and 98 (unapproved adjustments), No. 28 (engine change), No. 17 (driver change), No. 38 (missed driver meeting) and No. 42 (crew chief missed driver meeting).

Failed to Qualify:(3) No. 93 Josh Bilicki, No. 13 Joe Nemechek(i), No. 89 Morgan Shepherd.

Caution Flags: 6 for 30 laps:
Laps: 13-15 (No. 7 Spin in Turn 2 [None]):
47-51 (Stage 1 Conclusion [15]):
79-84 (No. 39 Spin in Turn 2 [07]):
92-96 (Stage 2 Conclusion [01]):
112-115 (No. 39 Spin in Turn 2 [22]):
173-179 (No. 15 Incident in Turn 2 [10]).

Lead Changes:10 among 5 drivers:
J. Logano(i) 1-2:
C. Custer 3-14:
J. Logano(i) 15-19:
C. Custer 20-79:
J. Logano(i) 80-92:
C. Custer 93-111:
Z. Smith 112-114:
J. Earnhardt 115:
C. Custer 116-154:
M. Annett 155-179:
C. Custer 180-200.