California Native Cole Custer Wins Xfinity Race at Auto Club Speedway

Getty Images

FONTANA, CA – RIS – Former NASCAR Xfinity Champion Cole Custer took a Ford Mustang to Auto Club Speedway on Saturday and dominated the Xfinity event on Saturday afternoon.  Custer was driving a car that has an alliance with Stewart Hass Racing and ran away from the field in the third overtime for his second win at the track. 

Custer led 80 of the 165 laps, taking the Production Alliance Group 300 by a 0.565-second margin of victory over runner-up Noah Gragson. Custer’s second win at the 2-mile California track was the 10th of his Xfinity Series career and the first for car owner Bobby Dotter’s SS Green Light Racing team.

“Yeah, it was awesome,” said Custer, a California native. “I could move around how I wanted to, and we got a little too loose one of those runs but we put it back and it was a rocket ship again. It is an honor to drive that kind of race car because you don’t get them too often.” 

Gragson led 25 laps and brought the JR Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet home in second, with Trevor Bayne placing third. Josh Berry and Anthony Alfredo finished out the top five in order.

Bayne, making his first Xfinity Series start since 2016, won Stage 1 and led 24 laps in the first of seven scheduled races this year in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Alfredo made a late charge for Our Motorsports, his No. 23 team saving a fresh set of tires for the end to put him in contention.

The race was forced into extra laps by a flurry of late caution periods that prompted three overtime attempts. The biggest late-race incident was a heavy hit by the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Brandon Jones, who took the brunt of a multi-car tangle that sent his car into the sand barrels that protect the edge of the outside pit wall. That crash forced a 23-minute red flag for clean-up at pit entry.

Austin Hill, winner of the last weekend’s season opener at Daytona International Speedway, encountered trouble early after a bump from Josh Berry’s No. 8 Chevy on Lap 3. Hill’s No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet scraped the outside retaining wall, dropping four laps off the pace after repairs. He finished 27th, three laps down.

The Xfinity Series’ next race is scheduled Saturday, March 5th, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Unofficial Results: 23rd Production Alliance Group 300 - Saturday, February 26, 2022 - Auto Club Speedway
Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, TmsLed, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1)
 2, Cole Custer(i), No. 07 Production Alliance Group Ford, 165, 2, 1, 5, 80, , 0, Running
2) 6, Noah Gragson, No. 9 Bass Pro Shops/TrueTimber/BRCC Chevrolet, 165, 4, 4, 6, 25, , 49, Running
3) 4, Trevor Bayne, No. 18 Devotion Nutrition Toyota, 165, 1, , 2, 24, 1, 44, Running
4) 11, Josh Berry, No. 8 PUBG Mobile Chevrolet, 165, 7, 9, , , , 39, Running
5) 28, Anthony Alfredo, No. 23 Dude Wipes Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 32, Running
6) 13, Sam Mayer, No. 1 Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet, 165, 10, 8, , , , 35, Running
7) 1, AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevrolet, 165, 6, 7, 1, 13, , 39, Running
8) 20, Justin Allgaier, No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet, 165, 3, 3, 3, 7, , 45, Running
9) 16, Riley Herbst, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford, 165, , 10, , , , 29, Running
10) 14, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 CMRRoofing.com/A-game Ford, 165, 8, , , , , 30, Running
11) 30, Brandon Brown, No. 68 TradeTheChain.com Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 26, Running
12) 5, Daniel Hemric, No. 11 Poppy Bank Chevrolet, 165, 9, 6, 1, 10, , 32, Running
13) 12, Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 165, 5, 5, 1, 3, , 36, Running
14) 21, Jeb Burton, No. 27 Arrowhead Brass Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 23, Running
15) 18, Joe Graf Jr., No. 38 Tahoe Blue Vodka Ford, 165, , , , , , 22, Running
16) 22, Kyle Weatherman, No. 92 PORAC Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 10, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 First Pacific Funding Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 38, Kyle Sieg, No. 28 TopPools.com Ford, 165, , , , , , 19, Running
19) 17, Brett Moffitt, No. 02 Half Off Wholesale Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 18, Running
20) 36, Joey Gase, No. 35 OneLegacy Toyota, 165, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 34, Josh Williams, No. 78 American Iron Rentals & I.M.S. Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 16, Running
22) 24, JJ Yeley, No. 66 Remote Health Solutions Toyota, 165, , , , , , 15, Running
23) 25, Matt Mills, No. 5 J.F. Electric Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 14, Running
24) 19, Alex Labbe, No. 36 Southwest Site Services Chevrolet, 165, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 29, Kaz Grala(i), No. 45 Lilly Finance/Ruedebusch Chevrolet, 163, , , , , , 0, Running
26) 31, Myatt Snider, No. 31 TaxSlayer Chevrolet, 163, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 8, Austin Hill #, No. 21 Bennett Transportation and Logistics Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 33, Mason Massey, No. 91 BRUNT Workwear Chevrolet, 162, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 37, Jeffrey Earnhardt, No. 26 ForeverLawn/Harvest Toyota, 161, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 23, Stefan Parsons, No. 99 SOKAL Chevrolet, 159, , , , , , 7, Accident
31) 27, Tommy Joe Martins, No. 44 Market Rebellion Chevrolet, 158, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 9, Sheldon Creed #, No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet, 156, , , , , , 5, Accident
33) 3, Brandon Jones, No. 19 Menards/Patriot Lighting Toyota, 155, , 2, 1, 3, , 13, Accident
34) 26, Bayley Currey, No. 4 KSDT CPA Chevrolet, 154, , , , , , 3, Running
35) 32, Ryan Vargas, No. 6 Swann Security Chevrolet, 150, , , , , , 2, Accident
36) 35, Jesse Iwuji #, No. 34 Chevy Truck Month Chevrolet, 131, , , , , , 1, Running
37) 15, Jade Buford, No. 48 Big Machines Spiked Coolers Chevrolet, 123, , , , , , 1, Accident
38) 7, Landon Cassill, No. 10 Carnomoly Chevrolet, 6, , , , , , 1, Engine
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 5 Mins, 5 Secs.
Race Length: 165 Laps, 330. Miles
Average Speed: 105.682 MPH
Margin of Victory: .565 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 18, 07, 7, 9, 54, 16, 8, 39, 11, 1
Stage 2 Top 10: 07, 19, 7, 9, 54, 11, 16, 1, 8, 98

Comments: Cole Custer has won the Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club Speedway, his 10th career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason(s) indicated: Nos. 26, 27, 34, 35, 44, 78 (Unapproved Adjustments), 38 (Driver Change), 28 (Engine Change).

Failed to Qualify: (3) 33 Will Rodgers, 08 Joe Graf Jr., 47 Brennan Poole.

Cautions: 12 for 58 laps;
Laps: 8-13 (Possible Fluid From No. 10 [21]);
20-24 (Debris Turn 2 [21]);
37-42 (Stage 1 Conclusion [91]);
44-48 (No. 11, 54 Incident Frontstretch [91]);
57-60 (No. 19 Incident Turn 4 [36]);
72-76 (Stage 2 Conclusion [44]);
104-108 (No. 68 Spin Turn 2 [36]);
125-128 (No. 48 Incident Turn 2 [68]);
142-144 (Debris Turn 1 [5]);
147-150 (No. 2, 02 Incident Turn 1 [16]);
152-155 (No. 11, 19 Incident Turn 2 [78]);
157-163 (No. 19, 2, 99 Incident Turn 4 [Red Flag: 00:23:01] [66]).

Lead Changes: 19 among 8 drivers;
A. Allmendinger 1-13;
T. Bayne 14-23;
N. Gragson 24;
T. Bayne 25-38;
D. Hemric 39-48;
C. Custer(i) 49-59;
N. Gragson 60;
C. Custer(i) 61-72;
J. Allgaier 73;
B. Jones 74-76;
C. Custer(i) 77-103;
N. Gragson 104;
J. Allgaier 105-108;
N. Gragson 109-124;
T. Gibbs 125-127;
J. Allgaier 128-129;
N. Gragson 130-134;
C. Custer(i) 135-143;
N. Gragson 144;
C. Custer(i) 145-165.

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

Read More on Cup / XFINITY / Truck news
Volume 2022, Issue 2, Posted 9:28 PM, 02.26.2022