By GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports activities Author
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) — Cole Custer persevered by means of 4 late restarts to win a protracted NASCAR Xfinity Sequence race at Fontana on Saturday night time, claiming the title at his house observe for the second time.
Custer comfortably held off Noah Gragson and Trevor Bayne in triple time beyond regulation after the ultimate restart. Custer earned his tenth Xfinity Sequence victory in his SS-Inexperienced Gentle Racing Ford on the identical observe the place he earned his third in 2019.
“Simply an superior automotive,” Custer stated. “That factor was only a rocket ship all day. It was unreal how briskly we had been.”
Auto Membership Speedway was compelled to activate its seldom-used lights for the end due to a 23-minute crimson flag stoppage in double time beyond regulation. Custer was on the verge of reaching the white flag when Brandon Jones bought pushed down the observe and obliterated a number of sand barrels on the pit entrance, forcing a prolonged cleanup.
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The second race of the Xfinity season featured 4 cautions within the closing 10 laps and time beyond regulation of a race that set the brand new Xfinity Fontana file with 12 complete cautions.
Earlier Saturday, Custer certified in twenty first in his Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for the Cup Sequence race Sunday. Custer received seven Xfinity races in 2020, however made only one begin on the second-tier circuit in 2021.
Custer, the son of veteran racing govt Joe Custer, is from Ladera Ranch, an prosperous coastal neighborhood in Orange County about 55 miles south of Fontana. The 24-year-old driver has been watching races at Auto Membership Speedway since he was 5.
Custer received the Xfinity race at Fontana in 2019 when he wasn’t but a full-time Cup Sequence driver, holding off Kyle Busch and suspending the star’s historic 2 hundredth victory.
Custer was within the lead with 10 laps left when a warning for particles despatched the vehicles to the pits for what they thought was an enormous end. The truth is, they had been simply getting began.
Custer took the highest spot from Gragson on the restart — however for just one lap earlier than one other warning went up. Custer and Gragson had been ramping up for an time beyond regulation end when Jones spun within the first flip, forcing one more warning.
Custer bought in entrance and was seconds away from the white flag when Jones was despatched skidding into the sand barrels. Jones was capable of get out of his automotive after the nasty wreck, which was brought on by contact between Stefan Parsons and Sheldon Creed.
“I bought midway caught on the grass and midway on the pavement, and the rear tires had been within the grass so I couldn’t get something to grip up for me to get out of that grass,” Jones stated. “I noticed it coming. I by no means have hit the sand earlier than. A ton of affect there, and I actually didn’t really feel a lot of something, which is stunning, so good job by these guys.”
Creed is married to Parsons’ twin sister, Cami.
Landon Cassill’s automotive caught fireplace on the eighth lap and burst into an unusually bright-orange ball of flames, however Cassill pulled over and simply bought out.
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