Pit Stops : Bristol Motor Speedway

• Thursday, September 19th, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

NASCAR Xfinity Series Set to Join Playoff Party

JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith and Big Machine Racing driver Parker Kligerman would like nothing better than for the status quo to hold firm in Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Entering the cutoff race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, 10 drivers already are locked into the seven-event postseason.

The only scenario that could eliminate Kligerman, who is 85 points above the current cut line, is a victory by a Playoff-eligible driver below the cutoff combined with a loss of more than 42 net points to Smith.

Kligerman can clinch a Playoff spot by scoring 14 points on Friday, no matter who wins the race.

Likewise, Smith has a commanding advantage for the final Playoff spot, unless a Playoff-eligible driver below him in the standings happens to win on Friday.

Smith leads Ryan Sieg by 43 points entering the first race to be broadcast by The CW, which subsequently will air all seven Playoff races in the series in anticipation of next year’s full-season schedule.

In two Xfinity starts at Bristol, Smith qualified sixth both times and posted finishes of 14th and ninth.

“I’m looking forward to running under the lights this Friday at Bristol as we contend for our position in the Playoffs,” Smith said. “I’ve had good runs there in the past, and JRM has always brought strong cars there, so I’m excited to get there and close out the regular season on a high note.”

The Xfinity regular-season title is also up for grabs, though Justin Allgaier has a commanding 43-point lead over reigning series champion Cole Custer entering the race that will decide who earns the 15-Playoff-point bonus.

Allgaier is the defending winner of the Food City 300. He’ll have a competitive teammate in his boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will make his first start of the season on Friday. Earnhardt led 47 laps in last year’s Bristol race before exiting with ignition problems after 271 of 300 circuits.

• Food City 300
• Pole Winner: Chandler Smith
• Age: 22
• Team : No 81 - Mobil 1 Toyota
• Owner: Joe Gibbs
• Crew Chief: Jeff Meendering
• Chandler Smith won the Pole Award for the Food City 300 with a lap of 1581 seconds, 121366 mph
• This is his fifth pole in 62 NASCAR Xfinity Series races
• This is his second pole and 20th top-10 start in 2024
• This is his first pole in two races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Cole Custer (second) posted his 19th top-10 start of 2024 and his eighth in eight races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Anthony Alfredo (third) posted his first top-10 start at Bristol Motor Speedway It is his sixth in 26 races this season
• Jesse Love (10th) was the fastest qualifying rookie

• Sunday, September 22nd, 2024
• NASCAR Wire Service - Reid Spencer

Cole Custer captures regular-season NASCAR Xfinity title with Bristol win

Cole Custer recovered from an early brush with the outside wall to win Friday’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the race that set the field for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs.

Custer’s second victory of the season, combined with a litany of trouble that befell Justin Allgaier, gave the driver of the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford an unlikely come-from-behind victory in the battle for the regular-season title and accompanying 15 Playoff-point bonus.

Custer, who led a race-high 104 laps, took the top spot for good with a pass of Sheldon Creed on Lap 209 of 300. In winning for the first time at Bristol and the 15th time in his career, Custer crossed the finish line 0.896 second ahead of Creed, who now has 13 runner-up finishes to his credit without an Xfinity win.

“This is huge, because our confidence was going down there the last month,” said Custer, the reigning series champion who will begin his title defense Sept. 28 at Kansas Speedway. “To get this win really means a lot…

“It’s unbelievable. These guys never give up. It’s been a tough month, but to be able to lead into the Playoffs like this, we’re going to really bring it to them.”

The race also secured Playoff spots for the final two drivers on the postseason grid. Sammy Smith and Parker Kligerman finished 15th and 16th, respectively, to earn their Playoff berths.

Chandler Smith ran third and Jesse Love fourth on Friday, both having already secured Playoff spots. Ryan Truex was fifth, followed by Brandon Jones, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Sieg (who missed the final Playoff spot by 36 points) and Playoff-bound Sam Mayer.

The battle for the regular-season championship took more twists and turns than a game of Dungeons and Dragons. Custer hit the outside wall on Lap 2 and cut a tire, temporarily jeopardizing his second-place position in the standings.

But Justin Allgaier, the driver Custer was chasing for the regular-season title, had his own share of ill fortune on Lap 52. Having led every lap to that point, Allgaier was cruising toward what would have been his 15th stage win of the season when the Chevrolet of Austin Green bounced off the outside wall into Allgaier’s path.

Contact between the Camaros sheared the rear bumper cover off Allgaier’s No. 7 Chevy. After a pit stop to repair the car’s right-rear quarter panel, Allgaier continued. Allgaier pitted on Lap 60 and stayed on the track during the stage break after Lap 85, putting him fifth for a restart on Lap 96.

He was second for a restart on Lap 127 but his sojourn in the top five didn’t last. On Lap 153, contact between Creed’s Toyota and Allgaier’s Chevy sent the No. 7 down the track nose-first into the inside wall.

During repairs, Allgaier’s car dragged a saw out of the pits, incurring a penalty. From that point on, the JR Motorsports driver ran roughly three seconds off the pace, rapidly losing laps and positions.

When Custer took the race lead from Creed on Lap 209, he had the regular-season lead, having erased the 43-point advantage Allgaier carried into the race. With his victory, Custer secured the regular-season crown by three points over Allgaier, who nevertheless will enter the postseason as the top seed with 34 Playoff points to Custer’s 28.

“I don’t really have any words for tonight,” said Allgaier, who finished 30th, 10 laps down. “It started with getting the damage from the wreck in front of us. There was nothing we could do. And then, just racing, trying to get as many stage points as we could, and I think the 18 (Creed ) came off the wall a little bit.

“I’m really bummed about tonight. We’ll go back and talk about it … We had the best car tonight. It was very obvious from the beginning of the race that it was the best car, and nothing to show for it.”

• Drivers Entered: 39 (1 drivers will not make the race)
• Laps Scheduled: 300
• Margin of Victory: 0.896 Seconds
• Time of Race: 2 Hours 0 Minutes 55 Seconds
• Average Speed: 79.344
• Cautions: 7 for 57 laps
• Lead Changes: 11
• Green Flag Passes: 1,978 (8.1 passes per green flag lap)

• Food City 300
• Race Winner: Cole Custer
• Age: 26
• Team : No 00 - HighPointcom Ford
• Owner: Gene Haas
• Crew Chief: Jonathan Toney
• Cole Custer won the Food City 300, his 15th victory in 169 Xfinity Series races
• This is his second victory and 18th top-10 finish in 2024
• This is his first victory and sixth top-10 finish in eight races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Sheldon Creed (second) posted his first top-10 finish in three races at Bristol Motor Speedway It is his 17th top-10 finish in 2024
• Chandler Smith (third) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Jesse Love (fourth) was the highest finishing rookie
• Cole Custer leads the point standings by 3 points over Justin Allgaier, and wins the regular season championship