Cole Custer takes Pocono Xfinity win with last-lap pass

In NASCAR Overtime, Cole Custer and Tyler Reddick traded the lead twice in the final two laps in a tense battle for the Xfinity Series win. 

Reddick was able to cut under Custer and steal away the lead entering Turn 1 on the restart, holding the position until the white flag. While serpentining down the frontstretch, the RCR driver actually touched the outside wall while trying to hold back Custer.

Although it appeared the win was nearly in hand, Reddick overdrove the final corner and slipped up the track. Custer was able to slide underneath him and reclaim the lead just shy of the finish line, taking his third win of the season and fifth of his career.

"It was pretty unbelievable," said Custer. Tyler (Reddick) 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."

Custer's Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Chase Briscoe finished third. Ryan Preece and Christopher Bell rounded out the top-five.

"We were so good at the beginning of this race," said Reddick. "Even out front in clean air, I was just too tight to really hold the bottom that well.I probably could have held the bottom better -- I'm not going to lie to you -- just thought it was going to be really tight going into three so I put some rear brake into it and I just got loose and pretty much gave it right back to him there."

The final stage began on Lap 56 with Austin Cindric out front before being quickly overtaken by Custer and Justin Allgaier. Custer was able to solidify his position in the lead through a late round of green-flag pit stops where Allgaier overshot his pit stall and Reddick was penalized for a tire violation. As the laps ticked away, Custer's lead rose to over nine seconds until contact between Cindric and Jeffrey Earnhardt forced a caution with seven laps to go.

The race resumed with three laps to go only to quickly return to yellow when Allgaier spun in front of the pack in Turn 1. This, the seventh and final yellow of the event forced the race into overtime and set-up the two-lap shootout.

Stage 1

Custer led the race from the get-go and remained unchallenged through the early portion. Brandon Jones was the first incident of the race, spinning into the Turn 2 wall while running fourth, ending his day. Another incident followed the ensuing restart with Chad Finchum, Joey Gase and Todd Peck involved.

With ten laps remaining in the stage, Bell went spinning but narrowly avoided impacting the inside wall on the backstretch. Despite the early yellows and multiple hectic restarts, Custer was able to come away with the Stage 1 win ahead of Allgaier, Reddick, Austin Dillon, Cindric, Justin Haley, Ross Chastain, Ryan Sieg, John-Hunter Nemechek and Noah Gragson.

Stage 2

Nemechek and Earnhardt were the front row at the start of the second stage, as they and several others stayed out. Custer now found himself back in eighth but quickly made his way through the field. Bell took the lead on the restart with a three-wide move to the outside of Nemechek and Earnhardt.

Eventually, Allgaier and Reddick would find their way to the front and battle for the stage win with Allgaier prevailing. Bell placed third, followed by Custer and Annett.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	00	Cole Custer	Ford	103	-	59
2	2	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	103	0.226	1
3	98	Chase Briscoe	Ford	103	0.805
4	8	Ryan Preece	Chevrolet	103	1.178
5	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	103	1.637	7
6	9	Noah Gragson	Chevrolet	103	2.141
7	22	Austin Cindric	Ford	103	2.408	6
8	1	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	103	3.342
9	11	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	103	3.983
10	10	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	103	4.272
11	7	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	103	4.781	27
12	23	John Hunter Nemechek	Chevrolet	103	4.944	4
13	86	Brandon Brown	Chevrolet	103	5.081
14	4	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	103	5.243
15	36	Josh Williams	Chevrolet	103	6.381
16	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	102	1 lap
17	15	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	102	1 lap
18	07	Ray Black Jr.	Chevrolet	102	1 lap
19	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	102	1 lap
20	08	Gray Gaulding	Chevrolet	102	1 lap
21	90	Ronnie Bassett Jr.	Chevrolet	102	1 lap
22	18	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Toyota	102	1 lap
23	01	Stephen Leicht	Chevrolet	102	1 lap
24	52	David Starr	Chevrolet	101	2 laps
25	78	Vinnie Miller	Toyota	101	2 laps
26	39	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	100	3 laps
27	99	Todd Peck	Toyota	100	3 laps
28	74	Mike Harmon	Chevrolet	99	4 laps
29		Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	86	17 laps
30	5	Matt Mills	Toyota	65	38 laps
31	13	John Jackson	Toyota	36	67 laps
32	17	Camden Murphy	Chevrolet	36	67 laps
33	35	Joey Gase	Toyota	34	69 laps
34	93	Josh Bilicki	Chevrolet	33	70 laps
35	89	Morgan Shepherd	Chevrolet	31	72 laps
36	38	Jeff Green	Chevrolet	22	81 laps
37	42	Chad Finchum	Toyota	10	93 laps
38	19	Brandon Jones	Toyota	6	97 laps