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Race report

Cole Custer steals regular season title from Justin Allgaier with late Bristol win

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver rebounded from an early issue to win the regular season finale at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Cole Custer entered this race with an improbable shot at the regular season title, but a disastrous run at Bristol for Justin Allgaier gave Custer the opportunity to claim the Xfinity Series regular season title.

"Man, it's unbelievable," said Custer, who hopes to defend his 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in the playoffs. "Just a testament to these guys. Really hard month, but everyone at the shop really kept their heads in it... Unbelievable car all night. So ready to get to the playoffs."

He added that "it's huge to get the momentum" that comes from winning the regular season crown, which is mostly symbolic but does come with some very real and valuable bonus points.

Custer crossed the line 1.1 seconds clear of Sheldon Creed, who now has 13 runner-up finishes in his NASCAR Xfinity career with zero race wins. Chandler Smith was third, Jesse Love fourth, and Ryan Truex fifth. Brandon Jones, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Sieg, Sam Mayer, A.J. Allmendinger rounded out the top-ten.

While Custer got his trouble out of the way early, Allgaier's entire race was plagued by misfortune. While leading the race, he lost the rear bumper after the wrecked car of Austin Green came across the track. He fought his back to the front, only to then crash into the inside wall after Sheldon Creed got into him. While the team made repairs to the car, the frantic scene saw Allgaier leave the pit box with a sawzall pinned under the splitter. And finally, he spun on his own while limping around the track, multiple laps down.

"What a frustrating night, said Allgaier, who lost his entire 43-point advantage entering the night. "We did all the right things, we led the beginning of the race, really thought we had the best car in the field ... And then when the No. 32 blew the right-front and kind of came back across, ripped the rear bumper cover off -- that obviously changed the game for us (and) put us behind."

Losing the regular season title by just three points to Custer in the end, after the race Allgair said he was  "Disappointed, frustrated, sad -- I don't even know what all the emotions I got right now are. But we'll rebound." The only good news is that he enters the playoffs as the top seed.

The playoff field is now set with Parker Kligerman and Sammy Smith joining the other ten drivers who were already locked in entering the race weekend. Other drivers who will fight for the 2024 title: Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, Shane van Gisbergen, Jesse Love, Sam Mayer, Riley Herbst, Sheldon Creed, and A.J. Allmendinger.

Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Pits Points
1 C. CusterStewart-Haas Racing 00 Ford 300

2:00'55.295

  8 53
2 S. CreedJoe Gibbs Racing 18 Toyota 300

+0.896

2:00'56.191

0.896 5 50
3
C. SmithJoe Gibbs Racing
81 Toyota 300

+0.936

2:00'56.231

0.040 5 50
4
J. LoveRichard Childress Racing
2 Chevrolet 300

+4.753

2:01'00.048

3.817 5 47
5 R. TruexJoe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 300

+6.227

2:01'01.522

1.474 5 42
6 B. JonesJR Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 300

+6.379

2:01'01.674

0.152 5 31
7 D. Earnhardt Jr.JR Motorsports 88 Chevrolet 300

+7.865

2:01'03.160

1.486 9 32
8 R. SiegRSS Racing 39 Ford 300

+8.489

2:01'03.784

0.624 6 29
9
S. MayerJR Motorsports
1 Chevrolet 300

+9.216

2:01'04.511

0.727 5 31
10 A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 300

+10.925

2:01'06.220

1.709 6 34
11
A. AlfredoOur Motorsports
5 Chevrolet 300

+10.959

2:01'06.254

0.034 5 32
12 J. ClementsJeremy Clements Racing 51 Chevrolet 300

+11.456

2:01'06.751

0.497 5 40
13 R. HerbstStewart-Haas Racing 98 Ford 300

+13.415

2:01'08.710

1.959 6 28
14 A. HillRichard Childress Racing 21 Chevrolet 300

+14.980

2:01'10.275

1.565 5 23
15
S. SmithJR Motorsports
8 Chevrolet 300

+15.422

2:01'10.717

0.442 5 22
16 P. KligermanBig Machine Racing Team 48 Chevrolet 300

+15.595

2:01'10.890

0.173 6 22
17 B. PooleAlpha Prime Racing 44 Chevrolet 299

+1 Lap

2:00'56.498

1 Lap 5 20
18 S. van GisbergenKaulig Racing 97 Chevrolet 299

+1 Lap

2:00'56.852

0.354 7 19
19
J. Jr.Joe Gibbs Racing
19 Toyota 299

+1 Lap

2:00'58.884

2.032 5 19
20 J. BilickiDGM Racing 92 Chevrolet 299

+1 Lap

2:00'59.593

0.709 6 17
21 J. WilliamsKaulig Racing 11 Chevrolet 299

+1 Lap

2:01'00.412

0.819 6 16
22
B. PerkinsRSS Racing
29 Ford 299

+1 Lap

2:01'05.923

5.511 6 15
23
K. SiegRSS Racing
28 Ford 299

+1 Lap

2:01'08.111

2.188 7 14
24 R. EllisAlpha Prime Racing 43 Chevrolet 299

+1 Lap

2:01'11.568

3.457 8 13
25 J. BurtonJordan Anderson Racing 27 Chevrolet 299

+1 Lap

2:01'12.337

0.769 7 12
26 K. WeathermanDGM Racing 91 Chevrolet 298

+2 Laps

2:00'55.904

1 Lap 6 11
27
L. BeardenAM Racing
15 Ford 298

+2 Laps

2:01'03.086

7.182 7 10
28
C. WareJoey Gase Motorsports
35 Chevrolet 295

+5 Laps

2:01'01.757

3 Laps 7 9
29
G. VanSS-Green Light Racing
07 Ford 292

+8 Laps

2:00'59.453

3 Laps 6 8
30 J. AllgaierJR Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 290

+10 Laps

2:01'01.518

2 Laps 11 7
31
L. HoneymanYoung's Motorsports
42 Chevrolet 290

+10 Laps

2:01'12.214

10.696 9 6
32 C. FinchumSS-Green Light Racing 14 Chevrolet 280

+20 Laps

2:00'57.943

10 Laps 12 5
33
S. ParsonsAlpha Prime Racing
45 Chevrolet 276

+24 Laps

2:01'03.607

4 Laps 9  
34 M. DiBenedettoRSS Racing 38 Ford 275

+25 Laps

2:01'04.224

1 Lap 7 3
35 J. EarnhardtSam Hunt Racing 26 Toyota 205

+95 Laps

1:35'46.944

70 Laps 7  
36 G. SmithleyJoey Gase Motorsports 53 Ford 113

+187 Laps

50'51.344

92 Laps 5 1
37
P. RetzlaffJordan Anderson Racing
31 Chevrolet 51

+249 Laps

18'27.025

62 Laps 3 1
38
A. GreenJordan Anderson Racing
32 Chevrolet 50

+250 Laps

17'45.782

1 Lap 2 1

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