Custer wins, Byron crowned Xfinity champion after heated battle

Rookie William Byron won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and Cole Custer earned his first series victory.

"I can't believe this honestly," Custer said. "I can't say enough about this group. There's no better team that I've raced with before. We really wanted to have a good showing during Ford Championship Weekend even though we weren't in (the title hunt).

"This is just unbelievable. Going into this year there were just so many question marks. We had nothing in December. To see how far we have come is just incredible."

Byron’s championship came after a thrilling back-and-forth battle in the final stage with veteran Elliott Sadler, as Byron finally cleared him for the championship lead with nine of 200 laps remaining.

As Sadler was trying to run down Byron for another pass attempt, he ended up making contact with Ryan Preece and shortly afterward had to pit for a flat tire.

“Awesome job. Awesome job! I can’t believe it,” Byron said over his team radio as he took the checkered flag in the third position.

The champion and the race winner are both 19 years old, a sign of NASCAR’s future beginning to move into their own.

The end of the race featured a triple-burnout, with Byron and Custer celebrating and Sam Hornish Jr. also turning doughnuts as the No. 22 Team Penske Ford team won the series owner’s championship.

“He raced me clean,” Byron said of Sadler. “We raced hard for it. I have to thank God for giving me this platform to perform. Thank you guys. What an incredible crowd.”

Sadler was incredibly dejected after the race and confronted Preece on pit road. It was his fourth second-place finish in the series standings since 2011.

“He cost us a championship and he wasn’t even racing anybody,” Sadler said of Preece. “I let my race team down tonight. Somebody not even racing for anything let Byron get back to us. He cost us a championship.”

Tyler Reddick finished fourth in the race and Preece ended up fifth.

Dale Jr.'s take

After Hemric was basically eliminated from title contention, this season's championship was left to be decided by three JR Motorsports teammates.

“Man, that is tough watching those guys battle like that together,” said team co-owner, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. “William did a great job running an awesome race to be as young as he is, he drove like a veteran tonight. I know Elliott (Sadler) is probably really disappointed.

"It’s hard to watch any of your guys lose one, but at least we will be taking the trophy back to Mooresville tonight. This is great for JRM and all our employees. One thing about William winning, the over-the-wall guys I’m pretty close to a lot of them. They pit my car, too. It’s pretty cool to see these guys enjoy themselves. This really effects a lot of people. I’m really glad to be a part of it.”

Stage 2

Custer made it look easy in the second 45-lap segment, claiming the Stage 2 victory by more than five seconds over Hornish.

Reddick finished third, Preece was fourth and Byron was fifth, and the top running Championship 4 contender.

At the end of the stage, the rest of Championship 4 contenders ended up: Sadler in sixth, Justin Allgaier in ninth and Daniel Hemric in 35th.

Following pit stops during the stage brake, Custer was the first off pit road and returned to the lead to begin Stage 2. Sadler came off pit road fourth and was the highest running Championship 4 contender as the final stage got underway.

“Awesome job guys, awesome job,” Sadler said over his team radio after the stops.

On Lap 60, Hemric radioed his crew and told them he appeared to have an electrical issue. He immediately dashed down pit road and his team decided to change the battery on his No. 21 Chevrolet.

Changing the battery, however, still left the car initially with no power. By the time Hemric got power back and returned to the track, he was 12 laps down and well out of further title contention.

On Lap 78, Christopher Bell – who won the Truck driver’s title on Friday night – was forced to bring his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to pit road after he blew his engine. That knocked the No. 20 team out of contention for the owner’s championship.

Stage 1

After a very back-and-forth battle, Custer finally broke free from Reddick and held on for the Stage 1 victory.

Spencer Gallagher finished third, Scott Lagasse Jr. was fourth and Preece completed the top-five.

At the end of the first 45-lap segment, Hemric was running seventh – highest of the Championship 4 contenders. Sadler was eighth, Byron was 12th and Allgaier 19th.

Following pit stops during the stage break, Reddick was first off pit road and inherited the lead. “Awesome stop guys, thank you very much,” he said over his team radio.

J.J. Yeley brought out the first caution of the race on Lap 19 when he spun exiting off Turn 2.

Before the race even began, Ryan Reed was black-flagged for changing lanes prior to reaching the start/finish line and had to serve a pass-thru penalty on pit road.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	00	Cole Custer	Ford	200		182
2	22	Sam Hornish Jr.	Ford	200	15.405
3	9	William Byron	Chevrolet	200	24.705
4	42	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	200	24.837	18
5	18	Ryan Preece	Toyota	200	28.246
6	48	Brennan Poole	Chevrolet	200	31.581
7	19	Matt Tifft	Toyota	200	32.944
8	1	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	200	39.621
9	5	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
10	60	Ty Majeski	Ford	199	1 lap
11	98	Casey Mears	Ford	199	1 lap
12	7	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
13	62	Brendan Gaughan	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
14	33	Brandon Jones	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
15	24	Corey Lajoie	Toyota	199	1 lap
16	11	Blake Koch	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
17	4	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	198	2 laps
18	2	Ben Kennedy	Chevrolet	198	2 laps
19	23	Spencer Gallagher	Chevrolet	198	2 laps
20	16	Ryan Reed	Ford	198	2 laps
21	3	Harrison Rhodes	Chevrolet	198	2 laps
22	14	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	198	2 laps
23	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	197	3 laps
24	0	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	196	4 laps
25	07	Ray Black Jr.	Chevrolet	196	4 laps
26	93	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	196	4 laps
27	01	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	196	4 laps
28	90	Josh Williams	Chevrolet	196	4 laps
29	52	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	195	5 laps
30	40	Chad Finchum	Chevrolet	194	6 laps
31	8	Caesar Bacarella	Chevrolet	193	7 laps
32	99	David Starr	Chevrolet	192	8 laps
33	78	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	191	9 laps
34	21	Daniel Hemric	Chevrolet	187	13 laps
35	39	Stephen Leicht	Chevrolet	102	98 laps
36	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	78	122 laps
37	13	Carl Long	Toyota	54	146 laps
38	74	John Graham	Dodge	31	169 laps
39	15	Harrison Rhodes	Chevrolet	19	181 laps
40	38	Jeff Green	Chevrolet	10	190 laps