FONTANA, Calif. – On a day that tested which lines were better to race at certain times and where tire wear became a factor late, Cole Custer endured three overtime restarts to win the Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club Speedway Saturday.
Custer’s win came in a car fielded under a partnership between SS Green Light Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing, Custer’s Cup series team. It was also Custer’s first victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series since 2019, the last season he raced as a regular in the series before moving up to Cup competition.
Although the race started in the afternoon and dragged on into the evening, Custer was the class of the field all day, leading a race-high 80 laps and twice charging from the outside of the fourth row to the lead after slow pit stops under caution.
“Man, it was just an awesome car,” said Custer, who grew up about an hour south of the speedway in Ladera Ranch. “That thing was just a rocket ship all day. I can’t thank (car owner) Bobby Dotter enough—everybody that was involved on this car.
“It was unbelievable how fast we were… It’s awesome to win at home—can’t wait for tomorrow.”
Noah Gragson was the highest-finishing Xfinity series regular, leading 25 laps and trailing Custer by just over half a second at the finish.
“I felt like the car was really close all day, just struggled with the cloud cover and the temperature change—too loose or too tight,” Gragson said. “Hats off to all the guys on the 07 car and Cole Custer. He was really fast today.”
Trevor Bayne, the 2011 Daytona 500 winner, ran third in his first Xfinity Series start since 2016. Gragson’s teammate Josh Berry finished fourth, while Anthony Alfredo, whose team used tire strategy to their advantage by putting on fresh sticker tires late in the race, came home in fifth.
Daytona winner Austin Hill suffered damage early after being turned into the wall on the frontstretch within the first 10 laps, salvaging a 27th-place finish.
The race was temporarily halted by a 23-minute red flag after a crash that saw Brandon Jones crash into the sand barrels at the pit road entrance. Jones was uninjured and crews spent the time repairing the damage and sweeping sand off pit road.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series now moves on to Las Vegas Motor Speedway to continue their West Coast tour, with a 300-mile race next Saturday.
As for race winner Cole Custer, he’ll roll off 21st in Sunday’s WISE Power 400 for the NASCAR Cup Series. Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric will start on the pole for the first time in his career.