The third time was the charm for Cole Custer, who became a first-time Xfinity Series champion by winning the 2023 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
The No. 00 Ford driver beat John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer to capture his elusive first title on the circuit. Custer had finished runner-up in the Xfinity championship race in 2018-19 before moving to NASCAR’s premier series for three seasons.
He returned to the Xfinity Series with Stewart-Haas Racing and was reunited with longtime team engineer Jonathan Toney, whose first season as a crew chief ended with Custer’s first title.
Follow along below for updates during and after Saturday’s championship finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Despite a nervous moment on the final restart, Cole Custer hung on for the lead, the victory and the Xfinity Series championship at Phoenix Raceway.
Custer was leading when he chose the outside lane for the restart but briefly fell to third behind championship contenders John Hunter Nemecheck (who restarted on the inside in second) and Justin Allgaier.
After Allgaier surged into the lead past Nemechek on the outside, Custer drove back around both cars on the backstretch and led the final two laps for his first NASCAR title.
“I thought it was over,” said Custer, who grabbed another gear to find the extra horsepower and speed to make the final pass for the lead. “I can’t believe we won that thing after going back to third on that restart.
“I think these guys have just really always believed in me all year, and I just can’t thank them enough for giving me really fast race cars and still believing in me when things weren’t going great.”
Sheldon Creed finished second, followed by Allgaier, Riley Herbst and Mayer. Nemechek crashed on the final lap and was outside the top 25.
Allgaier and Nemechek were left to lament the final lap.
“Drove in, and it didn’t turn,” said Nemechek, who led 60 laps. “I don’t know if we had a right front (tire) start going down or what exactly it was, but just drove in and didn’t turn.
“It sucks to end up where we finished. Had a really strong effort all day. Proud of this whole 20 crew. Proud of this whole group. One race doesn’t define us as a group, and it’s really just another race. If you win, you come out the champion. That’s what we told ourselves all week, and we almost had it.”
Said Allgaier, who still is seeking his first Xfinity championship after six shots at the title race: “I don’t know if I’ll get another shot at it again next year. We at least will have a shot at it, but I don’t know if we’ll make it. But so proud of the effort of this team and what we were able to accomplish. The restart was fantastic. I thought we did everything right.
"(Nemechek) kind of missed the bottom and drove all the way up and honestly I was afraid I was going to run into the back of him. When I tried to turn back down the hill, it just was enough to let (Custer) get back to my inside and ultimately getting (by) into Turn 3.
“I’m going to replay this one back in my head a couple times. I drove in there pretty deep and just kind of washed up. (Custer) had the turning car all night, and we were just a little bit too free.”
Cole Custer was five laps away from the Xfinity Series championship when the caution flew at Phoenix Raceway.
The Turn 4 spin by Anthony Alfredo erased a comfortable lead for Custer and bunched up the Championship 4 drivers for a green-white-checkered restart that will go beyond the scheduled 200-lap distance.
Custer will have lane choice for the green flag with John Hunter Nemechek likely to line up beside him on Row 1. Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer, the other title-eligible contenders, will make the next two choices on lanes for the restart.
With 20 laps remaining at Phoenix, a yellow for Conor Mosack scraping the wall in Turns 3 has set up a shootout for the Xfinity Series championship.
The Championship 4 drivers were running in the top four spots, led by Cole Custer and then John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer.
All are expected to pit under this caution.
With 43 laps remaining to decide the Xfinity Series championship, Cole Custer is back in the lead ahead of John Hunter Nemechek at Phoenix Raceway.
The Stewart-Haas driver made the pass into Turn 3 on the 1-mile oval and has built a gap of a few car lengths.
After finishing runner-up in the Xfinity Series championship race in 2018-19, Custer moved up to NASCAR’s premier series for three seasons. He returned to Xfinity this year with a singular goal of winning the elusive title.
With 50 laps remaining at Phoenix Raceway, the Xfinity Series championship seems to be boiling down to a two-way battle between John Hunter Nemechek and Cole Custer.
Nemechek’s No. 20 Toyota has a 0.323-second lead over Custer’s No. 00 Ford.
Justin Allgaier is lurking in fourth just ahead of JRM teammate Sam Mayer in fifth, but the other championship-eligible drivers are more than 3 seconds behind first.
A week after being eliminated from the playoffs, Sheldon Creed has re-entered the picture at Phoenix Raceway.
Creed briefly zoomed to the lead past John Hunter Nemeheck on Lap 127 of 200 but fell back to second three laps later.
It’s been an eventful week for Creed, who crashed with Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Hill on the final restart last week at Martinsville Speedway while racing for a Championship 4 berth.
Creed and Hill both missed qualifying for the title race, and team owner Richard Childress had harsh criticism for Creed (via NBC Sports’ Dustin Long).
This is the final race at RCR for Creed, who will join Joe Gibbs Racing next year (according to Hill). Creed is winless in 69 previous Xfinity starts (and two full seasons in 2022-23).
With 90 laps remaining in the Xfinity championship finale, John Hunter Nemechek is back in control at Phoenix Raceway.
Using a power move on a restart, Nemechek snatched the lead from Stage 2 winner Cole Custer as he aims to win his first title in his last race with Joe Gibbs Racing. Next year, Nemechek will move up to the Cup Series with Legacy Motor Club.
Custer is holding strong in second ahead of Austin Creed. Other championship contenders Sam Mayer (fourth) and Justin Allgaier (seventh) are losing ground.
A relatively uneventful second stage ended with some drama for a non-playoff driver.
Derek Kraus slid up into the wall near the end of the 45-lap stage, bringing out a yellow that extended through the Lap 90 stage end.
Cole Custer won the second stage, followed by title-eligible Sam Mayer and John Hunter Nemechek. Justin Allgaier, the fourth Championship 4 driver, had slid to ninth after starting the stage in third.
Cole Custer made an aggressive move to the bottom and took the lead from John Hunter Nemechek off Turn 1 to begin the second stage at Phoenix Raceway.
Meanwhile, JR Motorsports teammates Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer ran side by side without incident.
With 140 laps remaining, Custer led Nemechek by two car lengths, with Mayer in third and Allgaier in fifth.
Championship-eligible drivers occupied four of the top seven positions after 45 laps of the Xfinity Series finale at Phoenix Raceway with John Hunter Nemechek leading the way in first.
Cole Custer (seventh to second) and Sam Mayer (16th to fifth) each improved from their starting spots, but the big charger was Justin Allgaier.
After spinning on the second lap and dropping to the rear, the JR Motorsports driver rebounded to end the first stage in seventh place.
After the stage-ending yellow flag, Allgaier’s team made a move by gaining Allgaier four spots to third.
Stage 2 will begin with the four championship contenders at the front in this order: Nemechek, Custer, Allgaier and Mayer.
There was trouble on the second lap of the Xfinity Series championship finale at Phoenix Raceway for one of the title contenders.
After starting seventh, Justin Allgaier made an aggressive move under fellow contender John Hunter Nemechek for fourth, but the JR Motorsports driver lost control of his No. 7 Chevrolet on the inside of Turn 2.
There was only minor damage for Allgaier, who pitted and dropped to the rear during the ensuing yellow flag.
Nemeheck remained in fourth place ahead of title contenders Cole Custer (ninth) and Sam Mayer (15th).
The race restarted on Lap 8, but the yellow immediately flew again for a crash by Kyle Sieg.
The four Xfinity Series championship contenders took divergent paths and have varying motivations for winning the 2023 crown.
NBC Sports’ John Newby broke down the backstories of John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer and Sam Mayer.
Click here to read the breakdown of today’s 200-lap championship finale at Phoenix Raceway.
