June 3, 2023 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Cole Custer victorious in Xfinity Series at Portland

Taking advantage of a melee in Turn 1 after an overtime restart, Cole Custer held off charging Justin Allgaier to win Saturday’s Pacific Office Automation 147 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Portland International Raceway.

After a lap 73 caution for debris on the track, Allgaier held the lead for the overtime restart on lap 76. Restarting behind Allgaier, Parker Kligerman steered to the inside and charged the first corner, carrying Allgaier wide and knocking second place Sheldon Creed, the pole winner, off the track.

From the inside lane, Custer shot into the lead through Turn 1.

Allgaier negotiated the barriers in the Turn 1 chicane and retained second place, and though he got to Custer’s bumper on the final lap, he couldn’t make a clean pass for the win. Custer won the drag race to the finish line by 0.142s to score his first victory of the season in the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

“I was just trying not to make mistakes,” Custer said of the final restart. “I did the exact same thing (that Kligerman did). I saw him drive in so deep, and I did the same thing two restarts ago.

“Man, I’m just so happy. I’ve never won a road course race before. I’ve been so close so many times, and it’s just so awesome to win this… I’m pumped for the rest of the year. We’ve got fast cars.”

Custer, who won the second stage in a drag race against John Hunter Nemechek, led five laps to claim his 11th career victory. Allgaier led 23 and held a comfortable 4s advantage when Riley Herbst pulled off the track in Turn 9 with flames shooting from his front wheel wells.

That incident caused the fourth caution on lap 68, but a strong restart kept Allgaier in the lead until the final debris caution and subsequent overtime.

Allgaier was philosophical about Kligerman’s charge into the first corner.

“I saw a guy that decided he wanted to win his first race and just missed the braking zone,” said Allgaier, who picked up his first victory of the season in Monday’s rain-delayed Alsco Uniforms 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “I understand it. I don’t blame him for being aggressive. I just hate it for everybody on this team.

“I felt like we did everything we needed to do today. These guys put an absolutely incredible Camaro underneath me. We were able to get up there and mind our business and not make anybody mad and have good, solid laps. And then there at the end, to have it taken away like that and finish second is really tough.

“Hats off to Cole. He did what he needed to do—he made Turn 1.”

Allgaier’s JR Motorsports teammates, Sam Mayer and Josh Berry, finished third and fourth, respectively. Austin Hill was fifth, followed by Myatt Snider, Creed, Connor Mosack, Chandler Smith and Nemechek.

NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Number 13
Race Results for the Pacific Office Automation 147 - Saturday, June 3, 2023
Portland International Raceway - Portland, OR - 1.97 - Mile Paved

Total Race Length - 77 Laps - 151.69 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 6/3/2023 @ 07:16 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 2 00 Cole Custer Haas Automation Ford 77 7 1 54 Running 2 5 6
2 5 7 Justin Allgaier BRANDT Chevrolet 77 3 3 51 Running 1 23
3 36 1 Sam Mayer Accelerate Pros Talent Chevrolet 77 7 38 Running
4 3 8 Josh Berry Tire Pros Love The Drive Chevrolet 77 5 39 Running
5 8 21 Austin Hill Bennett Transportation Chevrolet 77 4 9 41 Running
6 9 19 Myatt Snider Tree Top Toyota 77 8 34 Running
7 1 2 Sheldon Creed Whelen Chevrolet 77 1 6 45 Running 2 47 1
8 11 24 Connor Mosack Open Eyes Toyota 77 29 Running
9 7 16 Chandler Smith # Quick Tie Products Inc. Chevrolet 77 28 Running
10 4 20 John Hunter Nemechek Red Bird Farms Toyota 77 2 2 45 Running 1 2
11 15 91 Alex Labbe Duroking/Larue/Portland Gear Chevrolet 77 26 Running
12 19 25 Brett Moffitt AM Technical Solutions Ford 77 25 Running
13 37 9 Brandon Jones Menards/Schultz Potting Soil Chevrolet 77 24 Running
14 14 48 Parker Kligerman Big Machine Racing Spiked Chevrolet 77 9 4 32 Running
15 27 02 Blaine Perkins # Chevrolet 77 22 Running
16 28 92 Josh Williams Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet 77 21 Running
17 23 31 Parker Retzlaff # FUNKAWAY Chevrolet 77 20 Running
18 24 39 Ryan Sieg CMRroofing.com Ford 77 19 Running
19 31 45 Jeffrey Earnhardt ForeverLawn Chevrolet 77 18 Running
20 29 53 Patrick Emerling Chevrolet 77 17 Running
21 17 78 Anthony Alfredo Dude Wipes Chevrolet 77 16 Running
22 20 51 Jeremy Clements Spartan Waste/Fox Sports 98.3 Chevrolet 77 15 Running
23 33 38 Joe Graf Jr. ArmsList.com Ford 77 14 Running
24 35 4 Garrett Smithley DozerWinchParts.com Chevrolet 77 13 Running
25 13 27 Jeb Burton Bommarito.com/EasyCare Chevrolet 77 10 13 Running
26 18 26 Kaz Grala FDC Black Cherry Bourbon Toyota 77 11 Running
27 6 10 Jordan Taylor(i) Leaf Home Water Solutions Chevrolet 77 6 5 0 Running
28 21 43 Leland Honeyman Rokform Chevrolet 76 9 Accident
29 22 44 Dylan Lupton Lupton Excavation Inc. Chevrolet 76 8 Running
30 16 18 Sammy Smith # Pilot Flying J Toyota 75 7 Running
31 25 08 Preston Pardus B2B/Chinchor Electric Ford 72 6 Running
32 12 98 Riley Herbst Monster Energy Ford 65 10 8 9 Engine
33 10 11 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 47 4 Running
34 30 28 Kyle Sieg HMS Commercial Service Ford 46 3 Rear Gear
35 32 35 Parker Chase Ontivity Toyota 36 2 Tie Rod
36 34 66 Mason Maggio(i) HMS Commercial Service Toyota 28 0 Transmission
37 38 07 Stefan Parsons Lanphere Auto Group Chevrolet 17 1 Overheating
38 26 6 Brennan Poole Cascade West Development Inc. Chevrolet 15 1 Accident

 Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 19 Mins, 45 Secs. Average Speed: 65.126 MPH Margin of Victory: 0.142 Seconds
Stage 1 Top 10: 2, 20, 7, 21, 8, 10, 00, 19, 48, 98
Stage 2 Top 10: 00, 20, 7, 48, 10, 2, 1, 98, 21, 27

 Failed to Qualify: None.

 Caution Flags: 5 for 10 laps; Laps: 20-23 (#07 Incident in Turn 3 [None]); 27-27 (Stage 1 Conclusion [66]); 52-52 (Stage 2 Conclusion [4]); 69-70 (#98 Incident in Turn 9 [20]); 74-75 ( [26]).
 

Lead Changes: 5 among 4 drivers; S. Creed 1-22; J. Nemechek 23-24; S. Creed 25-49; C. Custer 50-52; J. Allgaier 53-75; C. Custer 76-77.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: June 10, 2023 - Sonoma Raceway
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