HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Cole Custer completed a sweep of the first two stages in Saturday’s season-ending Ford EcoBoost 300 for the NASCAR XFINITY Series, asserting his dominance in the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford.
The stage win was Custer’s fourth of the season.
Polesitter Tyler Reddick won the race off pit road and led the field back to green for the restart on lap 52, but the real battle was behind him as William Byron won out on a three-wide battle at lap 55 to pass Daniel Hemric for fourth and take over the provisional points lead as a result.
Not long after, Hemric’s title chase fell by the wayside as he was forced to pit road with battery issues, falling 12 laps down to the field and down to 36th in the running order.
Meanwhile, Custer passed Reddick for the race lead on lap 62 and drove away, pulling out to a 7.615 second margin when the green-checkered flag waved over the field for the second time.
Hornish crossed the line in second, followed by Reddick, Ryan Preece and championship contender William Byron.
Elliott Sadler, Brennan Poole, Ty Majeski, Justin Allgaier and Corey LaJoie completed the points-scoring drivers in the top 10 at the second stage break.
In regards to the owner’s championship battle, Christopher Bell lost the motor in his No. 20 Toyota on lap 79, falling out of the race after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title Friday night at Homestead.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network, as well as a periodic contributor to SPEED SPORT Magazine.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 23-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: editor@racechaseronline.com
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