Cole Custer wins Portland in chaotic ending

Sheldon Creed just cannot catch a break.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series sophomore was hoping to finally get to Victory Lane and appeared to be in prime position to do so when he won his first career pole for Saturday’s Portland International Raceway event, a track where he previously excelled in Stadium Super Trucks. Unfortunately for him, every other contender had the same idea.

After surviving a clash with John Hunter Nemechek in which the latter spun Creed at the end of Stage #2 before he returned the favour the next leg, he chased down Justin Allgaier before Riley Herbst‘s car caught fire in the final three laps to set up overtime. As Creed and Allgaier entered the first chicane on the ensuing restart, Parker Kligerman attempted to create a third line along the inside, but inadvertently caused the three to stack up together and send Allgaier and Creed off course.

“I went for it,” said Kligerman. “It was the correct move to make to win. Just mis-timed.”

Cole Custer, who was running behind the trio, snuck by to assume the lead. Allgaier tried to catch up, but could not find a clean overtaking opportunity as Custer beat him to the finish. The victory is Custer’s first since being demoted to the Xfinity Series from Cup.

“I saw them drive in there so deep, and I did the same thing like two restarts ago,” remarked Custer. “I’m just so happy. I’ve never won a road course race before. I’ve been so close, so many times. It’s just awesome to win this.”

Creed and Nemechek conversed about their clashes after the race, which ended on amicable terms. On the other hand, tensions between Nemechek and team-mate Sammy Smith lingered after the two tangled, though any matter between the two will likely be settled in the team meeting. The same could not be said for Jeb Burton, who argued with Chandler Smith regarding Smith nearly turning him in turn one with four laps remaining until a Kaulig Racing crewman put Burton in a headlock.

While the aforementioned have plenty of reason to leave Portland as angry drivers, others like Connor Mosack were probably more happy as he secured his first career top ten.

Brad Pérez replaced Leland Honeyman after twenty laps as the latter was dealing with food poisoning. Pérez had started the race as a crew member for their team and finished twenty-eigth.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	2	00	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	77	Running
2	5	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	77	Running
3	36	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	77	Running
4	3	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	77	Running
5	8	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	77	Running
6	9	19	Myatt Snider	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	77	Running
7	1	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	77	Running
8	11	24	Connor Mosack	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	77	Running
9	7	16	Chandler Smith	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	77	Running
10	4	20	John Hunter Nemechek	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	77	Running
11	15	91	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	77	Running
12	19	25	Brett Moffitt	AM Racing	Ford	77	Running
13	37	9	Brandon Jones	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	77	Running
14	14	48	Parker Kligerman	Big Machine Racing Team	Chevrolet	77	Running
15	27	02	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	77	Running
16	28	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	77	Running
17	23	31	Parker Retzlaff	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	77	Running
18	24	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	77	Running
19	31	45	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	77	Running
20	29	53	Patrick Emerling	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Chevrolet	77	Running
21	17	78	Anthony Alfredo	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	77	Running
22	20	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	77	Running
23	33	38	Joe Graf Jr.	RSS Racing	Ford	77	Running
24	35	4	Garrett Smithley	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	77	Running
25	13	27	Jeb Burton	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	77	Running
26	18	26	Kaz Grala	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	77	Running
27	6	10	Jordan Taylor*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	77	Running
28	21	43	Leland Honeyman/Brad Pérez ^	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	76	Accident
29	22	44	Dylan Lupton	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	76	Running
30	16	18	Sammy Smith	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	75	Running
31	25	08	Preston Pardus	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	72	Running
32	12	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	65	Engine
33	10	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	47	Running
34	30	28	Kyle Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	46	Rear Gear
35	32	35	Parker Chase	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Toyota	36	Tie Rod
36	34	66	Mason Maggio*	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	28	Transmission
37	38	07	Stefan Parsons	SS-Green Light Racing	Chevrolet	17	Overheating
38	26	6	Brennan Poole	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	15	Accident

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points
^ – Pérez replaced Honeyman mid-race; Honeyman is credited with the finish