NASCAR just concluded a thrilling 2024 regular season Xfinity Championship at Bristol. While all eyes were on Justin Allgaier as he was leading the table by 43 points, Cole Custer showed his brilliance. To be fair, it was Allgaier’s bad luck and the dominance of the defending champion for 104 laps that made him a back-to-back regular-season champion.

Allgaier, after a good start, was involved in multiple incidents and finished 30th, 10 laps down. Sheldon Creed continued his second-place streak, his 6th this season. Chandler Smith, Jesse Love, and Ryan Truex followed him to wrap up the top five. Meanwhile, Custer was relieved to have broken his streak of bad runs as he eyes a second championship.

Cole Custer proves himself once again

The 2023 Xfinity Champion wasn’t having the best season. In his last five runs, he finished, thrice outside the top 30 and once outside the top 20. Custer entered the Bristol race hoping for a good finish, the stage was after he qualified on P2, however, In the initial laps of the race he got a right front tire failure. Custer, who was running third at the time, shot up the racetrack prompting the first caution of the race.

This had him lose many track positions. However, the determined SHR driver climbed back up and eventually fended off against Sheldon Creed in the final stage of the race, eventually taking the chequered flag. It’s surprising that the Bristol race is only his second win of the season. The #00 driver was delighted to enter the playoffs on a high note.

In the post-race interview, he said, “Man it’s unbelievable the testament of these guys, really hard month, but everybody at the shop kept their heads in it. Can’t thank Highpoint enough awesome to getting them a win, Ford performance. It’s such a great job, unbelievable car all night. Ready to get to playoffs.” Talking about the much-needed victory, he said, “It’s huge. Huge to get this momentum cause our confidence was going down there this last month. So to really get this win, it means a lot.” 

This is Cole Custer‘s last playoff before he moves to the Cup next season. He will be piloting the #41 Ford season for the Haas Factory team. This wouldn’t be Custer’s first time in the Cup before spending two seasons in the second-tier series, he ran three full Cup seasons (2020, 2021, and 2022). Where he managed to back one win in 2020 on the Kentucky Speedway, post which he did not find much success and was demoted. If he bags a second championship in Xfinity, that would be a plus for his morale entering the daunting Cup Series.

Well, half the work is done, finished on the top in the regular season, and bagged the coveted playoff points. However, you have got to feel it for Justin Allgaier who missed out on the regular season championship.

It just wasn’t Justin Allgaier’s day at Bristol

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Allgaier has had a great season so far, so far he has managed to get 2 wins, seven top-5s, and fifteen top-10s. His average finish this year has been 13.88. However, when it mattered the most, the race gods weren’t in his favor. After leading 52 laps, he was determined to win stage one of the race, scoring important points. However, Austin Green denied him those points after the #89 crashed into the wall and came in Allgaier’s path. This scrapped the rear bumper of Allgaier’s car.

After minor repairs in a pit stop, the #7 driver was back on the track and worked his way up to 2nd before it all came crashing down on lap 153 as he had contact with Sheldon Creed and Allgaier dived nose first into the outside wall. His car suffered major damages and after the pit stop, a tool was dropped in front of his car and mistakenly he dragged it on track, incurring a penalty. Eventually, he lost the pace and ended in the 30th position, losing the regular season championship by 3 points.

In the post-race interview a disappointed Allgaier said, “We did all the right things, we led the beginning of the race, really thought we had the best car in the field … And then when the No. 32 blew the right-front and kind of came back across, ripped the rear bumper cover off — that obviously changed the game for us (and) put us behind.” However, he is hopeful of a bounce back in the playoffs as they enter the top-seeded team in the round of 12.

Who do you think is winning the championship this season and why? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.