Cole Custer used a final-lap pass to seal victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday afternoon, surpassing Tyler Reddick in an overtime finish at Pocono Raceway for his third win of the season.
Custer started from the pole and led a race-high 58 of the 103 laps in the Pocono Green 250. His Stewart-Haas Racing No. 00 Ford dipped low when Reddick bobbled in the final turn and was .226 seconds ahead at the checkered flag, clinching his first victory at the 2.5-mile track and the fifth win of his Xfinity Series career.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos
“Tyler gave me a real run for my money there,” Custer said. “I have no idea how he made it stick on that restart on the bottom passing me but he did. He was unbelievable on the brakes at the end. I was just able to kind of force a mistake a little bit trying to pack air on him. It was a fun end of the race. I wish I didn’t have to do it like that, but it probably made it exciting.”
Chase Briscoe, Custer’s SHR teammate, finished just behind Reddick in third place. Ryan Preece took fourth with Christopher Bell completing the top five finishers.
Reddick, the series points leader, started near the rear of the field after his Richard Childress Racing crew made a pre-race transmission change in his No. 2 Chevrolet. He quickly rallied, charging into the top five by the completion of Lap 11. Reddick stayed in contention, finishing third and second at the stage breaks, with only a Lap 79 penalty for an outside tire violation briefly slowing his promising run.
Reddick closed during a series of late-race caution flags, then took the lead on the final restart with a bold move under Custer’s No. 00 into Turn 1. Reddick led just one lap — the next-to-last lap — but faltered on the final turn with the checkers about to unfurl.
RELATED: Reddick: ‘I just gave it away’
“Take it and give it right back — I’ve done that with Cole a few times here on the last lap,” Reddick said, adding that tight handling conditions out front caused his final slip. “Maybe one of these times, I’ll quit giving it to him, but he had a really good car all day. It was fun to battle with him. Hope the fans enjoyed it because I didn’t, getting passed on the last corner, but that’s racing.”
Bell recovered after a Lap 17 spin in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota, an incident where he escaped with minor contact with the outside retaining wall exiting the first turn. Pit strategy helped him regain track position and he grabbed the lead shortly after the start of Stage 2.
MORE: Bell continues after spin
Brandon Jones, a JGR teammate of Bell’s, was less fortunate when he found trouble in Turn 1. Jones lost control of his No. 19 Toyota, which sustained heavy damage after clouting the barrier. He finished last in the 38-car field, credited with completing just six laps.
MORE: Severe impact sidelines Brandon Jones
Justin Allgaier led 27 laps and won Stage 2 in the JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet. He overshot his pit stall on a late pit stop, then recovered from a late-race spin to finish 11th.
The Xfinity Series’ next race is the LTi Printing 250, scheduled for next Saturday (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM) at Michigan International Speedway.