Cole Custer earned his opportunity for an Xfinity championship the hard way Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway, passing rookie Tyler Reddick on the final lap for his second career victory. The compelling event featured a track-record 13 cautions, including an eight-car melee on the opening lap when pole-winner Christopher Bell lost control of his car. The final restart came with two laps remaining, with Custer wining by a margin of .162 of a second after bouncing off Reddick. Custer made his NASCAR K&N Pro Series debut in 2013 at Bristol Motor Speedway in a Ken Schrader Racing entry, becoming the youngest race winner in series history at age 15 later that season.
No driver had a rougher weekend at Texas than Todd Gilliland. The 18-year-old son of NASCAR veteran racer and car owner David Gilliland, was leading Friday’s truck series event when he ran out of gas on the backstretch of the final lap. Justin Haley, 19, took advantage of Gilliland’s misfortune to earn his third victory of the season. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You can’t give up faith. The cards fell in our hands today,” said Haley, an Indiana native and 2016 K&N East champion who is the nephew of Braun Motorsports owner Todd Braun. Haley and his GMS Racing teammate, Johnny Sauter, have clinched two of the four spots into the truck championship weekend in Homestead.
Sunday’s single-groove, follow-the-leader Cup parade was the least exciting event of the weekend at Texas. The only real period of action came when Joey Logano made contact with the Aric Almirola car on a late restart. Almirola expressed his frustration with Logano after the race, saying that Logano “just continues to make things harder on himself.” The overnight rating on NBCSN dropped from a 1.6 mark last year to 1.5, while the attendance was lackluster.
Sunday marked Trevor Bayne’s final ride in the Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 Ford. After qualifying in the No. 15 spot, Bayne advanced into the top 10 late in the event before finishing 21st. Bayne became an instant hero in his home town of Knoxville, Tennessee, and beyond in 2011 after winning the Daytona 500 in just his second Cup start. But in 187 career races, Bayne recorded just five top-10 finishes. There has been some discussion about Bayne, 27, moving to the Xfinity Series next season, but nothing has been announced.
For fans who dare to look beyond the stars, Friday’s storyline with journeyman driver and car owner Carl Long offered insight into the plight of independent teams. Long said his No. 66 Cup entry for driver Timmy Hill was disallowed by NASCAR officials because it lacked a sealed engine. In social media posts, Long lamented a NASCAR rule that does not allow a part-time team to compete in more than two races without using a short block sealed engine that has been used in competition. “At this time we will be out of Cup racing,” Long said. “The sponsors have been great in supporting us. I don’t see them remaining with us. What we do receive is just not enough to rent another engine and pay the race cost.”
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