Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer claimed his first victory of the season and 11th of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career after winning the second annual Xfinity race at Portland International Raceway. This weekend’s win marked Custer’s eighth top-10 finish of the 2023 season and first ever win on a road course.
“Congratulations to Tony, Gene, Jonathan, Cole, and everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing on the win at Portland” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Cole raced his way from the back of the field and put his team in position to win at the end!”
“I’ve never won a road course race before. I’ve been so close, so many times. It’s just awesome to win this. I can’t thank Haas Automation, everybody at Stewart-Haas and the Xfinity program… and the Cup program. This is just a great day. J.T. (Jonathan Toney) just for coming in to crew chief… it’s awesome to get this trophy and get that out of the way. I’m pumped for the rest of the year. We got fast cars, and starting to put it all together.” commented Custer.
Cole Custer qualified P2 in his No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Performance Mustang for Saturday’s Pacific Office Automation 147. After making adjustments to fix a tire before the start of the race, Custer was sent to the rear of the field to start the race. Custer was able to race his way through the field and catch the leaders by the end of stage 2. After an incident with the two leading cars on the final laps of stage 2, Custer made the stage-winning pass at the line, winning by just 0.012s. After leading the first laps of stage 3, Custer missed a corner, and was shuffled back a few positions. A caution for debris came out with just 3 laps to go and Custer was able to race his way to the checkered flag in overtime by taking the lead on the first turn and winning by 0.142 seconds over Justin Allgaier.
Ford Performance teammate Brett Moffitt with AM Racing finished in P12, while Ryan Sieg with RSS Racing finished P18.
The NASCAR Cup Series raced on Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois. Team Penske’s Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney finished P3 and P6, while Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell finished P9 and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick finished P10.
Both the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series head to Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California this weekend.