AVONDALE, Ariz. – The Xfinity Series championship race came down to an overtime restart with all four championship contenders in the first two rows. This was a recipe for disaster but Cole Custer, John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer chose to race each other with respect.
This caught the attention of a Hall of Fame driver-turned-team owner, especially after Friday’s Truck Series race that had 12 cautions and four overtime attempts.
“You go to go-kart races and kids’ parents are fighting because one kid’s dumping another kid because that’s what they see on TV,” Tony Stewart said Saturday night about the level of respect in younger drivers. “And tonight was a great example that that’s not how you have to race. You can race clean, you can race door-to-door, you can race hard, but you can race each other with respect.”
Allgaier, Nemechek, Custer and Mayer entered the weekend as the remaining Xfinity playoff drivers. One would win their first Xfinity title. The other three would head to the offseason disappointed after the finale at Phoenix.
The race came down to an overtime restart. Custer and Nemechek were on the front row. Allgaier and Mayer were on the second. Once the green flag waved, the field fanned out. The drivers were four-wide at one point and three-wide at another. They avoided excessive contact with each other while battling for the lead.
Custer won the race and the title. Allgaier finished third. Mayer finished fifth. Nemechek finished 28th after a flat tire sent him into the outside wall coming to the start-finish line.
#NASCAR … Tony Stewart’s reaction as Cole Custer won the race and the Xfinity championship. pic.twitter.com/Pu4WmeZRxV
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) November 5, 2023
“I think that out of the four guys that raced for the championship tonight, there’s a lot of mutual respect between each other,” Nemechek said after the race.
“Like we have raced each other all season long — Sam came on there towards the end — but I feel like between Justin, Cole and myself, we raced each other as hard as we possibly can, as clean as we possibly can all season long battling for wins.”
Custer made similar comments about the battles with his fellow championship contenders: “We raced hard, but we didn’t hit each other. I mean, that’s what people should really look at. I mean, we were able to make moves and race our tails off and still not wreck each other. So just hats off to everybody.”
The difference in racing styles over the two nights led to very different post-race comments. Carson Hocevar was remorseful after he spun Corey Heim, who led 47 laps out of 179. Grant Enfinger and Heim said that the championship had been stolen from them.
The Xfinity post-race comments were the opposite. Mayer, Nemechek and Allgaier joked with media members and pointed out how much they enjoyed battles on the track.
“I mean, that was a lot of fun,” Mayer said in response to a question from NBC Sports. “That was probably the most fun I’ve had in a race car in a long time. Obviously, we came up a little bit short but it wasn’t a lack of effort.”
Allgaier made a deliberate choice early in the race based on the respect he had for Nemechek. Allgaier spun himself out in the opening laps instead of making contact with Nemechek that could have wrecked them both.
This decision meant that Allgaier had to make an extra pit stop in the opening stage and work his way back through the field. He also struggled in the early laps of stage 2 after putting scuffed tires on his car.
Allgaier continued making decisions based on respect as he worked his way back through the field. He had opportunities to move Chandler Smith and Austin Hill as both drivers held him up for several laps. Allgaier just kept working different lanes until he was able to pass them cleanly.
A caution for Dawson Cram and Anthony Alfredo set up the overtime finish and the potential for several cautions. The Championship 4 drivers, as well as Sheldon Creed, Riley Herbst and others raced each other clean.
“We all four battled all night, but it was clean,” Allgaier said. “We pushed each other to limits that I don’t know that I’ve seen (us) be pushed to and be that clean, side-by-side battling each other, taking lines away. Really, like, that was fun. … It was awesome.”