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The stars of the NASCAR Xfinity Series traveled to the Pocono Mountains for some tricky action around the “Tricky Triangle.” Coming off a thrilling race at the Chicago Street Course, the next challenger on the schedule was the 2.5-mile-triangle Pocono Raceway. Sheldon Creed, a Joe Gibbs Racing driver, and Brandon Jones, a former JGR and current JR Motorsports driver, made up a surprising front row to start the race. In fact, many new faces found themselves in the top-10, with Taylor Gray qualifying fourth, though he went to the rear, Ryan Sieg in seventh, and Sammy Smith in ninth. Was that the sign of a new surprise winner? Let’s find out.
This was the layout for the Explore The Pocono Mountains 225, per FOX Sports’ reporter’ Bob Pockrass.
The fuel window was around 35-38 laps and each team had four sets of tires.
Here were the drivers that went to the rear:
It didn’t take long for the first caution to come out. Dawson Cram hit the outside wall hard to bring out the yellow. Cram’s wreck looked similar to many Turn 1 Pocono wrecks in the past. He was able to get out of the car and head to the infield care center.
It didn’t take long for Justin Allgaier to find himself at the front. Following a heated battle with Creed and Chandler Smith, Allgaier took the lead on lap seven and quickly drove off. By the end of Stage 1, he extended his lead to over four seconds over second-place Cole Custer. After a 20-lap first stage, Allgaier took the green-and-white checkered flag for his series-leading 11th stage win of 2024.
During pit stops, Allgaier and his team were discussing any potential problems with the car after he nearly lost it going around a crew member. To make matters worse, the team was penalized for equipment interference, meaning he would start the second stage in the back of the field. He worked his way up to 28th before the next caution came out.
What happened to cause that next caution? It was a tire carcass that came off the No. 17 of William Byron. The replay shows Byron’s tire going down to bring out the caution for debris. He brought the car onto pit road, and the team sent him back out to avoid losing a lap. Not the start to Stage 2 the two Chevrolet drivers were hoping for.
Cole Custer ran inside the top five for all of Stage 1 and Stage 2. Following the issues from Allgaier and Byron, little stood between the defending champion and the stage victory. Similar to Allgaier, Custer opened his lead to over four seconds by the end of the stage. It was Custer’s third stage win of the season. Another driver in search of his first win in 2024 got one step closer. He’d have his work cut out for him as the No. 7 car finished the stage inside the top-10.
Quite literally out of Turn 1, there was a multi-car accident that brought out the fifth caution of the race. Parker Retzlaff got loose after a stack up that got him into Brennan Poole, Ryan Ellis, and Leland Honeyman. Ellis took the car to the garage while the remaining three stayed in the race.
A green-flag pit cycle was underway, with many drivers pitted at different points of the stage. Allgaier was one driver was stretching the fuel while other pitted. As long as he had a gap to Custer, who pitted during the cycle, he would’ve been fine. That all changed however with a caution with 21 laps to go for the No. 35 stalling on the backstretch.
Allgaier’s last pit stop was lap 48. When all the cars that last pitted on lap 4 came in, he stayed out in the lead, with three cars between him at Custer. The race went green with less than 20 laps to go. Who came out on top? Allgaier out front? Or Custer with fresh tires?
The No. 7 got ahead of the field on the restart, but Custer got up to second coming off of Turn 2. Before the No. 00 could give chase, the caution came out for a multi-car accident in Turn 2. Barring any overtimes, this ensured Allgaier could make it on fuel, but now he had to battle Custer head-on on the restart.
Custer stayed on Allgaier’s bumper for the last 12 laps of the race. He waited for an opportunity to take the lead, and with nine laps to go, he finally pounced. The timing was perfect for Custer, as Shane van Gisbergen got spun by Sam Mayer for the race’s seventh caution with seven laps to go. Now Custer was in the catbird seat with the lead and fresh tires.
Custer vs. Allgaier for the win. The No. 7 took the lead off of Turn 1, but Custer’s crossover gave him the top spot. Custer had another challenger to worry about: William Byron in the No. 17 Camaro. Custer held the lead and had the better tires. As the laps winded down, he slowly extended his lead over the Chevy duo behind him.
It was mentioned earlier that Ford had yet to win in the 2024 Xfinity Series season. That all changed at Pocono. With the right strategy and a fast Ford Mustang, Custer won the Explore The Pocono Mountains 225. It was Custer’s first win of the season and the 14th of his career. After 19 races, the Blue Ovals were back in victory lane. The defending champion locked himself into the playoffs and extended his points lead to 51 points.
Well, Daily Downforce readers, that’s it for the Xfinity Series at Pocono. The race had everything, from on-track battles to different pit strategies. And at long last, Ford is a winner in the Xfinity Series again. Does this help Custer’s chances of returning to Cup next season? Silly Season is underway in NASCAR, and this win could make things even sillier.
Be sure to tune back in right here at DailyDownforce.com tomorrow for our coverage of The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPA.com
