TC Daily Pit Stop: Cole Custer Rallies to Win Bristol Race and Xfinity Regular Season Championship; Spire and Rick Ware Racing Execute Rare Driver Trade
TC Daily Pit Stop: Cole Custer Rallies to Win Bristol Race and Xfinity Regular Season Championship; Spire and Rick Ware Racing Execute Rare Driver Trade
TC Daily Pit Stop: Saturday, September 21, 2024
It’s the Bristol Night Race, Baby! It’s time to go racing tonight in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol. At the end of 500 laps, the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 Playoff field will be set. Enjoy the show tonight, and here is the TV schedule so you don’t miss any of it!
7:00PM - Countdown to Green (pre-race show) - USA (NBC Sports App)
7:30PM - Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol race - USA (NBC Sports App)
Rick Ware Racing, Spire Motorsports Trade Justin Haley and Corey LaJoie
We have a trade! No, this isn’t an accidental copy and paste from a NFL website’s post, we have a NASCAR Cup Series driver trade. On Friday afternoon at Bristol, Spire Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing announced that they will trade Justin Haley and Corey LaJoie beginning with next weekend’s race at Kansas Speedway. Haley will be the driver of the No. 7 car for the final seven races of the year, while LaJoie will take over the No. 51.
Spire also confirmed that Haley will be the driver of the team’s No. 7 car next season, pairing him with Rodney Childers. Rick Ware Racing wouldn’t commit to keeping LaJoie past the current seven-race commitment, but they didn’t rule it out either.
Cole Custer Drives to Convincing Win at Bristol; Snags Regular-Season Title
A 43-point deficit to Justin Allgaier heading into the race, and a Lap 3 incident couldn’t keep Cole Custer from rallying to win Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Food City 300 at Bristol, and winning the Regular Season championship.
While Custer suffered issues early, Allgaier, who led the opening 60 laps of the race, suffered problems often throughout the race. In all, Allgaier crashed three times, and finished 30th.
Conversely, Custer clawed back through the field, and took the lead for the first time on Lap 151, and the Stewart-Haas Racing driver dominated the second half of the race on his path to winning the race and regular season title by three points.
Post-Race Resources
More NASCAR Headlines:
Dale Jr. Rebounds from Radio Issues to Finish Seventh at Bristol: Dale Earnhardt Jr. started from the unlucky 13th position in his lone NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season, and out of the box, he was plagued with radio issues where he couldn’t hear his spotter TJ Majors for roughly 100-120 laps. Once they got the radio issues resolved, Earnhardt clawed his way through the field, flirted with a top-five finish, and came home seventh.
Alex Bowman Surges to Bristol Pole; Continues Impressive Playoff Run: Alex Bowman, who has had an incredible start to the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, continued his strong showing with his first pole of the season Friday at Bristol. Bowman will lead the field to green in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race with his teammate Kyle Larson alongside him. (Full Starting Lineup)
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ‘Not Planning on Racing Next Year’ in Xfinity Series: Prior to his seventh-place finish on Friday night at Bristol, Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed that he doesn’t plan to compete as a driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series next season. Earnhardt has run a race or two per season in the series since retiring from the NASCAR Cup Series in 2017.
Harrison Burton Joins AM Racing’s Xfinity Program for 2025 Season: Harrison Burton will move back to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2025 and will drive the No. 15 AM Racing Ford Mustang. Burton is a current NASCAR Cup Series Playoff contender for the Wood Brothers Racing team.
Kaulig Racing Hires Ty Norris as Chief Business Officer: Kaulig Racing has officially announced the hire of Ty Norris as the team’s Chief Business Officer. Norris had been serving in the same role with Trackhouse Racing since the 2021 season.
NASCAR TRIVIA:
NEED A HINT?
This driver won more than two NASCAR Cup Series championships.
This driver was regarded as one of the toughest to ever strap into a racecar.
This driver was involved in the fight in the 1979 Daytona 500.
DID YOU GET OUR LAST QUESTION CORRECT?
Q: How many laps are scheduled for this weekend at Bristol?
A: 1,200. 6% got it correct. The scheduled race distances for the races this weekend (NASCAR Cup: 500 laps, NASCAR Xfinity: 300 laps, NASCAR Truck: 200 laps, ARCA: 200 laps) equals a total of 1,200 laps.