Defending champion Cole Custer emerges from impaired Bristol start to clinch the regular season title

Despite getting into the wall early during the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, reigning Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer delivered his second win of the season, thus bagging the regular season championship. Custer will now advance to the postseason with a 15 playoff-point advantage.

Cole Custer drives the No. 00 Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. The 26-year-old Californian boasts 15 wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Custer competed in the Cup Series in 2020 for SHR and won the 2020 Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. He has two wins in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as well.

Custer led a race-high 104 laps of the 300-lap event at the 0.533-mile short-track oval. Snatching the lead from Sheldon Creed on lap 209, Custer crossed the finishing line merely 0.896 seconds ahead of the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. It was also Custer's first career win at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Here is a video (posted by NASCAR on FOX) showing Custer's winning moment:

Saturday's race at "The Last Great Colosseum" witnessed Creed's 13th runner-up finish in the Xfinity Series without a win. Chandler Smith, Jesse Love, and Ryan Truex rounded up the top 5. Smith's P3 was his fifth consecutive top-10 finish. He won Stage 1, leading 29 laps of the race.

Cole Custer reflects on Bristol win amid recent miseries

NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Cole Custer arrives at the driver introductions for the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway (Source: Imagn)

After holding off JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier from winning the regular season championship by just three points, Cole Custer was thankful to his team for their efforts, considering their lackluster performance over the past several weeks.

"This is huge, because our confidence was going down there the last month," Cole Custer said in a post-race interview (via Racer).

In his last six starts before this weekend, Custer finished 21st and worse on four occasions. His results at Michigan and Daytona were P30 and P32, respectively. After recording a runner-up finish the following week at Darlington, Custer fell back to a P31 (Atlanta) and a P21 (Watkins Glen) finish for the next couple of weeks.

"To get this win really means a lot. It’s unbelievable," Custer continued. "These guys never give up. It’s been a tough month, but to be able to lead into the Playoffs like this, we’re going to really bring it to them."

Custer will now prepare for the Round of 12 openers at Kansas Speedway scheduled for September 28. The Kansas Lottery 300 will stream live on CW from 4 PM ET onwards. The 200-lap race is going to be the second race of the current season to feature on CW. Fans can also listen to radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.