“I don’t think it was a very fair race” - Pole-sitter Cole Custer frustrated after AJ Allmendinger wins Xfinity race in Nashville

AJ Allmendinger took the lead on the second restart and cruised to his second NASCAR Xfinity race victory this season on Saturday, June 24. As he and his squad were celebrating, additional cars began spinning and smashing in a swirl of smoke.

Before NASCAR's only break of the season, Allmendinger finished second in the inaugural race of the Xfinity Series at Sonoma.

However, pole sitter Cole Custer experienced one of the most challenging NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Nashville Superspeedway. Despite starting on pole, he went down to ninth after a pit strategy risk backfired across two overtime restarts.

A very frustrated Cole Custer later talked to the media about his race and was very blunt with his responses as well.

“I don’t think it was a very fair race there at the end,” Custer told Frontstretch. “And I love Wayne [Auton, Xfinity Series Managing Director], I love everybody at NASCAR, but I’m just frustrated.”

In a race involving 11 totally different leaders and 17 lead changes, Riley Herbst finished second, Sam Mayer third, Austin Hill fourth, while Josh Berry rounded out the top five. John Hunter Nemechek, who started the series with the most points, finished sixth.

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AJ Allmendinger responds to Cole Custer's comments during the post-race interview

After a late-race pit stop, a possible win for Custer transformed into a finish on the verge of the outside of the top 10. On Saturday afternoon, Custer climbed out of his No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang, furious.

While he was upset with the outcome, Custer wanted to be clear that his dissatisfaction did not stem from his crew chief Jonathan Toney's decision to pit before to an overtime finish.

Custer's rage over the team radio and after the race was caused by damage to AJ Allmendinger's car which Custer felt created a noticeable aerodynamic advantage on the circuit.

AJ Allmendinger overlooked all criticism directed by Custer in his post-race press conference.

“They shouldn’t have crashed in front of me then,” Allmendinger said. “I don’t fix [the cars], I don’t do anything, I just drive them. If it helped, we got lucky for the good guys one time.”

NASCAR summoned Custer back to pit road in order to reverse the apparent benefits that the damage had provided him. Custer thought that the race had been called more consistent.