They dominated NASCAR’s Xfinity Series in 2019, but only one leaves Homestead with the title
They combined to lead 3,958 laps, win 21 of 32 races and collect 41 of 54 stage wins.
And now, the quartet of Justin Allgaier, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Cole Custer find themselves in contention for the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship at Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The race begins at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised on NBC Sports Network.
“Regardless of what happens, there’s only going to be one of us that walks away with this,” Allgaier said. “There’s not anybody in this final four that you can count out. Everybody has done a great job this season. It’s going to be fun to see who pulls it off.”
Allgaier, the elder statesman of the group at 33 years old, is back in the Championship 4 field after missing the cut last year. He clinched his spot after leading the final 66 laps and winning last week’s Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 in Phoenix. It was Allgaier’s only win of the season, his second at that track and the 11th of his Xfinity Series career. Allgaier has started nine Xfinity races at Miami since 2008, but has never finished better than sixth.
“It’s funny, last year missing it probably is the biggest help that I’ve ever in my entire career,” Allgaier said. “It made me realize how much I missed it, how much I enjoyed being in.You take things for granted.”
Bell leads the field with eight wins, including playoff victories at the Go Bowling 250 in the Round of 12 and the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 in the Round of 8. Bell, 24, is in his second year as part of the Xfinity series after spending his first two years in the Trucks Series, which he won in 2017. Bell placed fourth last year.
“Getting to this point is kind of the goal,” Bell said, “because you never know how this race is going to turn out. You want to make the final four at Homestead, roll the dice.”
Reddick, the defending Xfinity Series champion and the only one in the Championship 4 to win the series, has five wins this year and 23 top-five finishes in 32 races despite leading just 481 laps — the fewest of the last four standing.
“I feel like we’re going into this more complete of a race team,” Reddick said. “We’ve shown the takeoff speed with getting poles, just being good on the beginning of the run. ... We’ve been more consistent.”
Custer, last year’s runner-up, has seven wins this season and has been successful in his last two races at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The 21-year-old won the race in 2017 when we wasn’t part of the Championship 4 and finished second in 2018, leading 277 of the 400 laps overall in those races. He has had a field-high eight pole positions this year.
▪ Marc Buoniconti, son of the late former Miami Dolphin and Pro Football Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti and founder of both The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, will serve as the race’s Grand Marshal.
“Everyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of all things racing, and all things Miami,” Buoniconti said. “To serve as Grand Marshal for the Ford EcoBoost 300 is a thrill for me.”
This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 10:59 AM.
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