Christopher Bell was third when the white flag flew during Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but he came across the finish line first one lap later.
Bell’s victory was the Norman, Oklahoma, native’s fourth straight win in the Xfinity Series at New Hampshire. He will look to sweep the weekend in the Cup Series race on Sunday.
While Bell won Stage Two on Saturday, Cole Custer proved to be the dominant driver of the day, leading 114-of-203 laps. Leading at the white flag, he was passed by both Bell and Sheldon Creed on the final circuit, relegating him to a third-place finish on a day when he was the car to beat.
Custer’s heartbreaking loss means the defending Xfinity Series champion remains winless in 2024, despite owning the points lead and having the most top-10’s in the series.
For the aforementioned Creed, Saturday was just another heartbreaking loss for the third-year Xfinity Series driver, who now has 10 runner-up finishes in 86 career Xfinity Series starts. While still winless, Creed now sits 100 points above the playoff cutline, trailing only Cole Custer (+205) among the drivers without a win in the playoff standings.
One of the biggest stories of Saturday’s race proved to be Whelen Modified Tour champion Justin Bonsignore, who led three laps and spent the majority of Saturday’s race inside the top five and top 10. Unfortunately, pit stop issues and late race chaos were the deciding factors in Bonsignore’s result, but a 22nd-place finish isn’t at all indicative of how well he ran.
Justin Allgaier had a myriad of issues early in the race, but clawed back to finish fourth, while his JRM teammate, Carson Kvapil used the late race cautions to finagle a top-five result for his No. 88 team.
Ryan Sieg and Parker Kligerman finished sixth and seventh, respectively, while Riley Herbst, Alex Bowman and Corey Heim rounded out the top 10.
Other notable finishers in Saturday’s Sci Aps 200 include A.J. Allmendinger in 11th, Jesse Love in 13th, Chandler Smith in 15th, Shane van Gisbergen in 18th and Austin Hill in 24th.
The Xfinity Series’ next race is on Saturday, June 29, at the Nashville Superspeedway. The Tennessee Lottery 250 will go green shortly after 5 p.m. ET, with coverage on USA Network, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.