• Saturday’s EXPLORE POCONO MOUNTAINS 225, Pocono Raceway

Reigning Xfinity champion Cole Custer claimed his first win of the season Saturday, beating his closest championship challenger Justin Allgaier to the Explore The Pocono Mountains 225 checkered flag and giving Ford its first series win of 2024.

Custer’s No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford took the lead from Allgaier on a restart with nine laps remaining and then held off the JR Motorsports Chevrolet by 0.670 seconds to secure his 14th career victory in a thrilling finish at Pocono Raceway. He becomes the first driver to win multiple Xfinity Series races at the historic 2.5-mile track — answering his 2019 win.

Allgaier led a race-best 30 of 90 laps with the 25-year-old Californian Custer out front for 25 laps — the two drivers each winning a stage. For Allgaier, his Stage 1 victory was a series-best 11th, but a pit-road penalty during the ensuing pit stop forced him to work his way back up through the field.

This year’s Daytona 500 winner and the 2017 Xfinity Series champion Byron was making his third Xfinity Series start of the season and kept the field honest, leading 17 laps.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Sheldon Creed and Taylor Gray rounded out the top five. Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill, Big Machine Racing’s Parker Kligerman and JR Motorsports teammates Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer rounded out the top 10.