NASCAR explains decision to open pit road quickly after end of Stage 1

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Because NASCAR has no rule stating when pit road opens after a stage ends, the sanctioning body changed its common procedure to prevent multiple cars from running out of fuel during Sunday’s Cup race at Dover, a series official told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

NASCAR opened pit road immediately after Stage 1 ended because many cars were close to running out of fuel.

“We don’t really have a firm policy,’’ said Scott Miller, senior vice president of competition, on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio on Monday morning. “Basically, the way we’ve been handling the end of the stages is to give our broadcast partners a little bit of time right there for a break and then come back for the pit stops and then have another break as we lead into the start of the next stage.

“The unique situation that we had (Sunday) was the time the caution came out early in the stage put everybody in kind of fuel conservation mode. We had a couple of cars running out of gas there at the end of the stage. The last thing that NASCAR wanted was to have to push 10 or 12 cars in that ran out of fuel while we were waiting to open pit road. So the decision was made kind of a little bit on the fly because we’re obviously in the entertainment business, and I don’t think any of the fans would have liked to have seen 10 of their favorite drivers end up five laps down because they were getting pushed back by the tow truck.

“We just tried to take advantage of the situation that we saw developing that we’ve run into before and it’s not a great situation. … It’s not a very good thing to have cars out on the race track running out of fuel when we can open pit road. We’ve kind of gotten into a procedure with the broadcast partners to doing it the way you’re used to seeing it, but there are no rules that dictate when pit road opens or anything like that during those stage breaks.’’

Todd Gordon, crew chief of Joey Logano, told “The Morning Drive” on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio he was happy NASCAR opened pit road quickly in that case.

“I know there was a lot of anxiety on the pit boxes on pit road, not only about whether we would make it to the end, but once we made it to the end how many laps would we go before we could get fuel back in the cars,’’ he said.

Asked if teams running out of fuel before the end of a stage should be more of an issue for teams willing to take that gamble than NASCAR adjusting its procedures to accommodate such tactics, Gordon said:

“If that were the case, the piece I would ask for at that point is a definition that pit road is going to open “X” number of laps after the stage break and we don’t have that as a sport. To me, how do I, from the information I have on a normal race weekend, I don’t have a defined, ‘we’re going to run four laps of caution or we’re going to run six laps of caution before pit road opens.’ If you had that defined, we could calculate our fuel mileage back and make the risk/reward call on that one.’’

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Portland Xfinity race results, driver points

Portland Xfinity results
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Cole Custer went from fourth to first on the overtime restart when the top three cars made contact and went on to win Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Portland International Raceway. Custer is the 10th different winner in 13 races this season.

MORE: Portland Xfinity race results

MORE: Driver points after Portland Xfinity race

JR Motorsports took the next three spots: Justin Allgaier placed second, Sam Mayer was third and Josh Berry was fourth. Austin Hill completed the top five.

John Hunter Nemechek remains the points leader after 13 races. He has a 14-point lead on Hill. Nemechek leads Allgaier by 44 points.

Cole Custer wins Xfinity race at Portland in overtime

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Cole Custer held off Justin Allgaier at the finish to win Saturday’s Xfinity Series race in overtime at Portland International Raceway. It is Custer’s first victory of the season.

JR Motorsports placed second, third and fourth with Allgaier, Sam Mayer and Josh Berry. Austin Hill finished fifth.

MORE: Race results, driver points

Custer went from fourth to first on the overtime restart when Parker Kligerman, who restarted third, attempted to pass Allgaier, who was leading. Sheldon Creed was on the outside of Allgaier. All three cars made contact entering Turn 1, allowing Custer to slip by. Creed finished seventh. Kligerman placed 14th.

Custer won the second stage when John Hunter Nemechek made contact with Creed’s car while racing for the lead on the final lap of the stage. The contact spun Creed and Custer inched by Nemechek at the line.

Early in the final stage, Creed gained revenge with contact that spun Nemechek, who went on to finish 10th. A few laps later, Nemechek and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sammy Smith had issues. Smith spun Nemechek. After getting back around, Nemechek quickly caught Smith and turned into Smith’s car, damaging it.

STAGE 1 WINNER: Sheldon Creed

STAGE 2 WINNER: Cole Custer

WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Despite the contact on the overtime restart, runner-up Justin Allgaier managed to score his fourth consecutive top-three finish. … Sam Mayer’s third-place finish is his best on a road course. … Austin Hill’s fifth-place finish gives him four consecutive top-five results.

WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Daniel Hemric finished 33rd after a fire in his car. … Riley Herbst placed 32nd after an engine issue. After opening the season with six top 10s in a row, Herbst has gone seven races in a row without a top 10.

NEXT: The series competes June 10 at Sonoma Raceway (8 p.m. ET on FS1).

Truck race results at WWT Raceway: Grant Enfinger wins

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Grant Enfinger took the lead when the leaders wrecked in the final laps and held off the field in overtime to win Saturday’s Craftsman Truck Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway.

It is Enfinger’s second win in the last five races. He also collected a $50,000 bonus for winning the Triple Truck Challenge.

MORE: Truck race results

MORE: Driver points after WWT Raceway

Christian Eckes finished second and was followed by Stewart Friesen, Carson Hocevar and Chase Purdy.

Ty Majeski and Zane Smith wrecked while racing for the lead with six laps to go. Majeski, running on the inside of Smith, slid up the track and clipped Smith’s truck. Both hit the wall. That put Enfinger in the lead.

Smith finished 20th. Majeski placed 30th.

STAGE 1 WINNER: Grant Enfinger

STAGE 2 WINNER: Stewart Friesen

WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Grant Enfinger’s victory is his fourth top 10 in the last five races. … Carson Hocevar’s fourth-place finish is his fourth consecutive top-five result. … Stewart Friesen’s third-place finish moved him into a playoff spot with four races left in the regular season. … Matt DiBenedetto‘s sixth-place finish is his third consecutive top 10. … Jesse Love finished ninth in his series debut.

WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Ty Majeski had a chance to take the points lead with series leader Corey Heim out because of illness, but Majeski’s 30th-place finish after running at the front most of the day, leaves him behind Heim. … Hailie Deegan finished 32nd after contact sent her truck into the wall hard. … After finishing a career-high third last week at Charlotte, Dean Thompson placed 34th Saturday due to an engine issue.

NEXT: The series races June 23 at Nashville Superspeedway (8 p.m. ET on FS1)

Xfinity starting lineup at Portland: Sheldon Creed wins pole

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Sheldon Creed scored his first career Xfinity Series pole by taking the top spot for Saturday’s race at Portland International Raceway.

Creed, making his 50th career series start, earned the pole with a lap of 95.694 mph on the 1.97-mile road course.

MORE: Portland Xfinity starting lineup

Cole Custer will start second with a lap of 95.398 mph. He is followed by Josh Berry (94.242 mph), John Hunter Nemechek (95.127) and Charlotte winner Justin Allgaier (94.897). Road racing specialist Jordan Taylor, driving for Kaulig Racing, qualified sixth at 94.772 mph.

The green flag is scheduled to wave 4:46 p.m. ET Saturday on FS1.