KANSAS CITY, Kan.: The first NASCAR Xfinity Series race in the Round of 12 produced broken hearts and flared tempers for Playoff drivers at Kansas Speedway.
Cole Custer and Chandler Smith had a heated battle for the lead over the final 49 laps that eventually opened the door for former Cup racer Aric Almirola to snatch the Kansas Lottery 300 victory away from both of them.
But the chaos began long before Almirola took the lead and the win from Custer with four laps remaining.
On Lap 4, AJ Allmendinger made contact with Sammy Smith, ending any opportunity the driver of the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet had of capitalizing on points or position throughout the race. Smith confronted Allmendinger after the race but the veteran had no defense.
“It was an accident,” Allmendinger said. “It’s racing—and he should be upset. The point of it is, we’re all sideways into the corner. I’m trying to drag the brake not to touch him and I’m getting run into as well.
“Yeah, I nudged him and it got him loose.”
Allmendinger restarted 17th — which is where he finished. Smith soldiered home in 22nd, one lap down.
Justin Allgaier entered the event as the top seed in the Playoffs but wrecked 70 laps into the race on the backstretch. He completed three more circuits before finishing 36th—his third finish of 30th or worse in the last four races.
“I thought we were going to be in a great spot,” Allgaier said. “We were gaining momentum off of 2 and Sheldon (Creed), I don’t know what happened, but the momentum from him just stopped. We lifted a couple of times, tried to let him gather it up, and the run that guys had from behind—I don’t know if there was any contact from behind—but I just ran out of real estate.
“I hate it for everyone on the team. What a couple of weeks. It has been awful.”
While that should have opened the gates for the other 11 Playoff drivers, four additional contenders ended up in feuds before the race ended. Coming to the end of the second stage, Austin Hill clipped Riley Herbst in the corner and sent the No. 98 Ford spinning into the grass off Turn 4. After the race, Hill immediately climbed from his car and went to Herbst to defuse the situation.
“It was 100-percent on me,” said Hill, who finished seventh. “That was a dumb move—something a rookie does, not a veteran. I apologized to him on the radio as soon as it happened. Then I apologized to him again as soon as I got out of the car. I knew he was mad. I would be mad, too. I would be very frustrated with the situation.
“I was looking in the mirror. I saw the 18 was getting a run. I thought the 98 was going to clear me enough. I just misjudged where I was at on the track, hit him in the left rear and it turned him across my nose. It was nothing malicious. I told him if I had one coming, I understood. He said I didn’t.”
Although Hill has had his run-ins with other competitors, he was genuinely remorseful about the contact with Herbst. In their time together on the track, Hill said they have always raced with respect.
Herbst agreed.
“He was in the wrong, he said he was in the wrong, and he spun me out,” said Herbst, who finished 10th. “We saw it eye-to-eye. We both agreed what happened. We both agreed on the outcome. I got spun out in 4, didn’t get any second stage points—and we were running fourth, which cost me about seven stage points.
“He apologized. I accepted and there won’t be anything back. We’re going to move on and go racing.”
While the previous incident were accidents, the feud between Custer and Smith was hard racing between two drivers battling for the win and the opportunity to advance to the Round of 8. When it was over, neither driver left Kansas with the victory.
Custer, however, promised to exact revenge after Smith pinched him against the wall in the closing laps.
“If he races me like a clown I’m going to race him like a clown,” said Custer, who finished second. “I really burned my stuff up racing the 81 then the 20 got us. He has it coming back to him now. If he’s going to clear me and put me in the fence while I’m still on his outside, he’s going to have that right back to him.
“It’s frustrating. I don’t know why people start racing like that, but he’s going to pay the consequences.”
For Smith, it was his second run-in with a Playoff driver in as many weeks. After Bristol, he had words with Creed, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. On Saturday, Custer was the driver calling out Smith.
“I don’t know what he’s referring to,” Smith said. “A few times he got close to my right rear quarter panel on the exit of (Turn) 4 but I never got told “outside.” I was watching my mirror and he never got ‘there.”
“I knew if he got by he was going to set sail. We’re Playoff racing. If I win this race, I’m advancing to the next round. There are a lot of stakes to that, obviously. Not to mention, he’s also the guy that I’m racing for the championship. We’re going to race hard. It’s not the regular season anymore. I’m not going to let him go at the very end of the race like I would in the regular season if he’s that much better.
“I respect the hell out of Cole. He’s given me a lot of breaks. In his eyes, he gave me a few today. I’ll go back and watch the race. If I’m in the wrong, I’ll apologize. But at the end of the race, I knew he was better and I was going to hold him up as long as I can to try and give me a shot to win the thing.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
