Rookie Wins Title

FueledUp
Nov 18, 2018
2 min read

Cole Custer and Christopher Bell lead them to the green flag. Bell spins his tires and falls to 4th as Custer leads them into turn one. With two to go Daniel Hemric is 1.2 seconds behind Custer. After leading all three rounds in qualifying he wins stage one!

Custer is the first off pit road and after a slow stop, Hemric falls from 2nd to 7th. Custer takes the lead by a car length to begin stage two. John Hunter Nemechek finds speed coming off turn two and takes 2nd place away from Bell. There's ten laps to go and Hemric is up to 5th after a bad pit stop. Custer leads by just .4 seconds. Nemechek goes to the bottom to pass but it doesn't work so he goes back up the track. Custer wins stage two! Will he continue this momentum and become the champion?

Cole Custer struggles on pit road and falls to 3rd. Nemechek and Bell are side by side going into turn one on the restart. Bell gets loose and Nemechek is the new leader. If you think Custer is done leading for the day think again. On lap 99, Custer goes to the inside of Bell and is back in the number one spot. Remember, all Custer has to do to win the championship is stay in front of the other three contenders. Tyler Reddick goes by Bell to take the 3rd spot. On lap 142, Bell goes to pit road followed by Reddick and soon Nemechek. The lead cycles around to Reddick. Reddick gets against the wall allowing Bell to take the lead. Reddick is coming fast and Bell moves up the track to block him. Reddick has another run and gives Bell a shove. Bell moves to the middle of the track but Reddick is not backing off. Reddick puts the pedal to the metal and is the new leader. In Elliott Sadler's final race of his career he has a vibration and makes his way down pit road. With only 15 to go, all four championship contenders are in the top 5 and Reddick extends his lead by almost six seconds. Christopher Bell's championship hopes are over as he heads to pit road for a flat tire with 10 to go.

Tyler Reddick not only wins the race at Homestead-Miami but the 22 year old and JR Motorsports are the 2018 champions in the Xfinity Series! Reddick is also Rookie of the Year!