By: Zach Arnold

Cole Custer led the field to the green flag after winning the pole earlier in the day. He quickly showed that his Ford Mustang was fast, getting to almost a four-second lead just 40 laps in.

Josh Berry, who started beside Custer in second, had a troubled time at Bristol. Around Lap 50, he had already lost nine positions and ran outside the top ten. His race did not improve, as later on in Stage Two he wrecked out after making contact with his teammates Sam Mayer and Brandon Jones.

At the end of stage one, Dale Earnhardt Jr. reached the top ten after beginning the race in 15th. This was the 48-year-old’s first race in 2023; he also is running the NXS race in Homestead-Miami in five weeks. He finished stage one in seventh.

Stage two began with more JR Motorsports clashing. Allgaier and Jones got together on the restart, forcing a tire rub on the No. 9 of Jones. Earnhardt Jr would pass them shortly after and set himself in the third position.

Playoff driver, Parker Klingerman, had brake issues in the No. 48 around the middle of stage two. Klingerman brought his car to the garage, forcing him to go many laps down. He finished in 31st and headed to Texas many points below the cutline. It was an eventful stage, featuring as mentioned earlier, the wreck involving Berry, Mayer, and Jones. Justin Allgaier won the stage.

Earnhardt Jr. found himself in the lead to begin stage three after pit stop cycles. He led 47 circuits in his first race back at Bristol in over six years. Unfortunately, he had a rough end to his return to racing in the Xfinity Series. Nearing race-end, his No. 88 Camaro caught on fire. He had to bring his car to pit road and exit the car after racing within the top five.

In the middle of stage three, Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed brought out the caution flag. Creed made contact with Hill putting him into the wall, ending his day. Hill won the regular season championship this year and now sits under the playoff cutline.

It was all about the No. 7 from here on out. Allgaier would lock himself into the next round in the playoffs.

“This race track and winning here at Bristol, there’s nothing like it. Great race today, did a fantastic job with the race strategy, I got to race the boss-man which was so cool,” Allgaier said post-race.