Cole Custer wins inaugural Chicago Street Course race
CHICAGO — After 25 of 55 laps, NASCAR called the Xfinity Series race with Cole Custer as the winner at the Chicago Street Course.
Custer led every lap and claimed the win Sunday. Every lap ran Saturday.
Three cautions flew on laps 6, 18 and 25 for Justin Marks leaking fluid on track, Andre Castro wrecking and lightning, respectively.
The lightning delay forced NASCAR to postpone the final laps to Sunday morning. However, torrential rains prevented the planned 11 a.m. ET restart.
At around 1:30 p.m. ET, with rain still falling and several factors, including standing water on the course, NASCAR declared Custer the winner.
The NASCAR rulebook doesn’t stipulate a race can officially end before halfway. However, having to get parts of the course open to street traffic by Monday morning forced the sanctioning body’s hand into an unprecedented decision.
NASCAR issued the following statement.
“With standing water and flooding a significant issue at the race track and throughout the city, there was no option to return to racing prior to shifting to NASCAR Cup Series race operations. Throughout the entire planning process for the Chicago Street Race, our relationship with the City of Chicago has been strong and among the most valuable assets in reaching this historic weekend. In the spirit of that partnership, returning on Monday for the completion of a NASCAR Xfinity Series event two laps short of halfway was an option we chose not to employ. Based on several unprecedented circumstances, NASCAR has made the decision to declare Cole Custer the winner of the race.”
Here is the full finishing order:
- Cole Custer
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Justin Allgaier
- Brett Moffitt
- Austin Hill
- Sammy Smith
- Daniel Hemric
- Chandler Smith
- Parker Kligerman
- Kaz Grala
- Sheldon Creed
- Preston Pardus
- Miguel Paludo
- Kyle Weatherman
- Alex Guenette
- Parker Chase
- Blaine Perkins
- Connor Mosack
- Sam Mayer
- Jeb Burton
- Jeremy Clements
- Brad Perez
- Sage Karam
- Josh Berry
- Riley Herbst
- Ryan Sieg
- Brennan Poole
- Anthony Alfredo
- Spencer Pumpelly
- Parker Retzlaff
- Brandon Jones
- Ryan Ellis
- Brad Perez
- Joe Graf Jr.
- Brent Sherman
- Josh Williams (-3 laps)
- Andre Castro (OUT – wreck on lap 16)
- Justin Marks (OUT – blown engine on lap 3)
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com