Cole Custer wins 2022 "Production Alliance Group" 300 at Auto Club Speedway

Meg Oliphant/Getty Images

    Cole Custer, a 3rd-year driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, reached victory lane tonight (02/26/2022) in the NASCAR Xfinity Series "Production Alliance Group" 300 at Auto Club Speedway. The win becoming Custer's 10th victory in the mid-tier NASCAR racing division.

Custer piloted the No. 07 Ford Mustang for SS Greenlight Racing to the organizations first NASCAR Xfinity Series win. It was also quite interesting, that the dominate No. 07 machine was sponsored by the race sponsor: Production Alliance Group.

Leading the most laps was none other than Cole Custer, with a grand total of 80-laps. Looking at the eight different drivers to hold the top position sometime during the race, no one else came close to that:

• Cole Custer, No. 07 Ford (80-laps led)
• Noah Gragson, No. 9 Chevrolet (25-laps led)
• Trevor Bayne, No. 18 Toyota (24-laps led)
• AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Chevrolet (13-laps led)
• Daniel Hemric, No. 11 Chevrolet (10-laps led)
• Justin Allgaier, No. 7 Chevrolet (7-laps led)
• Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Toyota (3-laps led)
• Brandon Jones, No. 19 Toyota (3-laps led)

In the triple-overtime event, the caution-filled race resulted in 165 total laps: 25 laps over the advertised 150-lap event at the two-mile facility. Veteran driver AJ Allmendinger started on the pole, being his first pole position on an oval track since a NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway in 2012.

No playoff points were handed out during the race at Auto Club Speedway, as Trevor Bayne won Stage 1, while Cole Custer won the second and final stages of the race. Bayne and Custer are either point-ineligible (running for points in another racing series/division), or not running for points in any of the top-three NASCAR National divisions.

While Bayne and Custer were a constant threat to win for most of the event, JR Motorsports had a very strong showing at Auto Club Speedway, all of their cars finishing in the top-10, with Noah Gragson as the runner-up finisher. Multiple single car teams like Brandonbilt Motorsports and Big Machine Racing had run in the top-10 for a major part of this race. 

A notable top-5 finisher was Anthony Alfredo in his No. 23 Dude Wipes machine backed by Our Motorsports.

Below are the complete race results for the 2022 "Production Alliance Group" 300:

NASCAR.com

There isn't much to complain about a race like this: We had plenty of cautions, 10 total; and plenty of action, including drivers exchanging positions. The NASCAR return to Auto Club Speedway in California was a success on the NASCAR Xfinity Series side of competition, However, we will have to wait and see what happens in the NASCAR Cup Series event to make our final opinion.

Make sure you tune into the "Wise Power" 400 at Auto Club Speedway tomorrow, which is Sunday, February 27th. Live television coverage will begin at 3:30 PM EST on FOX.