LOUDON – Cole Custer and Tyler Reddick worked hard to gain ground while Christopher Bell gained separation. Paul Menard and Harrison Burton just gained a healthy dislike for one another as the NASCAR Xfinity Series race wound down at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Leading for all but 14 laps in the 30th Annual Roxor 200, Bell remained perfect at the Magic Mile, making his second straight Xfinity win in Loudon look routine Saturday as he cruised to Victory Lane.
“I just credit it to a great race car, that’s the biggest thing,” said Bell, who started in pole position after posting the fastest qualifying lap earlier in the day. “It keeps getting pounded into my head week in and week out that the race cars win the races. The drivers are just along for the ride.”
Modest in his victory speech, Bell has plenty of reasons not to be.
The win was Bell’s fifth of the year after posting seven in 2018. At 24, he’s well on his way to a Cup Series seat as one of the brightest stars in NASCAR and now has 13 Xfinity victories in 59 career starts.
“He’s pretty good, man. I think his record speaks for itself. We have to keep him humble so he keeps digging, but he does a good job of keeping himself humble,” crew chief Jason Ratcliff said. “I’ve had a lot of good race cars and didn’t win races with them without the right guy behind the wheel. … It’s exciting to see where he’s going to go in the future.”
Custer, the winner of last week’s race at Kentucky, finished second, with Justin Allgaier nabbing third and Tyler Reddick, last year’s Xfinity Series champion, taking fourth place.
“I think (Bell’s team was) maybe a tick better than us but I learned a lot during the race,” said Custer, who started alongside Bell on Row 1. “I got myself better. I wasn’t driving the car right at the beginning, but we made some adjustments and I got myself right.”
While Bell put the race away, cruising to a win in Stage 2 thanks to flawless pit stops and restarts on the five caution flags, there was plenty of drama happening in his rear-view mirror.
On Lap 155, Menard bumped the back of Burton’s car coming around Turn 3 after the two made contact earlier in the race. The bump wasn’t severe, but with cars going this fast it didn’t have to be. It was enough to spin out Burton and send him crashing into the wall, effectively ruining his chances at a solid finish.
And Menard left little to the imagination on whether it was on purpose or not.
“He needs to race me clean. He hit me twice,” Menard said over the NBCSN television broadcast moments after the collision before commenting again following the race. “He was mad I ran into him in Turn 1 one time. I was mad that he ran into me twice before that,” he said. “Some of these kids are really fun to race with and some of them just don’t get it.”
Menard ended up finishing in fifth, Burton faded back to place 29th and the two drivers exchanged words on pit road following the race.
“It was a frustrating day,” said Burton, an 18-year-old driver making his third Xfinity start. “(Menard) didn’t seem to really care and that’s fine for him. I’m just going to go out and beat him on the race track. That’s all you can do: show these guys you’re here to play. I’m not going to get pushed around anymore.
“He raced me in a terrible way and I decided I needed to hear it from him,” Burton said.
Chase Briscoe (sixth), Ryan Truex, Ryan Sieg, Brandon Jones (Stage 1 winner) and Noah Gragson rounded out the top 10 as the series shifts to Iowa Speedway next week.
(Jay McAree can be reached at 369-3371, jmcaree@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JayMcAree.)