Cole Custer pulled into the lead after a late caution for his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win this season on the road course at Portland International Raceway on Saturday.

Custer earned his 11th overall victory on the series in the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford, besting Justin Allgaier by .142 seconds on Saturday. Custer pulled ahead on the overtime restart after a caution for debris on the track with three laps to go.

“Man, I’m just so happy. I’ve never won a road course race before,” Custer said. “I’ve been so close so many times and it’s just awesome to win this thing.”

Allgaier led for most of the third stage after winning last week’s rain-delayed race in Charlotte in the No. 7 Brandt Chevrolet. The 75-lap race on the 12-turn road course north of downtown Portland ran under a clear sky in temperatures near 80.

It was the second year the Xfinity Series — a step below the NASCAR Cup — has come to Portland. Last year A.J. Allmendinger won in frequent downpours, crossing the finish line 2.879 seconds in front of Myatt Snider.

Now full-time on NASCAR’s Cup series, Allmendinger did not return to defend his title on the 1.97-mile course north of downtown Portland.

Sheldon Creed won the pole in the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet with a lap of 95.694 mph in qualifying on Saturday morning. It was his first career Xfinity series pole. Creed was knocked out of last year’s race in the final stage after a multicar crash at Turn 1.

NASCAR Cup

Ryan Blaney isn’t slowing down now that he’s finally reached victory lane again.

After snapping his 59-race winless streak by holding off William Byron to win the rescheduled Coca-Cola 600 on Monday, Blaney put his No. 12 Ford on the front row to start the NASCAR Cup Series race today at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill.

He was less than a hundredth of a second behind pole sitter Kyle Busch in qualifying Saturday.

“It’s been satisfying not having to answer, ‘When are you going to win again?’” admitted Blaney, whose victory gave team owner Roger Penske a Memorial Day weekend sweep following Josef Newgarden’s victory in the Indianapolis 500.

“When they won,” Blaney said, “it was like a big pressure on us — ‘We’ve got to get this done.’ I didn’t know a sweep had never been done before. It was cool to be a part of it, cool to be part of the job and completing the sweep. I was able to call (Penske) Monday night around midnight, they were on the plane headed back to Michigan after the Indy banquet, and they were really excited. They were at the banquet and had their phones under the table watching the end of the race.”

IndyCar

IndyCar is throwing two new wrinkles — and a lot of bumps — at its drivers in the Motor City.

The Detroit Grand Prix will make its debut on a 10-turn, 1.7 mile downtown street circuit today. Just to add more intrigue for fans and complexities for teams, the course includes a split pit lane that will force drivers to find a way to peacefully merge back onto the track.

“We’re going to find out if we can get along this weekend,” Indianapolis 500 champion and Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden said.

The split pit will position 14 drivers on the left 13 on the right, experimenting with such a setup for the first time in series history.

“I think it’s innovation,” Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward said. “If it works out, we’re going to look like heroes. If it doesn’t, well, we tried.”

The Detroit Grand Prix is trying to make another run at hosting the event downtown — under IndyCar owner and Motor City advocate Roger Penske — after having races on a 2.5 mile course in the same area from 1989-91 before moving to Belle Isle.

Points-leader Alex Palou, who won the pole Saturday, is not keeping his criticism of the new circuit to himself. Palou wrote Detroit POV in a post on Twitter, showing a GIF of jeeps bouncing on an undulating road.

“It’s too tight for INDYCARs,” said Palou, who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing. “It’s too short for INDYCARs. There’s too much traffic. It’s too bumpy.”