Custer Battles To 26th-Place Finish at Kansas – Speedway Digest

Coming off his best performance of the season at a 1.5-mile track last weekend in Texas, Cole Custer and the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang team fought hard all afternoon to bring home a 26th-place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway.

Custer qualified 31st during Saturday’s qualifying session at the 1.5-mile Kansas oval, setting the stage for a challenging race ahead. Despite the difficult starting spot and a loose-handling race car early on, Haas Factory Team worked tirelessly throughout the 267-lap event to improve speed and handling.

The No. 41 team opted to split the first stage in half, bringing Custer down pit road on lap 46 for four tires and fuel. The call paid off with a gain in track position, as Custer worked his way up to 28th by the end of Stage 1.

In the second stage, crew chief Aaron Kramer took a strategic gamble, keeping Custer on track longer than most of the field in hopes of catching a caution. Custer climbed to as high as 23rd during the cycle, but the green-flag run extended, and he was forced to pit on lap 142. As most lead-lap cars had already stopped earlier, Custer ultimately fell back to 32nd by the stage’s end.

Undeterred, the No. 41 crew rebounded in the final segment. A strong pit stop during the stage break gained Custer three positions, allowing him to restart 29th. Continued adjustments tightened up the handling on his HaasTooling.com Ford, and Custer began working various grooves across the track in search of grip. Following his final scheduled pit stop on lap 193, he steadily picked up positions to finish 26th by the time the checkered flag waved.

“The team fought hard all day. We didn’t have the speed we wanted, but I felt like we did a solid job of executing and brought home a decent finish,” Custer said. “We’ll keep trying to get it better and continue to work in the right direction.”

Up Next:
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to North Wilkesboro Speedway next weekend for the All-Star race, while the Xfinity Series takes the weekend off. The Open race is set for 5:30 p.m. ET on FS1, while the main event will begin at 8 p.m. ET.

HFT PR