Custer Enjoys Best Finish of Season at 1.5-Mile at TMS – Speedway Digest

Cole Custer overcame adversity all afternoon long, battling with a loose race car in the early stages. However, the No. 41 team continually made changes throughout the course of the race, and had nice long run speed to secure their best finish, 19^th, at a mile-and-a-half track this season.

He qualified 20^th after a strong practice session on Saturday, but dropped as low as 28^th over the short 20-lap run to begin the race. His pit crew was able to gain him five spots under yellow, but the car was not able to turn through the center of the corners as he took home 27^th in the opening stage.

Crew chief Aaron Kramer continued calling for changes to push the No. 41 car forward, and they were able to find speed during the long runs. However, just as Custer began laying down some of his fastest laps of the race, an untimely caution towards the end of the second stage forced Custer to settle for 28^th.

Despite a spin on pit road and contact from a crash on lap 247, the Red Baron Ford kept grinding forward as the team secured a 19^th-place finish. It marked his second-best finish of the season, behind Talladega last Sunday (13^th), as the team keeps making positive strides following the off weekend.

“We definitely fought hard all day long and ended up with a decent finish, so there’s something for us to take away this weekend,” Custer said. “There was really good speed in the car, but we just had a few unlucky breaks at the end. We’ll look ahead to next week and see what we can do at Kansas.”

Up Next
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway next weekend for the 12^th race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, while the Xfinity Series takes the next two weekends off. Race coverage for the Cup series is set for 3 p.m. ET on FS1.

HFT PR