Custer Rebounds with Top 10 Finish at Bristol

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer

For Cole Custer, a 10th-place finish in the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway is a welcome change from last weekend. Compared to last weekend, Custer ran inside the top-15 all night long.

Bristol was a quiet race for the driver of the No. 00 Haas / One Cure Ford Mustang. Custer hovered around 10th for much of the night. As Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers surged forward, he fell in line behind them. This can be seen in Custer’s stage finishes, 11th in Stage 1, and 10th in Stage 2.

Custer admitted the race was a learning curve,

“I’m happy with it. I think we could have done a little bit better, but the track just changed so much. It was definitely a learning curve for me. It was a lot about restarts and who you were behind and what lane you were in, but we brought a pretty solid Haas Automation Ford Mustang. We probably should have finished fifth to seventh and I probably could have done a little bit better job, but I learned a lot for when we come back the next time.”

The 10th-place finish was the 10th in 22 races so far, this season for Custer. The Stewart Haas Racing driver sits sixth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship points standings. This is the team’s first season in the Xfinity Series. Custer is 274 points behind leader Elliott Sadler.

Custer believes that his team is running well,

“We’re solid. I think just overall we’re solid. Today was kind of a wild card race just because of all the VHT and the way the track changed, but I think we’ll be fast in the races coming up. I’m looking forward to it.”

Now Custer will prepare for the twists and turns at the longest track on the Xfinity Series schedule, Road America.