Statement from JR. Motorsports.
After three straight races of bad luck and trouble, Cole Custer put all that behind him and overcame several bouts with adversity to finish seventh in a wild NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kansas 250 at Kansas Speedway on Friday night.
Custer, who started fourth, ran in the top 10 for most of the first 50 laps before the caution clock brought out the yellow flag on lap 44. On the ensuing restart, contact between leader John Wes Townley and John Hunter Nemechek caused the latter to spin, and Townley collected Parker Kligerman to bring out another caution. Custer, right in the middle of the aftermath, managed to slow down enough to squeeze through the carnage without damage.
He rose as high as fourth place before pitting on lap 68, dropping to 18th after getting four tires and a track-bar adjustment for a too-tight Haas Automation Chevrolet Silverado. Following the restart, Custer was flying on the high line when Brandon Brown’s truck squeezed him into contact with the Turn 1 wall. Brown ended up spinning, but Custer managed to save the No. 00 despite a couple of serious wiggles and no further contact. He was forced to pit again, to check for damage and take a look at his tires, but he fell just a few spots to 11th in the rundown.
As the laps wound down, Custer hung tough in the top 15. With 47 laps to go, the caution clock ran out again just after Jordan Anderson hit the wall and dropped debris around the speedway. Anderson tried to get to pit road but stopped just short, causing the pits to be closed while his truck was moved. Several teams, including Custer, were at the fuel window and nervously circled, waiting for a green light.
Cameron Hayley and Bobby Pierce both ran out before the pits were open, and that caused problems for Custer, who was the next to run out and stall just shy of the pit entry. The delay in getting pit road open caused him to fall a lap down and he restarted 19th with 40 laps remaining. Quick work on the restart saw him as the first truck a lap down when the caution came out yet again for a spinning Spencer Gallagher, and just like that, Custer was back on the lead lap.
Over the final 33 laps, Custer put his head down and crashed the top 10 with eight laps remaining and would likely have wound up there had it not been for Tyler Reddick’s spin underneath Johnny Sauter’s machine with three laps to go. That sent the race to overtime, and Custer restarted ninth. In a wild sequence over the final three laps, Custer moved up to seventh after Ben Rhodes made contact with Sauter as the two battled for the lead within sight of the checkered flag. Custer avoided the carnage again and brought it home for his first top-10 finish of the season and 11th of his career. The top-10 result saw Custer rise four spots in the driver standings to 19th and gain six points on the leader to trail by 48 after four races.
William Byron won the race, followed by Matt Crafton, Daniel Hemric, Christopher Bell and Clint Bowyer. Ryan Truex was sixth, followed by Custer, Timothy Peters, Ben Kennedy and Spencer Gallagher.
Cole Custer, driver No. 00 Haas Automation team
“We had some trouble tonight, but we finally got it going in the right direction. We wanted to stay up front early on, because clean air was so important, but the Haas Automation Chevrolet Silverado was just so tight in dirty air. We kept adjusting on it, trying to get it loose enough to go forward, and we were getting there on the last run when we ran out of fuel and went a lap down. We kind of had a tough time tonight, but we got a decent finish out of it and that’s a big step in the right direction. We need to get it a little better at Dover and see what happens.”
After three straight races of bad luck and trouble, Cole Custer put all that behind him and overcame several bouts with adversity to finish seventh in a wild NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Kansas 250 at Kansas Speedway on Friday night.Custer, who started fourth, ran in the top 10 for most of the first 50 laps before the caution clock brought out the yellow flag on lap 44. On the ensuing restart, contact between leader John Wes Townley and John Hunter Nemechek caused the latter to spin, and Townley collected Parker Kligerman to bring out another caution. Custer, right in the middle of the aftermath, managed to slow down enough to squeeze through the carnage without damage.
He rose as high as fourth place before pitting on lap 68, dropping to 18th after getting four tires and a track-bar adjustment for a too-tight Haas Automation Chevrolet Silverado. Following the restart, Custer was flying on the high line when Brandon Brown’s truck squeezed him into contact with the Turn 1 wall. Brown ended up spinning, but Custer managed to save the No. 00 despite a couple of serious wiggles and no further contact. He was forced to pit again, to check for damage and take a look at his tires, but he fell just a few spots to 11th in the rundown.
As the laps wound down, Custer hung tough in the top 15. With 47 laps to go, the caution clock ran out again just after Jordan Anderson hit the wall and dropped debris around the speedway. Anderson tried to get to pit road but stopped just short, causing the pits to be closed while his truck was moved. Several teams, including Custer, were at the fuel window and nervously circled, waiting for a green light.
Cameron Hayley and Bobby Pierce both ran out before the pits were open, and that caused problems for Custer, who was the next to run out and stall just shy of the pit entry. The delay in getting pit road open caused him to fall a lap down and he restarted 19th with 40 laps remaining. Quick work on the restart saw him as the first truck a lap down when the caution came out yet again for a spinning Spencer Gallagher, and just like that, Custer was back on the lead lap.
Over the final 33 laps, Custer put his head down and crashed the top 10 with eight laps remaining and would likely have wound up there had it not been for Tyler Reddick’s spin underneath Johnny Sauter’s machine with three laps to go. That sent the race to overtime, and Custer restarted ninth. In a wild sequence over the final three laps, Custer moved up to seventh after Ben Rhodes made contact with Sauter as the two battled for the lead within sight of the checkered flag. Custer avoided the carnage again and brought it home for his first top-10 finish of the season and 11th of his career. The top-10 result saw Custer rise four spots in the driver standings to 19th and gain six points on the leader to trail by 48 after four races.
William Byron won the race, followed by Matt Crafton, Daniel Hemric, Christopher Bell and Clint Bowyer. Ryan Truex was sixth, followed by Custer, Timothy Peters, Ben Kennedy and Spencer Gallagher.
Cole Custer, driver No. 00 Haas Automation team
“We had some trouble tonight, but we finally got it going in the right direction. We wanted to stay up front early on, because clean air was so important, but the Haas Automation Chevrolet Silverado was just so tight in dirty air. We kept adjusting on it, trying to get it loose enough to go forward, and we were getting there on the last run when we ran out of fuel and went a lap down. We kind of had a tough time tonight, but we got a decent finish out of it and that’s a big step in the right direction. We need to get it a little better at Dover and see what happens.”
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