A year after taking his Chevy Silverado home in pieces, Cole Custer finished sixth in Wednesday night’s Aspen Dental Eldora Dirt Derby for NASCAR Camping World Truck Series machines at the legendary Eldora Speedway. It could have been higher than that, but a flurry on the final restart cost him five spots. The driver of the No. 00 OneMain Chevrolet got two spots back over the final eight laps to earn his fourth top-10 finish in 11 races this season.
Custer started the 150-lap, three-segment affair in 23rdplace, the result of a scrape while running second in his heat race. He still finished fifth, transferring to the main event. Once it started, the 18-year-old Californian had to deal with a ton of traffic and fell a lap down just 18 circuits into the race. He got it back as the first 40-lap segment came to an end, sitting 17th. Pitting for four tires and fuel, Custer returned to the track and started picking off spots.
By lap 90, Custer was 13th, and looking for more. Crew chief Marcus Richmond made the call to stay out and not pit, which put him 11th in the order with 60 laps remaining. From there, Custer set the OneMain Chevy on whatever line was fastest. A restart following a caution flag on lap 94 was the key to Custer’s race, as he advanced five spots to fourth with 50 laps remaining.
He raced there, maintaining his track position and waiting for the end. He restarted fourth behind early leader Bobby Pierce, who only had fourth gear. Pierce restarted at speed and had just taken the lead when he slammed the wall in Turn 3. In the meantime, Daniel Hemric had passed Custer for position, and when the dust cleared, Custer had retained the fourth spot. The final restart, with 16 laps to go, proved his undoing, as drivers behind started diving to the inside. Custer was pinned in the high groove and couldn’t defend the slide job, losing five spots.
Custer showed in his heat race (running second when Abreu and Travis Kvapil crashed around him) and in the main (running third at one point before the final caution) that his OneMain Chevrolet was one of the faster trucks on the track.
Kyle Larson won the race, followed by Christopher Bell, Rico Abreu, Jake Griffin and Tyler Reddick.
Custer gained two spots in the point standings to 11th, and more importantly, he trails eighth-place John Hunter Nemechek by just 14 points. That is the point cutoff for the inaugural Chase later this season. Custer gained eight points on the leader, William Byron, and now trails by 64 with 12 races remaining.
Cole Custer, driver No. 00 OneMain team
“I was really satisfied with sixth place. We were good enough for a top five, but I didn’t do a good enough job on the last restart. It was definitely a lot better than I expected coming in here, and the OneMain Chevy was really good. I was really happy to have them on board this weekend and it was nice having a good showing for them. It was a good night in the points, too, and we needed one of those. Hopefully we can carry this momentum to Pocono.”
JRM Press Release.
No comments:
Post a Comment