AVONDALE, Ariz: Quiet but persistent.
That was the name of the game for Stewart-Haas Racing rookie Cole Custer during Sunday’s Fanshield 500 at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway.
Although a top-15 car for much of the first two stages of the race, the handling improved in Custer’s No. 41 Haas CNC Ford Mustang that allowed him to squeeze into the top-10 at the conclusion of Stage 2 to collect a crucial stage point.
While hovering just outside the top-10 during the opening laps of Stage 3, Custer was able to use several late-race restarts to his advantage to inch closer back to the top-10.
At Lap 291, Custer had moved from 14th to 12th and by Lap 308 had worked his way to ninth.
Custer even withstood a green-white-checkered run in NASCAR overtime to maintain ninth fending off the cars of William Byron and Brad Keselowski to earn his first career top-10 finish in just his seventh career start.
“This was huge,” said Custer. “It is a huge boost in our step to have a really solid day and fast Mustang. We overcame obstacles all weekend and hopefully we can continue to carry that all through the year.”
Improving on his finishes each week in the opening four races of the Cup season, Custer is optimistic that his No. 41 team can continue to keep pace moving forward.
“I think we get better every single race, so it is just a matter of continuing that and doing that every single weekend,” he added.
The finish propelled him to 22nd in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings heading to Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway next weekend.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
