FORT WORTH, Tex.: NASCAR fans lined up to meet Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.
While it’s not every day track patrons have the opportunity to mingle with a champ, just hearing Cole Custer—along with cold custard—made the availability an easy sell.
And with Andy’s Frozen Custard sponsoring Custer this weekend, the blue, yellow and red color on the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford would be hard to miss—particularly when accompanied by a soft-serve food truck.
“When we won the championship last year, I actually met Andy (Kuntz), from Andy’s Frozen Custard at the banquet,” Custer said with a laugh. “And we kind of hit it off there. Actually, there’s an Andy’s about a mile down the road from where we live in Cornelius (N.C.).”
Custer’s proximity to Andy’s is convenient, particularly since his wife Kari is five months pregnant.
“It was definitely just a match made in heaven,” said Custer, who starts second alongside pole winner Jesse Love. “It’s a sponsor that I love—and I love being part of their brand. Hopefully, we’ll get a win for them in their race in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300.”
In Xfinity practice on Friday, Custer posted the Best 10 Consecutive Lap Average of 177.306 mph. That’s not his only advantage over the Xfinity Series competition. Custer is the only driver in the field to have won a race at the 1.5-mile track. The 26-year-old from Ladera Ranch, Calif., scored his second-career win here in the Lone Star State in 2018. In seven starts at TMS, he has one victory, four top fives and six-top 10 finishes.
“Man, it’s a hard place to get a hold of with the two different ends and the bumps that are developing in (Turns) 3 and 4,” Custer said. “It’s a bear, trying to get the handle right—and usually it’s not.
“You’ve got to be there at the end, also. You can really take yourself out of it here on restarts if you get too aggressive. You have to know when to be aggressive and when to let it come to you.”
On average over the last five seasons, there have been more cautions recorded at Texas than at Daytona International Speedway or Talladega Superspeedway. Custer is not surprised. The first word that comes to mind when the driver describes the track is “treacherous.”
“I think in Xfinity cars it’s how narrow the groove is,” Custer said. “On restarts, everyone is door-to-door, crowding each other. When you have someone on your door in an Xfinity car it gets the guy on the bottom really loose. Everybody is trying to manage that throughout the whole day, and eventually guys just make mistakes. They try to get too deep on the bottom and you end up washing up to the guy next to you.
“You have to know what position you’re in—if you have a position to be aggressive into the corner or if you’ve got to be a little conservative so you don’t wreck the guy beside you.”
Custer is currently second in the Xfinity standings, trailing Chandler Smith by 35 points. Smith has won twice since moving to Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2024 season. Custer is still searching for his first victory of the year. In 150 Xfinity starts, Custer has 13 career wins.
“I have a lot of confidence in our team,” Custer said. “We’re starting of the year way better than we did last year. We’re second in points. I know we haven’t won yet, but we’re right there. It’s just little things we need to work on to get a little bit better and we’ll be right there.
“We’re not sweating right now. We have the speed. This weekend we’ll have a strong car. Hopefully, we’ll put it in Victory Lane.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
