FONTANA, Calif. – Cole Custer is four races into his third year of full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series and he’s never been hungrier to win races.
Hunting his third career series victory early in 2019, Custer enters Saturday’s Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway third in points and with two top-fives and three top-10 finishes overall. And while the NASCAR Next alumnus came close to winning after finishing second at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, Custer says his Stewart-Haas Racing team led by crew chief Mike Shiplett still have some knots to be untied.
“We are solid right now,” said Custer. “We are running top-five and have top-five speed. It is just a matter of putting everything together. We have a new crew chief this year and a couple new people, so we are sorting through some things right now and trying to figure out what we need to do to get our cars a little better. We are right in the ballpark.”
New crew chief and all, the results have been impressive for Custer – but the Ladera Ranch, Calif. native says as the communication grows between, he and Shiplett their performances should even be better.
“I think we want to win races and be leading the points and be the guy to beat,” offered Custer. “We might get better as the year goes on when we get our communication and what we want to bring to the racetrack a little better for my feel. Right now, we are solid, it is just a matter of getting it a little better.”
With his last Xfinity Series win coming last fall at Texas Motor Speedway, a win that catapulted him into the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway, a win on Saturday would be just as huge. With Auto Club, the fast-two-mile oval considered his hometown track, Custer said it’s a track that he looks forward to coming to, especially after finishing sixth last March.
“It (Auto Club) is a tough track but it is one of the driver’s favorite ones to go to because it is so wore out and old and so many bumps,” added Custer. “It is one of the coolest tracks we go to. I am looking forward to it. I think every driver looks forward to it.
“We have always been fast here. It is just a matter of staying up front. You get in the back or middle part of the pack and you are slicing and dicing with all these guys. It is tough to keep your track position and momentum up. If we can stay up front that will help a ton.”
And if Custer can’t earn a win Saturday afternoon in Southern California, he isn’t too worried. He knows following a one-week break, Texas Motor Speedway is on deck – where he’ll return to the 1.5-mile speedway as the series’ most recent winner.
“We won there last time so I am looking forward to going back,” sounded Custer. “It has been a good track for us and we have had fast cars there. It is a tough race track because it is so fast and only one groove. We have been fast though and I am looking forward to going back.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
