Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-30):
● Custer started fourth, finished fourth and earned seven bonus points.
● After a caution on lap 17, Custer powered the Code 3 Associates Mustang to second place.
● On the final lap, Custer ran door-to-door with the leader, but fell out of the draft and lost two positions.
● At the conclusion of the stage, Custer pitted for two tires and fuel. He was the first car to exit pit road.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 31-60):
● Custer started 12th, finished 10th and earned one bonus points.
● After a lap-45 caution, Custer fell out of the draft with no help from behind and landed in the 20th position.
● He opted not to pit after a lap-55 caution and restarted in ninth place.
● He also stayed out of the pits at the conclusion of the stage.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 61-91):
● Custer started eighth, finished third.
● Custer battled in and around the top-five and survived multiple caution periods in the final stage.
● After caution for rain, Custer held the Code 3 Mustang in third place before continuous rain ended the race.
Notes:
● Due to inclement weather, qualifying was cancelled and the field was set by owner points.
● This marks Custer’s second Xfinity Series top-10 at Michigan and 10th top-10 of the season.
● This marks Custer’s first Xfinity Series top-five at Michigan and fourth top-five of the season.
● Custer earned eight bonus points in the LTi Printing 250.
● 10 cautions slowed the race for 37 laps.
● Only 30 of the 40 drivers finished on the lead lap.
● Austin Dillon won the rain-shortened LTi Printing 250 to score his ninth career Xfinity Series victory, first of the season and first at Michigan.
Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Code 3 Associates Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing With Biagi-DenBeste:
“Today we were just in the right place at the right time and had a great strategy. I think my crew chief (Jeff Meendering) had a great strategy and got us track position at the end. Our Code 3 Ford Mustang was pretty solid. It was hard to pass and you didn’t want to be on the bottom. We had some things go our way and ended up third there.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Iowa 250 presented by Enogen on Sunday, June 17 at Iowa Speedway in Newton. The race starts at 5 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX.
TSC PR/Photo Credit Daniel Shirey/Getty Images
