COLE CUSTER, No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang – WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE COURSE YESTERDAY AND TODAY’S CIRCUMSTANCES? “It’s been an awesome weekend overall, just the whole event. The whole thing that NASCAR has put on here and the whole city has been pretty unreal. I think everybody was a little bit skeptical going in and all the drivers, but the course is such a blast to drive. There’s definitely passing zones out there, but it’s such a risk versus reward as a driver. You can push it out there and run fast laps, but you’re gonna be on the edge or wrecking, so it’s definitely a blast to drive and puts it in the driver’s hands a little bit. Today, we definitely wish we could have run all the laps. We don’t want to win it this way, but at the end of the day we had a really fast car and I think everybody knew that. I think this team can compete with anybody out there and we’re really hitting our stride, and I’m really proud of JT and all the guys at the shop who have worked so hard to put us in this situation.”
DID YOU GET TO SEE ANY AREAS OF THE TRACK. ANY CHANCE OF GETTING OUT THERE? “I didn’t even see it, honestly. I was sitting in the car most of the time and I just heard there was a lot of standing water through seven through 11 or so. I’m sure all the Cup guys are praying the rain goes away because they do not probably want to deal with that. It’s wild enough just being by yourself out there in the dry. I can’t imagine it with 40 guys out there in the wet. We’ll see what they’re all made of today if they have to do that.”
WHAT DO YOU SAY TO THE FANS WHO WANTED TO EXPERIENCE THIS WEEKEND? “Honestly, it was pretty surreal. On the pace laps we rolled off pit road and you could hear them cheering from the stands between one and two. I’ve never experienced that, I don’t think, anywhere at any other racetrack. They were just screaming and yelling and you could hear them. It was pretty awesome and the stands for an Xfinity race was packed yesterday, so it was definitely a really cool event.”
YOU HAVE YOUR FIRST WIN IN THE STATE OF ILLINOIS AFTER GETTING YOUR FIRST POLE IN THE STATE. “Yeah. It’s awesome. We’ve got to do the Stone Cold thing and I think we’re gonna do that after this, but they said it’s a felony to jump in the fountain, so we’re probably not gonna do that, I guess. We wanted to, and we could, you’d just have to get me from jail I guess.”
WHAT WAS YOUR IMPRESSION OF THE TRACK? “Definitely treacherous. For us, with how the Xfinity cars are with the solid rear axle we wheel hop a lot, so going into turn six, turn four, turn seven, all of them that had bumps going in there were definitely treacherous. One mistake and you wheel hop too much and you’re gonna be in the fence, so it was definitely edge in the Xfinity cars and I’m sure it is in the Cup cars, too. But it’s just finding the limit because the second you step past that limit, you’re in big trouble. It’s definitely nerve-racking for sure.”
HOW AWKWARD IS IT TO BE CELEBRATING 24 HOURS AFTER STARTING? “It is definitely probably the most awkward win I’ve been a part of, just because you’re so disconnected from the race. We raced 24 hours ago, so it’s definitely one of the weirdest wins I’ve ever been a part of, for sure, but we’ll take it. We’re racers and you take it as it comes. We’re proud of it. We’ll take the playoff points and keep it going.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE THE FIRST RACE WINNER ON A STREET COURSE? “It’s huge. Being a part of that you’ll take that to the day you die saying that you were the first winner on the Chicago Street Course and the whole event that they’ve put on here. It means a lot and hopefully we can keep it rolling through the season.”
WHAT WAS THE COMMUNICATION LIKE WITH NASCAR TODAY? “I don’t know if anybody knew, really. You go to your car, you get in and it’s like, ‘Oh, there’s standing water,’ and then we’ve got to wait, and then there’s a lightning delay. There were just so many things that happened in the last 24 hours that I think led to this point, so I think it was just so many unforeseen things because this is the first time we’ve ever done this and throwing rain into the equation really throws a curveball at it. It was a lot of confusion, but it is what it is. We can’t control the weather.”
DID YOU FEEL LIKE A GUINEA PIG ON THE TRACK AT ALL? “It actually worked out great for me because I just kind of let the other guys go and they did like the first five minutes and I just watched on TV. Then I rolled out and pulled out right behind Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer, I think, so I just watched them and what they did and kind of caught on because they were the Guinea Pigs the first five laps, then I just followed them.”
IS THERE ANYTHING THE CAN DO TO THE COURSE TO MAYBE MAKE IT BETTER NEXT YEAR? “Maybe a couple of walls. Kevin’s wreck, it was kind of like there’s a double point in that wall that you can’t really see until you hit it, so that could maybe be a little bit better, but, overall, they did such a great job with this. I think, overall, we were really skeptics going here, but seeing the track when we showed up and driving around it we were impressed. I think all of us were impressed of how driveable it was and how racy it was, so I think everybody can hang their hats high on this one. They did a great job. It’s a shame that the rain really threw a big curveball at it. I’m sure in the future they’ll get that better and better, but it was a great weekend that NASCAR and the city did.”
WHAT WERE YOU DOING WHEN YOU WERE DECLARED THE WINNER? “We were just on the pit box and we’re all just waiting around and don’t really know what’s going on. JT actually got the word on the radio that they called i and we were the winners and it’s like such an awkward moment, too, because we’ve just been waiting around. It’s like how excited can you be because it didn’t feel like we did anything today, but it’s still a really cool feeling that we came out on top of it. It’s definitely one of the weirdest ones, for sure.”
YOU’VE WON TWO OF THE LAST THREE ROAD COURSES. HOW MUCH WORK HAVE YOU DONE ON THESE TYPE OF TRACKS? “Honestly, road course racing in general has always been a strong suit of mine, I feel like. I’ve always loved it and I feel I’ve always been in contention and had speed at road course races, it’s just never worked out until this year, so we’re finally really getting things to work out right. Sometimes that’s just luck, but I think overall we’ve been fast on the road courses and we’re just putting it all together.”
HAS IT SUNK IN THAT YOU WON THIS RACE? “Yes and no, I guess. I think after a week it will probably set in a little bit more, but it’s definitely weird. I don’t know how many times I’ve said it, but it’s just the weirdest race I’ve ever won because it’s a day removed from when we were actually on the track and just all the things that have happened in the last 24 hours, but we’ll take it as they come.”
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO COMING BACK NEXT YEAR AND MORE COURSES LIKE THIS? “Yeah, I’m pumped about it. We have a really fast setup for this place and it was a great weekend for our team, so I’m pumped about coming back here and I think the whole city did a great job with it. It’s a cool event, so I think everybody is very excited to come back.”
WHAT DID YOU SAY TO THE TEAM ABOUT POSSIBLE RAIN AND ARE THERE ANY LESSONS TO TAKE FROM THIS? “There are just so many things that we do when it comes to raining, like just even having a wiper on the inside of the car to try and get the fog out of the windshield. There are a lot of different things there that help us a little bit for the future, just little things, but, overall, we had a good plan and we were ready for it. The thing about this place is you really don’t know how it’s gonna race in the rain because we’ve never, there’s not really a set lane in the track yet because there’s not a ton of rubber down, so do you have to run a rain line or do you not? And how all of the paint is gonna affect you on the racetrack, so I guess there’s a lot of unknowns when it comes to rain racing here, but we were lucky enough that we didn’t really have to deal with that.”
ANY ADDED CONCERN AMONG DRIVERS TO BE RACING ON THIS KIND OF CIRCUIT? “I don’t think the circuit in particular, it’s mainly just the visibility and the standing water. If we get it to where you can’t see a car length in front of you, it can be pretty dangerous if somebody stopped in the middle of the racetrack and you can’t see them, and then also the standing water. If you’re just hydroplaning and wrecking all the time, there’s no room for error around here. That was the thing that I think we were a little bit worried about, but, overall, I think if it’s just a little damp I think there’s no reason why you can’t race here in the rain.”
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