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COLE CUSTER – 2017 Daytona Race Report

Event:                     PowerShares QQQ 300 (Round 1 of 33)
Series:                    NASCAR XFINITY Series
Location:                Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
Format:                 120 laps, broken into three stages (30 laps/30 laps/60 laps)
Start/Finish:          20th/37th  (Accident, completed 22 of 120 laps)
Point Standing:    30th (1 point, 46 out of first)
Race Winner:        Ryan Reed of Roush Fenway Racing (Ford Mustang)

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-30):

  • Started 20th, finished 37th.

Notes of Interest:             

  • This is Custer’s first career NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
  • Custer raced as high as 10th place before being involved in an accident during Stage 1 involving 20 cars.
  • This was Custer’s third race at Daytona International Speedway.

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“It looks like we got collected there. I saw the 42 get turned and I think we just tried to make our way through, but there was nowhere to go. It’s a shame because we had a really good Haas Automation Ford Mustang. I thought our guys did a great job. It drafted really well and we’ll look forward to Atlanta. I know we’ve got a lot of great people at Stewart-Haas and Ford, and I think we’ll have a lot of great runs this year.”

Daytona is a different animal than most every other track. Do you quickly forget about this race and move on to the rest of the season?

“Yeah, it’s Daytona. You’re gonna have this all the time, so we’ll go to the next one. That’s all you can look forward to, and I think we’re gonna be fast in Atlanta. We’ll see what we can do.”

What was the racing like?

“I wouldn’t say people were being too aggressive at first. It was definitely hectic, though. We got the third lane going a little bit, but right there at the end people were trying to make up spots for the segment and people might have gotten a little too aggressive.”

Next Up: 

The next event on the NASCAR XFINITY Series schedule is the Rinnai 250 on Saturday, March 4 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race starts at 1:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FS1.