Cole Custer Finishes Eighth at Road America
Haas Automation Driver Earns 11th Top-10 of Season
Date: Aug. 27, 2017
Event: Johnsonville 180 (Round 23 of 33)
Series: NASCAR XFINITY Series
Location: Road America at Elkhart Lake (4-mile, 14-turn road course)
Format: 45 laps, broken into three stages (10 laps/10 laps/25 laps)
Start/Finish: 12th/8th (Running, completed 45 of 45 laps)
Point Standing: 6th (562 points, 276 out of first)
Race Winner: Jeremy Clements of Jeremy Clements Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: James Davison of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Daniel Hemric of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-10):
- Cole Custer started 12th, finished 19th.
- Custer ran just outside of the top-10 for the majority of the stage.
- During a lap-seven caution, Custer pitted for fuel and chassis adjustments. At the conclusion of the stage he opted to stay and gain track position.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 11-20):
- Started seventh, finished 17th.
- Custer dealt with a tight-handling Haas Automation Ford Mustang throughout the second stage and shuffled back to 20th place.
- Custer pitted at the conclusion of Stage 2 for four tires, fuel and chassis adjustments.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 21-45):
- Started 18th, finished eighth.
- On lap 28, Custer battled his way back into the top-10 before making a fuel-only pit stop under green-flag conditions.
- After green-flag pit stops cycled through, Custer piloted his Haas Automation Ford Mustang to third before tight-handling conditions continued to hamper his speed.
Notes:
- Qualifying for the Johnsonville 180 was canceled due to inclement weather. Starting positions were set by owner points.
- Custer earned his 11th top-10 of the 2017 season and his 13th top-10 in 28 XFINITY Series starts.
- Four cautions slowed the race for eight laps.
- Jeremy Clements won the Johnsonville 180 to score his first career XFINITY Series victory. His margin of victory over second-place Michael Annett was 5.802 seconds.
Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
“We fought a lot of issues today and there were a lot of things I could’ve done better. To come home with a top-10 was pretty good with all of that considered. Jeff (Meendering, crew chief) made a great call at the end to get our Haas Automation Mustang some track position.”