Cole Custer Finishes 13th at Richmond
Haas Automation Driver 12th in Season Standings
Date: April 29, 2017
Event: Richmond 250 (Round 8 of 33)
Series: NASCAR XFINITY Series
Location: Richmond (Va.) International Raceway (.75-mile oval)
Format: 250 laps, broken into three stages (75 laps/75 laps/100 laps)
Start/Finish: 16th/13th (Running, completed 254 of 254 laps in overtime)
Point Standing: 12th (154 points, 141 out of first)
Race Winner: Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Austin Dillon of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Justin Allgaier of Junior Motorsports (Chevrolet
Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-75):
- Started 16th, finished 15th.
- Battled tight-handling conditions throughout Stage 1.
- At the conclusion of Stage 1, Custer took four fresh tires and chassis adjustments.
Stage 2 Recap (Laps 76-150):
- Started 16th, finished 12th.
- Custer’s Ford Mustang improved in handling and battled its way to 10th place after the restart.
- After a caution on lap 117, Custer restarted in the 12th position with 26 laps to go.
Final Stage Recap (Laps 151-254):
- Started 10th, finished 13th.
- Custer battled in and around the top-10 throughout the final stage.
- A caution with 13 laps to go provided Custer the opportunity to take four fresh tires and restart in 12th place.
- After a final caution, Custer restarted in the 10th position before being collected in an accident in overtime.
Notes:
- This marked Custer’s second NASCAR XFINITY Series start at Richmond International Raceway and 13th overall start in the XFINITY Series.
- This was Kyle Larson’s second win of the 2017 XFINITY Series season.
Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:
How was today’s race at Richmond?
“It was a bit of a struggle for our team today. We unloaded a fast Haas Automation Ford Mustang, and we were great in practice but just lost something in the race. We made some improvements to the car throughout the race but still needed a little more.”
