By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor
Cole Custer returned to form in a strong Las Vegas Motor Speedway showing.
The Madera Ranch, California native scored 11 stage points and established himself inside of the top 10 early and often en-route to a ninth-place finish in Saturday’s Boyd Gaming 300. The result was the first top 10 of the season for the NASCAR XFINITY Series sophomore, after a subpar showing at Daytona International Speedway and an early crash at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Custer was among the drivers predicted to have a good run, having qualified fourth with the same speed he displayed with a swath of strong runs on intermediate tracks in 2017. He quickly set about proving those predictions right early on, scoring 11 stage points and keeping himself within sight of the leaders for the majority of the afternoon.
The 20-year-old spent the majority of the final stage inside of the top five, running as high as third in his No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing With Biagi-DenBeste Ford. His quest for a top five would be undone only by a late caution on Lap 186 of the scheduled 200, which bundled the field up and forced Custer to try to hold his position both on the ensuing restart and another one after another caution a few laps later.
The Ford prospect dropped a handful of positions over the late runs to the checkered flag, ultimately slotting in ninth as the race drew to a conclusion.
“I thought we had a solid Haas Automation Ford Mustang,” Custer said. “I thought we had a top-five car. We just didn’t have the best restarts and I think that is what hurt us the most.
While he was disappointed with his end result, the speed of Custer’s Ford left the young star optimistic about his team’s performance moving forward.
“I was happy with how much speed we have,” he said. “We will be able to build off that.
“We definitely wanted more but the restarts just weren’t there today. Same runs we were really good on the long runs and some we were better on the short runs. It could go either way. I think you need the balance of both.”
Custer left Las Vegas 13th in the series standings, five points behind Ross Chastain for the final position in the playoff grid. He’ll get a chance to leap into the top 12 next weekend when the Xfinity Series heads to ISM Raceway.