By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
For Cole Custer, Saturday’s Ford EcoBoost 300 was a continuation of the 2017 running of the event, where the then-rookie dominated and won at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
For this year, the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing driver had an Xfinity Series title on the line and showed similar speed in the race’s opening two stages.
However, Custer faded late following a turn of pit strategy and finished second to race winner and champion Tyler Reddick.
For Custer, he has second thoughts about the strategy for the No. 00 team.
“I don’t know if that was the right thing to do,” Custer said. “But I think if I could have run the top better we would have won also. We got so far behind and once I caught him, our tires kind of equaled out and started running the top and I couldn’t keep up with him.”
Out-ran on the top lane by Reddick, Custer respected the run put down by the No. 9 JR Motorsports driver.
“I’m happy for him,” he said. “He could run the wall better than I could at the end there. I couldn’t keep up with him.
“We were really close it just sucks to be second.”
Competing for his first championship in racing, Custer valued the experience toward a return season with SHR come 2019.
“It means a lot being through this scenario,” he said. “I thought we kept our calm all day. We did a great job, it just didn’t play out right at the end. We still have something to hang our hats on. We still won the owner’s championship, which is really awesome, but I still wanted the driver’s one too.”
Indeed, the result capped off the owner’s title for team owner Tony Stewart and SHR, giving the team a trophy to bring into the offseason.
“We’ve come a long ways and everybody has worked really hard,” he said. “It means a lot, but it’s still bittersweet when you finish second.”