LOUDON, N.H. — For most of the afternoon at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Cole Custer dominated.
Though he didn’t win either of the stages, Custer led five times for a race-high 114 laps at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, including as many as 56 circuits in a row after starting from the pole.
But as the Ladera Ranch, California, native paced the closing laps during a string of late cautions, he ultimately ended up in the cat-bird seat.
Restarting on the high side during NASCAR Overtime, Custer got a great jump, diving in front of Sheldon Creed on the bottom. But coming back to the white flag, he got put three-wide by Creed and Christopher Bell, dropping back to third through turns one and two.
At that point, there was nothing he could really do. Bell had too much momentum going down the backstretch for Custer – and even Creed to that matter – to make a run for the checkered flag.
Bell ended up hanging on for his fourth Xfinity Series victory in Loudon in as many starts. Meanwhile, Custer settled for the final step of the podium after chalking the race up as one of the best cars he’s ever had.
“I hate it for us and our guys. I felt like we had that one,” Custer said after the race. “We had the best car all day and to have it ripped away with one lap to go is just heartbreaking.
“I am going to replay that one in my head of what I could do differently. You get put in those late-race cautions six times, or however many there were, and eventually, it is not going to go your way. There are definitely some things I can look back on and see what I could have done differently.
“That was hard racing at the end.”
Though, Bell wasn’t praising himself for how he handled the restart.
“That was 100 percent just circumstances there,” Bell said. “I really did not do a very good job on the start and got a terrible launch and that allowed Sheldon to get into second, and Sheldon ended up getting Cole loose off of (turn) four and I had Sheldon’s left rear, and I was able to get to the bottom of three-wide.
“Cole did a good job getting control of the race and getting the lead and he just drove away the third stage. It is never over till it’s over, though.”
Custer’s been immersed in the news over the last week, getting linked as a favorite to land with the Haas Factory Team in 2025. His father, Joe Custer, will serve as the president of the enterprise headed by current Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner Gene Haas.
In a press conference on Friday, Custer said it’d be a “dream come true” to operate the Cup car for Haas, and that he believes he’s a top-30 talent in the sport.
Last year, Custer proved that. He won three times as he went on to win the Xfinity championship a year removed from a demotion from Cup.
A win on Saturday though would’ve been his first of the 2024 campaign. Instead, it’s another top-five, his seventh in 16 races this season. However, he leaves with the series points lead.
“That one really stings,” he said. “I really wanted that one.”