KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Cole Custer had frustration toward Chandler Smith on how the final 50 laps of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway played out.
Custer restarted with the lead on lap 153 and jumped ahead, but two laps later, Smith gained momentum and squeezed Custer into the outside wall, taking the top spot.
It took time, but with more long-run speed, Custer chased the Joe Gibbs Racing driver down as the race closed within 20 to go. He tried to use the top groove, and while he had an advantage through the center of the corner, Smith maintained his lead with stronger entries and exits.
With 10 to go, Custer got past Smith – but Aric Almirola quickly closed from behind. Falling a lap down earlier in the race with a flat tire, Almirola seemed to find a new groove that worked, and he passed Custer coming to three to go — pulling away for his second win of the season.
Custer couldn’t complain much about a second-place finish even though the win was there for the taking. But his problem came toward Smith and their contact earlier in the run. The two briefly spoke on pit road after the race before going their separate ways.
“I am just sick of getting cleared and him just driving me into the fence,” Custer said. “He didn’t have me clear and just drove me into the fence. It is just a joke. I told him that if he is going to race me like a clown, I am going to race him like a clown. It is a joke that people race like that. He was going for the win, but he is going to have it coming back to him now.”
Had Custer not spent so much time racing Smith, the Stewart-Haas Racing driver believed he would’ve pulled away – and that Almirola wouldn’t have been a factor.
“It definitely burned our stuff up trying to get by him,” Custer said. “It really made me mad when he put us in the fence on that restart. He is going to pay the consequences for that and I am going to race him how he races me.”
But Smith, who finished third, didn’t have much empathy for the frustrated Custer.
“We’re playoff racing and if I won this race, it advances us to the next round,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of stakes to that obviously and not to mention he’s also the guy that we’re racing for the championship. We’re going to race hard, it’s not the regular season anymore. I’m not just going to let him go at the very end of the race like I would in the regular season if he’s that much better.
“I respect the hell out of Cole (Custer). He’s gave me a lot of breaks and in his eyes, he gave me a few today, which I’ll go back and watch and if I’m in the wrong I’ll apologize. I felt like it was the end of the race, he knew he was better, and I had to do what I had to do to hold him up as long as I can to try to give me a shot to win the thing.”
Custer ended up scoring 51 points in the effort, the most among any full-time driver. Almirola garnered the most at 59 but is only earning points toward JGR’s owner’s championship effort.
Custer also leaves with the series points lead after Justin Allgaier crashed twice and completed just 73 laps.
“At the end of the day, I just can’t say enough about our team and this car,” Custer said. “I think we could have gone back-to-back really easily if things had fallen our way.”
“We will move on to Talladega. I am sure points-wise we are pretty good. We will keep chugging along.”