Custer Speeds To Another Win
Rookie Pulls Away For K&N Pro East Victory At New Hampshire
LOUDON, N.H. — A month after becoming the youngest winner in NASCAR K&N Pro Series history, 15-year-old Cole Custer from Ladera Ranch, Calif., returned to Victory Lane Saturday in the North American Power 150 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Custer, the son of Stewart-Haas Racing executive Joe Custer, was making just his 12th career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East start and had a dominating weekend. He was fastest in Friday practice, won the 21 Means 21 Pole Award presented by Coors Brewing, and led a race-high 60 laps.
He also won from the pole Aug. 2 at Iowa Speedway.
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Daniel Suarez finished second for his fifth top three finish in his last six races, while Cale Conley was third. Rookie Ben Rhodes crossed the line fourth and Dylan Presnell finished a career-best fifth. Rookie Jesse Little took home sixth.
Brett Moffitt finished seventh and cut Dylan Kwasniewski’s points lead to 23 with two races remaining. Kwasniewski was involved in a Lap 34 wreck after a spin battling Custer for the lead and finished a season-worst 24th.
Rookies Gray Gaulding, Mackena Bell and Ronnie Bassett Jr. rounded out the top 10.
Custer has four top-five finishes through those first 12 K&N Pro Series East outings, and all four have come at national series tracks. In addition to a pair of top fives at Iowa, he also finished on the podium at Richmond International Raceway.
The Iowa victory made Custer the youngest winner in K&N Pro Series East history overall. On Saturday, he etched his name in the record book as the series’ youngest winner at the “Magic Mile,” a place that the K&N East has visited more times than any other facility in its history.
“The guys bring a great car to the track,” Custer said. “I have to thank Gene Haas and Haas Automation. All of the guys did a great job. The car was perfect.”
The New Hampshire win came in a much different fashion for Custer than Iowa, where he ran at the front mostly unchallenged from start to finish. On Saturday he had a number of challengers and had to hold off Suarez on a green-white-checkered flag finish.
“This one was a lot more hectic,” Custer said of the New Hampshire win compared to Iowa. “A lot of the guys are from up here so we really wanted to win this race. It feels really good, all of my guys are really excited.”
The race featured a season-high six lead changes among five drivers and was slowed by eight cautions and one red flag for the multi-car accident that collected two of the top three in the standings in Kwasniewski and Ben Kennedy.
The North American Power 100 will air on Fox Sports 1 on Friday, Oct. 4.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will next race in the Drive Sober 150 at Dover International Speedway on Friday, Sept. 27.
RESULTS | RACE CENTRAL LIVE RECAP | AUDIO: POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH WINNER COLE CUSTER | AUDIO: POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE WITH SECOND-PLACE DANIEL SUAREZ AND THIRD-PLACE CALE CONLEY
NKNPS East NHMS 9/21/13 Unofficial Results
K&N Pro Series East
Race: NKNPS East New Hampshire 9/21/13
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points B/Points Status
1 1 00 Cole Custer * Haas Automation Chevrolet 105 48 5 Running
2 3 6 Daniel Suarez Visit Acapulco Toyota 105 43 1 Running
3 4 47 Cale Conley PMC Toyota 105 42 1 Running
4 13 41 Ben Rhodes * Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet 105 40 Running
5 10 26 Dylan Presnell Amtrol/American Mountain Rentals Chevrolet 105 39 Running
6 6 97 Jesse Little * NASCAR Technical Institute/Jean Savers Chevrolet 105 38 Running
7 8 11 Brett Moffitt NISCO Toyota 105 37 Running
8 9 20 Gray Gaulding * Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Toyota 105 36 Running
9 5 21 Mackena Bell * Toyota Racing Development Toyota 105 35 Running
10 14 04 Ronnie Bassett, Jr. * Jerry Hunt Auto Sales/Rheem Toyota 105 34 Running
11 19 72 Scott Heckert * Project Lifesaver Chevrolet 105 33 Running
12 18 33 Brandon Jones * Rheem Chevrolet 105 32 Running
13 11 89 Matt Tifft * DOC 360 Chevrolet 105 31 Running
14 12 5 Brandon Watson * Royal Distributing/Shear Metal Chevrolet 105 30 Running
15 27 15 Trey Hutchens * MilitaryWarriors.org/Impact Gel Chevrolet 105 29 Running
16 30 44 Akinori Ogata * ENOS Motor Oil Toyota 105 28 Running
17 25 63 John Salemi Envirotek Toyota 105 27 Running
18 28 37 Clay Campbell Legend Gear & Trans./Spraker Racing Chevrolet 105 26 Running
19 16 77 Austin Self * AM Technical Solutions Dodge 98 25 Accident
20 21 34 Kenzie Ruston * AccuDoc Solutions Chevrolet 76 24 Accident
21 29 39 Cory Joyce * Caplin Family Charities Chevrolet 76 23 Accident
22 24 46 Brandon Gdovic Windstax.com/Aquis Communications Toyota 61 22 Engine
23 7 71 Eddie MacDonald Grimm Const./National MS Society Toyota 44 22 1 Accident
24 2 98 Dylan Kwasniewski Royal Purple/Rockstar Energy Drink Chevrolet 34 20 Accident
25 23 2 Ryan Gifford Universal Technical Institute/NTI Toyota 34 19 Accident
26 15 96 Ben Kennedy Ben Kennedy Racing Chevrolet 34 18 Accident
27 26 0 Rafael Vallina * Jarritos Mineragua Toyota 34 17 Accident
28 22 4 Bryan Ortiz Rev Racing Toyota 34 16 Accident
29 17 99 Austin Dyne KMC Wheels Chevrolet 27 15 Engine
30 20 1 Johnny VanDoorn * Karl Performance Chevrolet 10 14 Engine
RACE STATISTICS
Fastest Qualifier: Cole Custer *, Time: 29.659 Seconds, Speed: 128.420 mph
Time of Race: 1 hrs., 42 mins, 38 secs Average Speed: 64.944 mph Margin of Victory: 0.743 Seconds
Caution Flags: Laps 12-16 (Car #1 stalled Turn 4); 28-32 (Car #99 stalled Frontstretch); 35-39 (Cars #98, 96, 4, 2, 0 accident Backstretch); 45 (Car #71 accident Turn 1); 63-66 (Cars #46 & 37 accident Frontstretch); 71-73 (Car #44 stalled Turn 2); 77-81 (Cars #39 & 34 accident Frontstretch); 99-103 (Car #77 accident Frontstretch). 8 for 33 laps.
Lap Leaders: Cole Custer * 1-40, Eddie MacDonald 41-44, Cale Conley 45-46, Daniel Suarez 47-55, Cole Custer * 56, Daniel Suarez 57-86, Cole Custer * 87-105.
Total Laps Led: Cole Custer * 60, Daniel Suarez 39, Eddie MacDonald 4, Cale Conley 2. 6 changes involving 4 drivers.
Sources: Jason Christley/NASCAR K&N Pro Series East PR