Rookie Cole Custer Wins at Kentucky Speedway in his First Cup Checkered Flag

Nigel Kinrode / Motorsport Images

SPARTA, KY – RIS – Rookie Cole Custer, running the No. 41 SHR Ford was in sixth place before the final restart from the outside.  The determined young man passed both Martin Truex, Jr  Kevin Harvick, and Ryan Blaney to win his first NASCAR Cup race at Kentucky Speedway.  His passes were good enough for him to cruise to the finish.

“I’m surprised, yes,” Custer said. “We’ve done a better job putting things together. It was just putting the whole picture together. But I think we’re now at the point where we can race with these guys and go to the front.”

He then added with a chuckle, “I started yelling (coming to the white flag and taking the lead) but I didn’t want to jinx it.” He becomes the first Cup rookie to win a race since Chris Buescher did so in 2016.

Custer’s total of four laps led in the race marked the first laps he’s led as a Cup driver. Custer won last year at Kentucky in the Xfinity Series.

“We were so good, our car was so good,” Custer told FS1. “That was the best car I’ve ever driven in my life. Unbelievable car. It definitely was not the start of the year we wanted; we were off in some places.”

The first two stages were quite different.  Pole sitter Kyle Busch led the first eight laps before Aric Almirola took over.  He won Stage 1 and seemed to have a fast Mustang.  Stage 2 was much the same. Almirola got out to big lead at the beginning of the stage. His lead at one point was more than two seconds, but that would soon evaporate as Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Penske Racing Ford Mustang passed Almirola to take the lead halfway through the stage. Blaney appeared set for the stage win, but his teammate Brad Keselowski was the beneficiary of a NASCAR scoring rule.

Near the end of stage two, a caution came out as Matt Kenseth spun in turn three less than two laps after pitting. At the time of the spin, and subsequent caution, Keselowski had been pulling out of his pit stop in the section of pit row nearest to turn four. Keselowski had passed the start-finish line while in the pits just before Blaney passed the start-finish line on the track. The timing rule meant Keselowski started first for the last lap of stage two and took the stage win.

Blaney suffered a problem at the end of the first stage.  His car would not stay in gear.   The team tried to fix it, handing the 26-year-old Hartford Township, Ohio native a bungee cord to try and keep the shifter in fourth gear. After the bungee cord idea didn't work, Blaney spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the 1.5-mile tri-oval with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the shifter. Blaney finished sixth.

Another favorite was Kyle Busch.  During the second stage, Kyle Busch complained his Camry felt like the right-rear spring was broken, affecting the balance of the car entering turns.  Then, in the early going of the third stage, Busch hit the wall coming off turn four. Entering this year's race, Kyle Busch had the best average Cup Series finish at Kentucky Speedway – 4.7. He finished 21st.

Next is the NASCAR Cup All Star race.  This year it is at Bristol Motor Speedway, with fans in attendance.  That will happen on July 15th.  Usually the race is at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but a change was made due to the Covid-19 and safety concerns.

Unofficial Results, Quaker State 400: Kentucky Speedway

Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Tms Led, Laps Led, Playoff Pts, Pts, Status
1) 29, Cole Custer #, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford, 267, , 3, 2, 5, 5, 48, Running
2) 9, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Auto Owners Insurance Toyota, 267, 10, 5, 3, 57, , 42, Running
3) 10, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Menards/Quaker State Ford, 267, 4, 9, 1, 1, , 43, Running
4) 3, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford, 267, 6, , 1, 11, , 38, Running
5) 7, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 267, 8, , , , , 35, Running
6) 11, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford, 267, 5, 2, 2, 18, , 46, Running
7) 34, Christopher Bell #, No. 95 Toyota Toyota, 267, , , , , , 30, Running
8) 4, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Vote For Bacon Ford, 267, 1, , 1, 128, 1, 39, Running
9) 6, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Snap-On Ford, 267, , 1, 2, 34, 1, 38, Running
10) 24, Tyler Reddick #, No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 27, Running
11) 21, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 267, , , 1, 4, , 26, Running
12) 12, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota, 267, , , , , , 25, Running
13) 19, Austin Dillon, No. 3 RigUp Chevrolet, 267, , 7, , , , 28, Running
14) 15, Clint Bowyer, No. 14 One Cure Ford, 267, 9, , , , , 25, Running
15) 2, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 267, 3, 4, , , , 37, Running
16) 33, Ty Dillon, No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 21, Running
17) 23, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Acronis Ford, 267, , , , , , 20, Running
18) 20, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 267, , 8, , , , 22, Running
19) 5, Alex Bowman, No. 88 Cincinnati Chevrolet, 267, 7, 6, , , , 27, Running
20) 13, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, 267, , , , , , 17, Running
21) 1, Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M's Fudge Brownie Toyota, 267, , , 1, 9, , 16, Running
22) 16, Erik Jones, No. 20 Built In Kentucky Toyota, 267, , 10, , , , 16, Running
23) 8, Chase Elliott, No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet, 267, 2, , , , , 23, Running
24) 30, Michael McDowell, No. 34 Love's Travel Stops Ford, 267, , , , , , 13, Running
25) 17, Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Clover Chevrolet, 267, , , , , , 12, Running
26) 37, * Daniel Suarez, No. 96 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota, 267, , , , , , 11, Running
27) 18, Bubba Wallace, No. 43 Victory Junction Chevrolet, 265, , , , , , 10, Running
28) 27, Corey LaJoie, No. 32 Keen Parts Ford, 264, , , , , , 9, Running
29) 14, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet, 264, , , , , , 8, Running
30) 36, JJ Yeley(i), No. 27 Greenlight Ford, 260, , , , , , 0, Running
31) 31, Brennan Poole #, No. 15 Spartan Mosquito Chevrolet, 259, , , , , , 6, Running
32) 26, Josh Bilicki(i), No. 77 Austin Hatcher Foundation Chevrolet, 257, , , , , , 0, Running
33) 25, Garrett Smithley(i), No. 53 Victory Lane Quick Oil Change Chevrolet, 257, , , , , , 0, Running
34) 35, Joey Gase(i), No. 51 Donate Life Life Center/Pro Master Ford, 257, , , , , , 0, Running
35) 28, Quin Houff #, No. 00 Creek Enterprise Inc Chevrolet, 255, , , , , , 2, Running
36) 22, John Hunter Nemechek #, No. 38 YANMAR Ford, 248, , , , , , 1, Accident
37) 38, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 RoofClaim.com Toyota, 170, , , , , , 0, Electrical
38) 32, Ryan Preece, No. 37 Kingsford Chevrolet, 159, , , , , , 1, Transmission
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Race Length: 267 laps, 400.5 miles
Time of Race: 2 hr, 59 min, 49 sec
Average Speed: 133.636 mph
Margin of Victory: .271 sec

Stage 1 Top 10: 10, 9, 22, 21, 12, 4, 88, 1, 14, 19
Stage 2 Top 10: 2, 12, 41, 22, 19, 88, 3, 48, 21, 20

Race Comments: Cole Custer won the Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart at Kentucky Speedway, his first NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Prior to the start, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reasons indicated: No. 19, No. 42 (multiple inspection failures).

Caution Flags: 8 for 42 laps;
Laps: 27-30 (Competition Caution [00]);
82-87 (Stage 1 Conclusion [6]);
155-159 (No. 42 Spin Turn 4 [6]);
162-167 (Stage 2 Conclusion [34]);
230-237 (Debris on Frontstretch [14]);
245-248 (No. 38 Incident Turn 2 [6]);
250-254 (No. 2, No. 48 Incident Frontstretch [42]);
262-265 (No. 42 Spin Turn 4 [96]).

Lead Changes: 13 among 9 drivers;
K. Busch 1-9;
A. Almirola 10-137;
R. Blaney 138-149;
M. DiBenedetto 150;
B. Keselowski 151-180;
M. Truex Jr. 181-219;
B. Keselowski 220-223;
C. Custer # 224-227;
W. Byron 228-231;
M. Truex Jr. 232-248;
R. Blaney 249-254;
K. Harvick 255-265;
M. Truex Jr. 266;
C. Custer # 267.