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Custer began racing quarter midgets at age four. In 2011, Custer won the USAC National Focus Young Guns Championship. The following year, Custer began racing late models, winning ten races and earning Rookie of the Year honors. In 2013 Custer joined the K&N Pro Series East, making his debut at Bristol Motor Speedway for Ken Schrader Racing. During the season at Iowa Speedway, Custer won the pole position, led every lap, a record for a combination race, and won, becoming the youngest race winner in K&N Pro Series history at age 15, beating Dylan Kwasniewski's record by six months. Custer would win again at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, also from the pole. He finished eighth in the series standings. Custer later ran in the K&N Pro Series West's season-ending race. Custer led every single lap, but was spun out by Gray Gaulding on the final lap, and finished sixth. In 2014, Custer joined Haas Racing Developments to run nine races in the NASCAR Truck Series, making his debut in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway. Custer started the race 9th, and finished 12th. In qualifying for the Drivin' for Linemen 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park, Custer set the track record with a 136.426 miles per hour lap speed, becoming the youngest pole winner in NASCAR history. At New Hampshire Motor Speedway on September 20, 2014, Custer won the Truck Series' UHNO 175 from the pole becoming the youngest winner in the history of NASCAR's national touring

series at 16 years, 7 months and 28 days. Custer only ran in nine races in 2014; and outside of a crash at Martinsville where he finished 29th; he finished all the other races inside the top 14. Six times in the top 10. On January 12, 2015, JR Motorsports announced that Custer would drive a truck for them in ten races in 2015. On June 13, Custer won the Truck race at Gateway Motorsports Park, holding off the #23 truck of Spencer Gallagher, after the dominating trucks of Erik Jones and Matt Crafton were involved in two wrecks at laps 142 and 152. Along with

Nemechek was tackled by Custer; Nemechek would be named the winner. The win would have put Custer into the Chase for the Truck series Championship. In the 23 races of 2016 Custer posted five top 5's and 14 top 10 finishes and finished 10th in the points. Custer also started five races in the Xfinity series in 2016. He drove the #5 Chevy Hisense 4K TV to a fourth place finish. He also finish sixth at one other event. In September it was announced that Custer would move to the Xfinity series full time driving for Stewart-Haas Racing in the #00 Ford Mustang with Haas Automation as the sponsor. 2017 was a good Rookie season for Custer. He gained momentum as the season went along; and made it into the Chase via points. He advance through the various rounds and was eliminated from Championship contention the race before the finale'. Even though not in contention for the title; Custer was

dominant at Homestead leading 182 of the 200 laps grabbing his first Xfinity win. Custer remained with the Stewart-Haas Xfinity Series program in 2018. He posted one win (Texas) and added four second place finishes and added three thirds. He had a total of 14 Top 5 finishes and 26 Top 10 results. He made it all the way to the Championship race at Homestead and ran a competitive race; holding the lead as late as 50 laps to go. A strong Tyler Reddick was able to make his way to the front and beat out Custer for the win and the Championship. Custer once again wheeled the #00 Ford in 2019. And this season was even better than 2018. It was a break out season for Custer as he posted seven wins. He had 17 Top 5 and 24 Top 10 finishes in 33 starts. He was part of 'the big three' who dominated the Xfinity series; the others being Tyler

Reddick and Christopher Bell. All three advanced to the season final with a shot at the Championship. All three swapped the lead the final 35 laps of the race; but Reddick was too much to handle and won the race and the Championship. Custer finished second to Reddick for the second year in a row. His strong season was rewarded with a ride in the Cup Series for 2020. He moved up to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing wheeling the #41 car vacated by Daniel Suarez. In fact, all three of 'the big three' moved up to the Cup series in 2020 providing for an intense Rookie of the Year battle. Custer paired with crew chief Mike Shiplett. The Rookie of the year battle proved to be a good one. Custer managed to last a last lap pass and win the race at Kentucky. It automatically advanced him to

the Chase. Custer's season wasn't flashy but the second half of the year saw him post most finishes inside the top 15. In the Chase, a bad run at Bristol saw him just get edged out of the playoffs at the end of the first round. But since he was the only rookie who made the Chase, he won Rookie of the Year. For the season he had one win; two Top 5 and seven Top 10 finishes. In 2021, Custer remained with SHR and had Shiplett as his crew chief. After his win in 2020; Custer had high hopes for a good season in 2021. But for some reason, all the Stewart-Haas teams struggled all year. Even the main banner carrier, Kevin

Harvick, failed to win a race. Custer only managed two Top 10 finishes all season. He finished tenth at Dover and at Talladega. He ended up outside the Top 20 in points. Custer is another of those drivers who had a season to forget. After a dramatic win in 2020; he went winless in 2021; had no top fives and only had two top tens. Things would have to improve in 2022. But some of his poor performance can be forgiven. Stewart-Haas Racing as a whole appeared to be on a down swing. Harvick had went winless in 2021 also. 2022 looked much the same for SHR. Team mate Chase Briscoe did have a surprise win at Phoenix; and really carried the banner for the SHR team the first half of the season. As for Custer, he went all the

way to race #19 at Atlanta before he could claim ownership to a top ten finish. He was ninth there; and had another ninth a few weeks later at Indianapolis. Other than the season best eighth place finish at Bristol; that was the high points for Custer this season. Rumors were Tony Stewart was talking about moving Custer back down to the Xfinity series for 2023. That somehow seems to light a fire under Custer the last hand full of races; but still a 14th place finish at Martinsville was the best he could muster the last five events. His late season surge didn't save his job. Custer would remain at SHR but would head back to the Xfinity Series, where he is a 10-time race winner, and be a teammate to Riley Herbst. Ryan Preece will be brought up to wheel the #41 in 2023. He was the teams "reserve" driver in 2022. Preece had spent 2022

performing simulator work that has benefitted the entire team and its Cup Series driver lineup of Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, Chase Briscoe and Cole Custer. In addition to his simulator work at the Ford Performance Center, Preece had run a mix of races across each of NASCAR’s top-three national touring series – Cup, Xfinity and Truck. Custer did have one bright spot in 2022. He returned to Xfinity Series competition in February 2022 at Auto Club Speedway, driving the #07 for SS-Green Light Racing in a collaboration with Stewart-Haas Racing. He would end up winning the race after leading 80 laps. It was a first for the small team of SS-Green Light Racing and owner Bobby Dotter. Custer had a good year in 2023. He returned to SHR and had mediocre results the first

two months. It wasn’t until the road race at COTA that he got his first top five. But from there he went on a tear for eleven races in a row. Every race he finished no worse than ninth, with seven top fives, including wins at Martinsville and Chicago. The next four races he struggled with no finishes inside the top 15. But from there all of his finishes were inside the top seven except for three starts. When the play offs started he easily advance to the Round of Eight; bust struggled in that round. He finished third at Las Vegas; and followed that with a 13th at Homestead.

He needed a good run going into Martinsville to be able to compete for the Xfinity Championship at Phoenix. He finished 19th which was good enough to make the final four for the Championship. In the Championship race he was as stout as anyone. He led 96 of 202 laps, beating Sheldon Creed by ½ second to win the Championship. He will be back in the #00 again in 2024. He also made six starts in the Cup Series, all for Rick Ware Racing. He gave the under-funded Ware machine good suns as he finished most races in the mid-20’s. Some info from Wikipedia

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

COLE MATTHEW CUSTER - 01/23/1998