COLE CUSTER | RILEY HERBST
Talladega NASCAR Xfinity Series Advance
NASCAR Xfinity Series Overview
- Event: Ag-Pro 300 (Round 9 of 33)
- Date: Saturday, April 22
- Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway
- Layout: 2.66-mile oval
- Time/TV/Radio: 4 p.m. EDT on FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Cole Custer Notes of Interest
- Cole Custer seems to be hitting his stride. His streak of good runs couldn’t have come at a better time as the NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to the behemoth 2.66-mile oval of Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway for Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300. Last Saturday at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Custer earned his second pole of the 2023 season and led the opening laps of the race. He finished third in the both of the opening two stages to earn 16 bonus points, and ultimately finished third when the checkered flag flew. This strong run comes after a top-five finish on April 1 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, his first of two consecutive top-fives. His race finishes, combined with the bonus points he’s accumulated, have elevated the No. 00 Haas Automation driver to eighth in the driver standings, up four spots from the 12th position he occupied prior to Richmond.
- By virtue of his third-place finish at Martinsville, Custer earned one of four spots in this weekend’s third round of the annual Xfinity Dash 4 Cash program at Talladega, where he will look to finish ahead of fellow Xfinity Series regulars John Hunter Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Josh Berry to win the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash prize. This year’s program started April 1 at Richmond, continued last weekend at Martinsville, and will conclude April 29 at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. Custer previously won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash check after his April 2019 victory at Richmond.
- Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 will mark Custer’s fourth career Xfinity Series start at Talladega. In his three prior starts, he earned a best finish of ninth in April 2018. In this year’s previous two superspeedway-style races, Custer qualified third and posted a ninth-place finish in February’s season opener at Talladega’s sister track, Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, and a 12th-place finish last month at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
- In addition to his three prior Xfinity Series starts at Talladega, Custer has seven starts outside the series – six in the NASCAR Cup Series with a best finish of 10th in April 2021, and one in the NASCAR Truck Series in October 2016, when he started on the pole and led two laps before a midrace accident ended his day. He’s led 10 laps in his six Cup Series starts at the track.
Riley Herbst Notes of Interest
- Riley Herbst hopes to turn his luck from bad to good once again as he heads into one of the most unpredictable races of the season, Saturday’s Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Herbst saw a potential top-five run come to an early end when an accident not of his doing relegated him to a 30th-place finish last Saturday night at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Prior to the race-ending incident 28 laps from the finish, his first DNF (did not finish) of the season, the No. 98 Monster Energy driver ran consistently at the front of the field and earned a total of nine bonus points with his finishes fifth and eighth in the opening two stages, respectively. He arrives at Talladega fourth in the driver standings, 38 points behind leader John Hunter Nemechek.
- Despite last weekend’s result at Martinsville, Herbst is still off to his best career start to a season. He reeled off six consecutive top-10 finishes in the opening six races and to date has led 38 laps, more than three times as many as he led all of last season (12). In this year’s previous two superspeedway-style races, Herbst posted a sixth-place finish in February’s season opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway after running in the top-three all day, and a fifth-place finish last month at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
- Saturday’s race at Talladega will mark Herbst’s seventh career Xfinity Series start at the track. He earned a best finish of fourth in the April 2021 race, and returned that October to lead his first laps at the track, 26 in total, before an accident ended his bid six laps from the finish. Herbst has an additional five Talladega starts outside the Xfinity Series – four in the ARCA Menards Series and one in the NASCAR Truck Series. He drove to a runner-up finish in the April 2019 ARCA race, then followed that up with a fourth-place finish after 36 laps led in his most recent Talladega ARCA outing in April 2020.
- In addition to the Xfinity Series race this weekend, Herbst will pull double duty and make his second career Cup Series start in Sunday’s GEICO 500 in the No. 15 Mechanix Wear / Monster Energy Ford Mustang. His Cup Series debut in the No. 15 Ford Mustang during February’s 65th running of the Daytona 500 resulted in a 10th-place finish. He navigated his way around multiple accidents en route to becoming only the second driver in NASCAR history to record a top-10 in his Cup Series debut in the Daytona 500, joining Terry Ryan, who made his debut in the 1976 edition of The Great American Race and finished sixth.
Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang
Not only are you coming into Talladega off a strong, top-three finish, you also have a chance to win the $100,000 Dash4Cash prize. How excited are you to be a part of the program again after winning it during your last fulltime Xfinity Series season?
“The Dash 4 Cash is one of the coolest things that the Xfinity Series does. They give the drivers and teams an opportunity to race for some big money and kind of leave it all out there and take some risks for it. You know it’s going to be a crazy one at Talladega, in general, and now you add this factor in. I think some guys are going to do some crazy stuff to go for not only the win, but the money, so you better bring yous ‘A’ game this Saturday. Hopefully, we can be the ones who come out on top in the end.”
Superspeedway racing is a game requiring a good bit of luck. How do you approach this race, which is so unpredictable?
“Honestly, superspeedway racing is always challenging. There are things that you can control in the race, like having a fast car and being able to make those aggressive moves that you need to. You also need to know how well you can work the draft. That’s something that we focused on heading into this race. I feel like we were solid at Daytona, but it’s just a matter of controlling the race a little better. You always have that luck factor in these races and, in the end, you just hope it’s your lucky day.”
Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
After two weeks of bad luck, you’re heading into a race that seems to be all about luck. How do you prepare for Talladega?
“You have to expect the unexpected and plan to survive. We’ve been fast at superspeedway races this year, so we’re working on perfecting that package. These races tend to come down to who will work with you to get up front. In the past, we’ve struggled because there haven’t been many Fords in the field, but adding Cole Custer to the team this year will really help. We still don’t have as many guys as the other manufacturers, but this is also where you have to make friends. I feel like we’ve done well with that in the past, so hopefully we’ll see that again this weekend and end up in victory lane.”
Not only are you running the Xfinity Series race, you’ll also get seat time in the No. 15 Mechanix Wear/Monster Energy Ford Mustang in Sunday’s Cup Series race. What does getting extra seat time in any series mean to you as a driver?
“Any seat time is a learning experience at these tracks. I’m excited to get another opportunity behind the wheel of the No. 15 Ford Mustang on Sunday. I learned so much in the Daytona 500, so Talladega is going to be all about expanding on that knowledge. Just like Daytona, though, Talladega is unpredictable. You can only control so much. Hopefully, we can stay out of trouble and have another solid run similar to Daytona. It’s every racer’s dream to get an opportunity in a NASCAR Cup Series car, and I’m grateful to get the opportunity to do just that.”
