COLE CUSTER | RILEY HERBST
New Hampshire NASCAR Xfinity Series Advance
NASCAR Xfinity Series Overview
- Event: Ambetter Health 200 (Round 18 of 33)
- Date: Saturday, July 15
- Location: New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon
- Layout: 1.058-mile oval
- Time/TV/Radio: 3 p.m. EDT on USA/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Cole Custer Notes of Interest
- Cole Custer and the No. 00 Haas Automation team look to keep the momentum rolling as they head into Saturday’s Ambetter Health 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. A solid third-place finish in last Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway netted Custer his 11th consecutive top-10 finish and his second top-five in a row. Custer ran in the top-12 for a majority of the race and, in a fuel-saving call, was able to bypass his competitors on a NASCAR overtime restart to jump from 10th to third. It was his best finish on a superspeedway-style track and his best finish since the Atlanta repave and reconfiguration. Custer now has the longest top-10 streak of any driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
- Saturday’s Ambetter Health 200 will mark Custer’s fourth Xfinity Series start at New Hampshire. In his three prior starts from 2017 to 2019, he never finished outside the top-10. His best finish was a second-place run in his last Xfinity Series race there in July 2019, when he was bested only by race-winner Christopher Bell. Custer also has seven New Hampshire starts outside of the Xfinity Series – three in the NASCAR Cup Series, three in the NASCAR Truck Series, and one in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Two of those were wins – the 2014 NASCAR Truck Series race and the 2013 K&N Pro Series race.
- Custer will be pulling double duty for the second weekend in a row as he’ll also be behind the wheel of the No. 51 BioHaven / Jacob Companies Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing in Sunday’s Crayon 301 Cup Series race.
- Custer has been on a roll for the past 11 weeks since the April 1 race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. It’s a stretch that includes two race wins and three pole qualifying efforts, and most importantly has put him in a strong position for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. He’s jumped to third in the driver standings from the 10th position he held prior to Richmond. He is now 45 points behind John Hunter Nemechek, the regular-season championship leader. Custer’s streak of 11 top-10s in a row began with his fifth-place result at Richmond. With only nine races left before the playoffs begin Sept. 15 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Custer is looking to close the points gap even further and take home not only more wins, but the regular-season championship trophy.
Riley Herbst Notes of Interest
- Riley Herbst and the No. 98 Monster Energy team are ready to show their resilience and ability to rebound in Saturday’s Ambetter Health 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Last Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Herbst experienced the high of passing Josh Berry to steal the win in the opening stage. Herbst and the No. 98 team felt they were in position to contend for the win looking forward, but an untimely flat left-rear tire put Herbst in a bad position on track, where he was caught up in an accident that forced him to retire to the garage on lap 88. While he may not have gotten the ending he had hoped for, Herbst’s stage win was the first of his Xfinity Series career, which began in 2019.
- Saturday’s race at New Hampshire will mark Herbst’s third at the 1.058-mile oval. In his prior two visits, he earned a best result of 10th in his first start there in July 2021. He also has two New Hampshire starts outside of the Xfinity Series, both in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2018 and 2019. He finished fourth and sixth, respectively.
- With only nine races to go before the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs begin on Aug. 15 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Herbst is looking to secure his spot in the 12-driver playoff field. He is currently 11th in the driver standings but 12th in the playoff standings, with a six-point cushion ahead of 13th-place Parker Kligerman. Herbst and his team are looking to find the momentum they exhibited at the outset of the season in order to better protect their points buffer and work their way upward in the playoff standings by accumulating points at a greater rate. A race win, of course, would lock Herbst into the postseason.
Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang
Your statistics at New Hampshire are strong across all of the NASCAR national touring series, including wins in the Truck Series and K&N Pro Series East. How do you feel coming into this weekend’s race?
“I love going to New Hampshire. I love seeing the fans up there because of how hardcore they are. It’s a very technical and difficult racetrack for a driver, though. It can be very awkward, and it can be a challenge. But overall, that’s what makes it fun for us. I’m hoping that the No. 00 Haas Automation team can put a strong weekend together so we can park our Ford Mustang in victory lane again.”
After a strong race at Atlanta last weekend, what’s your plan heading to New Hampshire?
“The plan is always to compete for the win, but this track isn’t always the kindest to us drivers. New Hampshire’s just so hard because you have to roll the corners so long and modulate the brake pedal in order to do well at this track. It’s a very tricky race. You have to be patient so you don’t overdrive the cars and get yourself into trouble. It can honestly be a challenge for a driver, but I’m ready for it. Hopefully, I can keep calm and bring home a strong finish this weekend.”
Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Last Saturday’s race at Atlanta provided racing’s highs and lows for the No. 98 Monster Energy team after you won your first career stage, then ended up being collected in an accident. How do you get past those heartbreaking races and move on to the next?
“You just have to take it race-by-race. We’ve had some bad luck, and I hate it for this No. 98 Monster Energy team. We were so strong in the beginning of the year and, honestly, we were building a strong race in Atlanta. We were a top-three car, for sure, and I think we could’ve been a contender for the win. That cut tire caused so much trouble, and we had to end our day early. You can’t dwell on that, though. Each weekend is a new race and a new opportunity to show our speed and determination.”
You’ve had two prior starts at New Hampshire with a best finish of 10th. What’s the plan for this weekend?
“The plan is simple – survive and get back on track. We had some bad luck in both Chicago and Atlanta, so we want to get back to where we were at the beginning of the season. There have been a lot of ups and downs, so I really want to end these final races of the regular season strong. New Hampshire has always been a fun track for me, but we got involved in a wreck last year that wasn’t of our own doing. We have the speed to run well there, so hopefully you’ll see that this weekend.”
