COLE CUSTER | RILEY HERBST
Charlotte NASCAR Xfinity Series Advance
NASCAR Xfinity Series Overview
- Event: BetMGM 300 (Round 12 of 33)
- Date: Saturday, May 25
- Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway
- Layout: 1.5-mile oval
- Time/TV/Radio: 1 p.m. EDT on FOX/PRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Cole Custer Notes of Interest
- Cole Custer is ready to get back in action after the third off weekend of the season as the NASCAR Xfinity Series takes on its latest intermediate track during Saturday’s BetMGM 300 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. Joining Custer for the first time at Charlotte is Fanttik, the trailblazing and award-winning brand in the automotive accessories industry. Fanttik made its debut with the Stewart-Haas in the March 3 NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, serving as primary sponsor on Noah Gragson’s No. 10 Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Fanttik is following up that appearance by supporting the 2023 Xfinity Series Champion at a track where he’s run well in the past.
- Saturday’s BetMGM 300 will mark Custer’s seventh Xfinity Series start at the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval. He has excelled at the track, with all but one of his five previous visits resulted in top-10 finishes. Best of those was his runner-up finish to Brad Keselowski in May 2018 after qualifying second and leading 29 laps. In last year’s May’s visit to the Charlotte oval, Custer qualified an impressive fourth and finished third, one of only seven drivers to finish on the lead lap. Custer’s Xfinity Series debut at the track in May 2016 resulted in a fourth-place finish. He then finished seventh and sixth, respectively, in the spring and fall 2017 races. Custer has made four Charlotte starts in the NASCAR Cup Series with a best result of 12th in May 2020, and one in the NASCAR Truck Series that resulted in a 13th-place finish in May 2016.
- Custer arrives at Charlotte riding a nine-race streak of top-10 finishes, the longest streak in the Xfinity Series this season. It started with his runner-up finish March 2 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The nine consecutive top-10s this season surpassed Chandler Smith’s seven consecutive top-10s that began at the season opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway through the March 30 race at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. While Custer has yet to find victory lane this season, he has earned six top-fives in the first 11 races, has led 222 laps, has yet to record a DNF, and hasn’t finished worse than 16th.
- Fanttik is a youthful, dynamic brand dedicated to outdoor, household, sports and automotive products that cater to every need for the perfect adventure. In a short span of time, Fanttik has garnered extreme acclaim from enthusiasts, social media influencers, digital media and consumers. It has earned the internationally revered Red Dot Design Award multiple times, along with the prestigious IF Design Award. Fostering the motto, “We explore, we innovate and we make it happen,” Fanttik has brought trailblazing experiences in the automotive arena to the most diverse audience.
Riley Herbst Notes of Interest
- At just 17 years old in 2016, Riley Herbst packed his things and moved by himself more than 2,200 miles from his hometown of Las Vegas to chase his racing dreams in the heart of NASCAR Country – Charlotte, North Carolina. Fast forward eight years and Herbst is now a NASCAR Xfinity Series winner who is making a name for himself in the series as he continues his chase for a championship. A win in Saturday’s BetMGM 300 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway would set the tone for the remainder of the season and lock him into the 2024 Xfinity Series Playoffs. While his season has seen highs and lows thus far, Herbst has earned two top-10s in the past three races. On April 20 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, the driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse pulled off a late dash to earn a runner-up finish behind race-winner Jesse Love. He followed that up with a 16th-place finish at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway. In the series’ most recent race May 11 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Herbst put his bad luck behind him at the 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval and finished seventh, his second straight top-10 at the track. He hopes to keep the momentum rolling as he heads to an intermediate track that is similar to his hometown Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
- The BetMGM 300 will mark Herbst’s fifth Xfinity Series start on the Charlotte oval. After his 12th-place finishes there in May 2020 and 2021, Herbst was plagued in May 2022 by cut tires in both qualifying and the race, which he finished in 25th. In last year’s rain-delayed May race, he struggled with the handling of his racecar and ultimately finished 14th. Herbst has two starts in the ARCA Menards Series at Charlotte with a best finish of second in May 2018, when he missed going to victory lane by just .293 of a second behind his now fellow Xfinity Series regular Brandon Jones.
- Herbst has found speed in past Xfinity Series races at Charlotte. He earned his first career pole at the track when the team visited the oval layout in May 2021 after finishing 12th in his first start at the track in the previous May’s race. The latter accomplishment came without the benefit of practice or qualifying due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The May 2021 race weekend was his first at the track with practice and qualifying, and the No. 98 Monster Energy team rolled off the truck with a fast racecar. Herbst topped the speed charts in practice on Friday, then followed it up setting the fastest lap in qualifying on Saturday. he showed similar speed in his past two races at Charlotte prior to some bad luck.
- Herbst enjoyed success on intermediate tracks in the second-half of last season, highlighted by his first career Xfinity Series victory last October on Charlotte’s sister track of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Not only did the 25-year-old driver park his Ford Mustang in victory lane, he bested the field by more than 14 seconds. He followed that up with a strong second-place run the next weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he chased down the leader in the closing laps. He finished just .227 of a second behind race winner Sam Mayer. Currently, Stewart-Haas Racing holds 17 Xfinity Series wins on NASCAR’s intermediate tracks, nine of which have come with the No. 98 team.
Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 00 Fanttik Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Charlotte must feel like another one of the racetracks where you’re due a win. You’ve only finished outside the top-10 once on the 1.5-mile layout and you’ve earned a best finish of second. What more do you need to get the job done and park the No. 00 Fanttik Ford Mustang Dark Horse in victory lane?
“I mean, it’s just like this season, we just need that little bit more to find victory lane. We just haven’t put together a perfect race, which needs to happen if we want to get there. I feel like Charlotte has been similar in my career. Our cars have been fast, but stuff happens during the race and I feel like we just can’t recover. I’m excited to get there this weekend, though, with the momentum we’ve been having in the series right now. Charlotte Motor Speedway is getting better and better as the years go on, too, mostly because it’s starting to age. It’s getting to that point where the tires are starting to wear more, and you’re having to move around the track a lot to find speed. You’re slipping and sliding all around. Charlotte can be a lot of fun for a driver, but it can also bite you if you aren’t careful. In my opinion, it’s becoming one of the better mile-and-a-half racetracks on the NASCAR circuit.”
You’re welcoming a new partner to the No. 00 team this weekend with Fanttik on the hood of your Ford. What does it mean to have all of this support from new and old partners after your 2023 Xfinity Series championship?
“As a driver, no matter what point you’re at in your career, it’s always exciting to have new sponsors on your racecar. It means that people want to support you and your career. This season, we’ve been lucky to have quite a few new partners on the No. 00 team, but also to keep a lot that have been with me in the past. These are companies who believe in you and believe that you can go out there and get them wins. With that said, Fanttik was a new partnership for us this year and I’m excited to see them on my Ford at Charlotte. I can’t thank them enough for their support this season. Charlotte has been a great track for me in the past, so hopefully I can get them to victory lane on Saturday.”
Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Charlotte has been a track where you’ve struggled in the past, but you’ve also called it one of your favorite racetracks on the circuit. Your home track of Las Vegas Motor Speedway used to be the same way until you scored your first career victory last October. What do you need this weekend to not only earn your first top-10 finish at Charlotte, but also go for the win?
“I’ll back up what I said last year, Charlotte is one of the most underrated races on the schedule. No one actually realizes how difficult it can be to drive a daytime race at this track – it’s one where you’re slipping and sliding all over it, but you can also find a lot of speed. Just like any other track, it can bite you, but it can also be one of the best races of the year for a driver. We had a lot of speed there when we qualified on the pole in 2021, so I’m hoping we can see that again. There’s been some bad luck, but I think just like with my history at Las Vegas, I can turn it around. You can’t count the No. 98 team out any weekend, so I’m excited to head there and see what we can do.”
You’re heading into a long stretch of summer races without a break in the schedule. From now until the July 20 race at Indianapolis, the team will be on a summer grind with no breaks. How do you stay focused during this long portion of the schedule?
“This summer stretch can be long and tedious. You not only have a lot of weekends without a break, but you’re also going to so many different types of tracks. We’ve got intermediates, short tracks, road courses, and street courses. It really tests a driver because you’re having to prepare for so many different types of races. You can get in your head very easily if you don’t pace yourself. This is where you have to take it one race at a time. If you have a bad race, you just have to keep looking forward because there’s another coming just days later. It can be a challenge, especially when you have multiple races where things don’t go your way. I’m excited for this stretch of races, and hopefully we can get a win at one of these tracks.”
