BRISTOL, TN – September 23, 2024 – Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer won Friday’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway, claiming the regular season championship. This weekend’s win marked Custer’s first win at Bristol, second of the season, and 15th of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career.
“Congratulations to Tony, Gene, Jonathan, Cole, and everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing on the race win and regular season championship,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Winning the regular season championship is a testament to all of the hard work, dedication, and teamwork of Ford Performance, Stewart-Haas Racing, and Roush Yates Engines.”
“Man, it’s just unbelievable. It’s a testament to these guys. It’s been a really hard month, but everyone at the shop really kept their heads in it. I can’t thank HighPoint.com and Ford Performance enough. It’s awesome to get them both a win. All the guys did such a great job. It was an unbelievable car all night. I’m ready to get to the playoffs. It’s huge to get this momentum because our confidence was going down there this last month, so to get this win really means a lot. What a car. What a race. I mean, these guys did such a great job with this thing. I can’t thank HighPoint enough. Every race we’ve wanted to do better with them and this was finally a race we put it all together. It was just an unbelievable car. I could really drive through the field and do everything I needed. It’s a real testament to what this team can bring to the playoffs,” commented Custer.
Cole Custer started Friday night’s race from the outside of the front row in P2. On the second lap, Custer scraped the wall, as his flat right front tire brought out the first caution of the race. Custer pitted and quickly rebounded to finish Stage 1 in P7. After the stage break, RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg restarted Stage 2 in the lead. Custer continued to surge through the field, finishing Stage 2 in 2nd. On lap 209, Custer took the lead from Sheldon Creed on a restart and never looked back, leading a race-high 104 laps. Custer crossed the finish line 0.896 seconds ahead of Sheldon Creed, winning the race, Xfinity Series regular season championship, and now moves onto the Xfinity playoffs. Stewart-Haas teammate Riley Herbst also advanced to the playoffs Round of 12, following his win at Indianapolis earlier in the season.
RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg finished Friday’s race in P8 and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst finished in P13.
The NASCAR Cup Series also raced at Bristol on Saturday. Three Ford Performance drivers finished in the top-10: Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney in P6 and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Preece and Chase Briscoe in P8 and P9. Four Ford Performance drivers advanced to the Round of 12: Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney in P5, Joey Logano in P8, Austin Cindric in P9, and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe in P12.
The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series both compete this weekend at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. The Round of 12 for both series consists of Kansas Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL.
About Roush Yates Engines
Roush Yates Engines is a leading-edge engine development company based in Mooresville, NC consisting of two state-of-the-art facilities – Roush Yates Engines and Roush Yates Manufacturing Solutions, a world class AS9100 Rev D/ISO 13485 certified CNC manufacturing facility. The company’s core business includes designing, building and testing purpose-built race engines.
Ford Performance in partnership with Roush Yates Engines is the exclusive engine builder of the NASCAR FR9 Ford V8 engine.
With an unparalleled culture of winning and steeped in rich racing history, Roush Yates Engines continues to follow the company’s vision to lead performance engine innovation and staying true to the company’s mission, provide race winning engines through demonstrated power and performance.
