JOLIET, Ill. — Cole Custer emerged from his No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford on pit road at Chicagoland Speedway, red-faced and drenched in sweat. Pouring several water bottles down his fire suit and atop his head, he made his way from pit road to the media center following his third-place finish at the Illinois track.
The race was hard-fought — as he started Saturday from the rear — and the top-five result put him atop the Xfinity Series points standings for the first time this season. But Custer wasn’t content; he slid through his pit box on a late green-flag stop, losing time on pit road.
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“Really we just had a great car,” Custer said. “We probably were the best car out here — (Kyle) Larson’s probably just the best driver at Chicago. So, it was a little bit hard to catch him at the start running the top, but I felt I felt like long-run-wise, we were about the same speed as he was and if we were close again, I probably would have learned some things on the top that probably would have kept us closer to him.
“But it just sucks that we made that mistake; I’ve never made that mistake, I don’t think, before … so it’s just frustrating. We’ll move on to the next one, but we have some great momentum and guys gave me a great car.”
This marks Custer’s fifth straight top-five finish, a streak that began with a runner-up finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May. He’s led multiple laps in three of those five races, but still hasn’t been able to nab that first win of 2018.
Because Custer’s No. 00 is up front consistently, top-five finishes aren’t enough for the team anymore; they want victories.
“I think we’re really hitting our stride,” Custer told NBCSN. “We’re in contention to win races. We have the speed every single race …”
“Now that you’re fighting for wins every single weekend, you start getting disappointed that you don’t win,” he said later in the media center. “I think we’re happy with where we’re at — we’re disappointed with top fives. We’re knocking on the door every weekend of having a win. We just need to have everything go right and not make mistakes.”
At one point during the race, Custer made a pass on Stewart-Haas Racing counterpart Kevin Harvick, whose No. 98 finished second. For an Xfinity Series driver, running with Monster Energy Series veterans like Harvick — and passing them — is rewarding.
“Kevin’s taught me a lot and he’s definitely one of the best out there,” Custer said. “It’s always satisfying when you’re racing the Cup drivers and you’re actually able to outrun them. They’re a little bit better than I am in the Cup cars, that’s for sure.
“But in the Xfinity Series cars, I feel like I can compete with them pretty well. It’s just now it’s beating all of them and winning a race. But we just have to keep it going.”
The Xfinity Series heads to Daytona International Speedway next weekend for the series’ third restrictor-plate race of the year. Custer hopes to continue the team’s run.
“I’m looking forward to it — I think we’ll have good speed,” Custer said. “I’m not the best speedway racer, but I think I’ve gotten better and better at it, too.
“I think it will be our best speedway race.”