Cole Custer denied after final pit stop unravels dominant day at Dover

DOVER, Del. -- Cole Custer led 155 laps at Dover International Speedway on Saturday, starting from the pole position in the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. But, he wasn’t able to lead the final -- and most important -- laps of the Allied Steel Buildings 200, and finished fourth. Calm but clearly frustrated, Custer explained feeling defeated by the difficulty in passing at the 1-mile track but said that he and his team did everything they could have done after winning both stages. “I don’t see anything huge I could’ve done different,” Custer said. “It’s great (that we led laps), we had fast cars but it’s just when you come home fourth, what happened?” RELATED: Bell marches at Dover It was the pit stop on Lap 156 where race-winner Christopher Bell took the lead away from Custer. Although Custer's car was fast, he was not able to make up the lost ground. “We gave up our track position on that pit stop and from there, we couldn’t get it back," Custer said. "Our car was so fast and that’s what is so frustrating about it. It feels like we didn’t take advantage of it. It's so hard to pass and then once you do get underneath somebody, they can just keep you pinned down and you can’t get by them." The race was challenging but Custer's main focus was on remaining steady during the final laps. “You can get frustrated, I mean, I’ve gotten frustrated here before because you just can’t do anything if you’re on the bottom or if you’re in traffic," Custer said. "But I knew from that, that I needed to keep calm and just do whatever I had to do to maximize where I was at. That’s what I tried to do but you’re just kind of at a disadvantage down there.” Custer currently sits fourth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings but has a secured spot in the 2019 championship hunt with two wins this season, at Auto Club Speedway and Richmond Raceway.