NASCAR: Cole Custer to drive for Rick Ware Racing at Las Vegas
By Asher Fair
Cole Custer is set to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut driving for Rick Ware Racing at Las Vegas in the Pennzoil 400 in two weeks.
Cole Custer, 20, is set to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut as the driver of the #51 Ford for Rick Ware Racing in two weeks in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Justin Marks drove the #51 Chevrolet for the team in the Daytona 500 and finished in 12th place. Harrison Rhodes, 24, is slated to make his Cup Series debut in the #51 Chevrolet next week at Atlanta before Custer does so in the #51 Ford at Las Vegas in two weeks.
Custer is the full-time driver of the #00 Ford in the Xfinity Series for Stewart-Haas Racing. He drove full-time for the team last season after driving full-time in the Truck Series in the 2016 season for JR Motorsports in the #00 Chevrolet.
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In the 2016 Truck Series season, Custer finished in 10th place in the championship standings after failing to win a race. His top finishes of the season were both 2nd place results at Iowa and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. At the latter, he tackled race winner John Hunter Nemechek since he did not feel that Nemechek raced him properly.
In 42 career Truck Series races, Custer does have two victories, with those two victories coming at New Hampshire in the 2014 season and at Gateway in the 2015 season.
In the 2017 Xfinity Series season, Custer finished in 5th place in the championship standings as the highest finishing driver who did not qualify for the Championship 4. Had he qualified for the Championship 4, which he did not do largely due to the fact that he did not win a single race before the season finale, he would have won the championship since he won the season finale at Homestead-Miami.
Custer’s win at Homestead-Miami was the first victory of his Xfinity Series career, which has consisted of 39 races so far. He finished in 14th place at Daytona on Saturday to open up the 2018 season.
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Tune in to the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, March 4th at 3:30 pm ET on FOX to watch Cole Custer make his NASCAR Cup Series debut driving the #51 Ford for Rick Ware Racing.