Cole Custer’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick has been in the spotlight, so far, in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season as one of the series leaders with four wins. Rookie Custer took his turn in the spotlight at Kentucky Speedway on Sunday, though, when he took on Harvick, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney on a restart with two laps remaining to claim the lead as the quartet approached the white flag and took the checkered flag for his first premier-series win in his 20th race in the series.
“We were so good all day,” Custer said. ”Our car was so good. I mean, obviously, it wasn’t the easiest track to pass on, so we were kind of stuck back, there, but that was the best car I’ve ever driven in my life. Everybody at SHR brought an unbelievable car. Mike [Shiplett, crew chief] and Davin on the box, that was unbelievable. Gene [Haas, car co-owner], I can’t stress enough how thankful I am for him taking a shot on me. It definitely was not the start to the year that we wanted. We were definitely way off at some places, but this was by far an unbeilevable car. We put it all together, and I just can’t thank everybody enough.”
Truex finished second as his three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates — Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones — struggled throughout the race, at times struggling to remain on the lead lap. Truex, who started in the back after his car failed pre-race inspection twice, also struggled early in the race before taking his first lead from Brad Keselowski with 84 laps remaining.
“Just trying to get in line behind the 4 [Harvick] off of two, there, and got into him a little bit,” Truex said of the final restart. “Then, got outside him, because I screwed that up and went into three, and I knew he was going to run me up pretty high. I was up in the loose stuff pretty good, there, but I was able to hang onto it. The 41 [Custer] came with a big run. and I didn’t see him coming. Unfortunate, but we had a hell of a battle today. This Auto Owners Camry was really strong today, obviously, and really proud of that. Sometimes, you lose these things that way. It was unfortunate the way we lost the lead on the restart with the caution coming out, and then, we about had the lead again, and caution came out again. I don’t know. I guess today we were meant to be second.”
Matt DiBenedetto finished third while Harvick fell back to fourth on the final lap with a tire rub. Kurt Busch, last year’s winner at Kentucky, rounded out the top-five.
“I just want to thank everybody from Stewart-Haas Racing and everybody from Hunt Brothers Racing,” Harvick said. “Our Ford Mustang was not very good today, but we got a good break with the caution. I had a couple good restarts, there, and got the car better, but still just not where we needed to be. But the restarts worked out in our favor, and we were able to get the lead and Martin just misjudged, there, on the backstretch and got me sideways. I got out of the gas, and that just brought everybody into the picture, and then, we were four-wide on the front straightaway, here, and the 12 [Blaney] hit the drain and came up and hit the side of the car, and then, I couldn’t see, so, yeah, it got wild, and that’s what you’re supposed to do. I’m just really happy for Cole Custer and everybody on the #41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang. That’s pretty cool to get your first win. As much as I would have loved to win, I’m glad that we kept it in the company.”
Blaney fell back to sixth by the checkered flag after running most of the race with a shifter problem that necessitated him driving with one hand while holding the shifter in gear with the other.
Harvick, like Truex, looked to be a non-factor in the first half of the race, but he took the race lead on a restart with 13 laps to go. Truex led prior to the caution that came when Jimmie Johnson spun after contact with Keselowski on the previous restart with 19 laps remaining.
“It was fun,” Truex said. “I can’t say enough about the guys on this Auto Owners Camry. Everybody back at JGR [Joe Gibbs Racing] really went to work this week to try to get back to what we used to do here. Just hats off to the guys – James [Small, crew chief] and everybody. Just an unbelievable race car. In the end, there, just a bit unlucky losing the lead to Blaney on that first restart by a couple thousandths, and then, again, to the 4 [Harvick] when the caution came out. We were side-by-side. That’s kind of the way these things go sometimes. I’m really proud of the effort. Super-fast race car and feel like we’re back in the game now.”
One of Custer and Harvick’s SHR teammates, Aric Almirola dominated the first half of the race after taking the lead from pole sitter Kyle Busch on lap 10. Almirola led the next 128 laps, including a stage-one win on lap 80, before losing the lead to Blaney on lap 138. Almirola’s 128 laps-led tally remained a race-high. After losing the lead, though, Almirola lost additional positions and didn’t appear to be a factor for the remainder of the race. He finished in the eighth position.
Blaney gave up the lead during a cycle of green-flag pit stops on lap 150. Keselowski inherited the lead when Blaney pitted and remained out to continue up front and win the second stage that ended at lap 160.
Keselowski continued to lead until he was passed by Truex. By the checkered flag, Keselowski was in the ninth position.
Custer was one of three rookies in the top-10 at the end of the race, as Christopher Bell finished seventh and Tyler Reddick was 10th.
“It was a very confusing day,” Bell said. “I have moments where I felt like my Camry was really fast, and I could run really good lap times, and then, I had moments where I wasn’t very good in traffic today for whatever reason. Normally, that is our strong suit is being able to pass guys, and today, I really struggled with that. Obviously, I’m happy with getting out of there with a seventh but disappointed. I wish we could have been a little bit better when we had that track position.”
