● The Lilly Diabetes 250 will mark Cole Custer’s 23rd career NASCAR XFINITY Series start and his first of any kind at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
● Custer has competed in six restrictor-plate races – three this season in the XFINITY Series – twice at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and once at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. He also competed once at each track in the Camping World Truck Series and once at Daytona in ARCA. His best Truck Series finish in a restrictor-plate race was 24th at Daytona (February 2016) and his best ARCA finish in a restrictor-plate race was 10th at Daytona (February 2016) after starting from the pole.
● Custer’s best finish in the 17 XFINITY Series races run this season is fourth, earned in the 11th event June 3 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. It was his ninth top-10 and third top-five and it equaled his career-best finish in 22 career XFINITY Series starts.
● Custer’s best qualifying effort in the 17 XFINITY Series races run this season is third, earned in the seventh race of the season April 22 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. Custer has 10 top-10 starts and three top-five starts this season.
● Custer is third in the XFINITY Series Rookie of the Year standings, 61 points behind leader William Byron and one point behind second-place Daniel Hemric.
● Custer has earned five Rookie of the Race awards this season. Rookie of the Race awards are given to the highest-finishing XFINITY Series rookie.
● Custer is sixth in the XFINITY Series driver standings, 224 points behind series leader Elliot Sadler.
● Custer has earned two top-five finishes, seven top-10s and has led 29 laps in the 2017 XFINITY Series season. |