Custer On Chandler Smith: ‘He’ll Pay The Consequences’

Cole Custer (00) chases Chandler Smith Saturday at Kansas Speedway. (David Rosenblum/NKP for Toyota Racing photo)

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – To say Cole Custer was frustrated with Chandler Smith at the conclusion of Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff opener would be a heavy understatement.

A frenetic discussion on pit road at Kansas Speedway only reinforced the tension between the two.

Custer finished second in the Kansas Lottery 300, but held the lead inside of five to go at the 1.5-mile oval before being passed by Aric Almirola for the victory on lap 197 of 200.

Prior to that, however, Custer had been locked in a back-and-forth, cat-and-mouse battle for the top spot with Smith for the majority of the race’s final quarter.

A restart with 49 laps left saw Custer launch into the lead from the outside, but Smith was right in his tire tracks to go to second. Four laps later, Smith dove to Custer’s inside in turn two, racing side by side for the lead down the backstretch before a deep dive on the other end of the track put the No. 81 in front.

As Smith slid up off turn four though, he wasn’t quite clear of Custer and just squeezed the defending series champion up into the outside wall as a result. A furious Custer gave chase, setting up an exciting closing stretch.

Lap after lap, Custer got closer and closer to Smith by being stronger through the center of the turns, but Smith fended him off each time with better speed on corner entry and exit.

Finally, with 10 laps left, Custer got to Smith’s right rear and drug him back enough to make the pass for the lead – but Almirola quickly followed suit before eventually overhauling Custer in the end.

While a second-place finish would usually be cause for celebration for a playoff team, Custer was more irritated with Smith for how he was raced following the final restart.

“I am just sick of getting cleared and him just driving me into the fence. He didn’t have me clear[ed] and just drove me into the fence. It’s a joke,” fumed Custer. “I told him that if he is going to race me like a clown, I am going to race him like a clown. It is a joke that people race like that. He was going for the win, but he is going to have it coming back to him now. That is his problem.”

Custer believed he could have easily pulled away before Almirola was ever a factor, had he not had to spend so much time and effort fighting to get past Smith for the race lead during the final run.

“It killed us. It definitely burned our stuff up trying to get by him,” said Custer of Smith. “It really made me mad when he put us in the fence on that restart. He is going to pay the consequences for that, and I am going to race him how he races me.”

On the other side of the coin, Smith was unapologetic for his part in the exchange, noting that the intensity for all drivers ramps up in the postseason with a potential championship on the line.

“I know there was a few times where he got close to my right rear quarter panel [off] the exit of [turn] four, but I never got told outside and I was watching my mirror and he never got there. I knew if he got by us, he was going to set sail,” Smith explained. “We’re playoff racing and if I won this race, it advances us to the next round. There’s a lot of stakes to that, obviously … not to mention he’s also the guy that we’re racing for the championship.

“We’re going to race hard, it’s not the regular season anymore. I’m not just going to let him go at the very end of the race like I would in the regular season if he’s that much better. We’re playoff racing now.”

That “lack of give” doesn’t mean that Smith doesn’t still see Custer as one of the benchmarks in the Xfinity Series. He just recognizes that, at this point in the year, it’s a benchmark he has to go and beat.

“I respect the hell out of Cole (Custer). He’s [given] me a lot of breaks and in his eyes, he gave me a few today, which I’ll go back and watch … and if I’m in the wrong I’ll apologize,” Smith noted. “I felt like it was the end of the race, he knew he was better, and I had to do what I had to do to hold him up as long as I could to try to give [myself] a shot to win the thing.”

Despite Custer’s post-race frustrations, his overall performance in the Sunflower State left plenty for Stewart-Haas Racing to be pleased with.

The Ladera Ranch, Calif., driver earned 51 total points Saturday – most among Xfinity Series regulars – and took over the point lead after Justin Allgaier crashed out and completed only 73 laps.

Of course, ironically, Smith jumped up to right behind Custer. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver trails Custer by five points heading to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, where their intensifying playoff rivalry may well continue.

But Custer wasn’t focused on that prospect in the moment, already setting his eyes forward to the second race in the Round of 12.

“At the end of the day, I just can’t say enough about our team and this car,” noted the regular season champion, who won at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway a week prior to Kansas. “I think we could have gone back-to-back really easily if things had fallen our way.

“But we will move on to Talladega, and I [know] points wise we are pretty good. We will keep chugging along and continue after it.”