Cole Custer

Cole Custer won his first Cup race at Kentucky Speedway in 2020, a breakthrough victory that validated the talent everyone in the NASCAR community had seen developing through his earlier career in the sport's lower divisions. With one Cup win across 170 starts spanning Cup, Xfinity, and Trucks, the Ladera Ranch, California native continues to build a career filled with unrealized potential. Custer's path through NASCAR's developmental ladder -- from Trucks to Xfinity to Cup and back to Xfinity before returning to Cup -- has been unconventional but ultimately strengthening in ways that a straight-line career path might not have provided. The detour through Xfinity allowed him to refine his racecraft, rebuild the confidence that every driver needs, and produce an Xfinity championship that positioned him for a stronger, more prepared Cup return. His driving style is aggressive and instinctive, shaped by the West Coast short-track scene where he honed his skills before entering the NASCAR national series. That background gives Custer a fearlessness on restarts and in close-quarters racing that his competitors respect and occasionally fear in the heat of battle. The career arc of Cole Custer is still being written, and the chapters ahead may prove to be the most compelling of all. The talent has never been in question; the opportunity and the hard-won maturity to capitalize on it are finally converging at the right moment.

Written by Richard R. Glover, NASCAR Reference