Cole Custer hopes reunion with Autodesk leads to success at Sonoma
Photo by Courtesy of Stewart-Haas Racing
https://www.autodesk.com/industry
Sophomore slumps are not unusual in the NASCAR Cup Series.
For Cole Custer, the lack of performance at Stewart-Haas Racing is not solely attributable to the No. 41 team. In 2021, none of the four drivers have won this season. Between them, the four drivers have led a combined 57 laps. Former champion Kevin Harvick is the only one with top-five finishes.
But Custer never expected to be sitting 27th in the standings with 11 races to determine the Playoff grid.
“Nobody is happy right now is the thing,” Custer said of the sentiment at SHR. “We’re all trying to find different things to try and make our cars better and…there’s no good way to really go about it right now when you don’t have any practice. That’s the plain and simple point. When you don’t have any practice you’re kind of guessing and you’re thinking through things and trying things at the simulator and you think they’re better, but if you’re not able to do it at that certain racetrack that certain weekend, you really don’t know how it’s gonna work out when you don’t have any practice time.
“In the Cup Series, the competition is so stiff that if you’re off for that first run, it ruins your whole day. It’s just a matter of keep working through things and eventually, we’re gonna hit on it. We have some really smart people at SHR that are working really hard, so it’s just a matter of cyphering through it. That’s the biggest thing.”
When the coronavirus pandemic hit in March of 2020, NASCAR adopted—for the most part—a no-practice, no-qualifying procedure when it came to race weekends. For a rookie such as Cole, he had to rely on data and his veteran teammates such as Harvick, Clint Bowyer, and Aric Almirola to get him up to speed.
Fast forward to 2021, Bowyer has left for the TV booth. Harvick is still Harvicking. Aric Almirola remains mediocre. Rookie Chase Briscoe never drove a Cup car before joining the fold.
And then there’s Custer. After 15 starts, he has just two 10th-place finishes to show for his effort.
“You kind of have to stay focused on what your goal is and that’s making the playoffs,” Custer said. “For us points-wise, the last few weeks haven’t been too good for us, so we’re gonna have to try and probably think out of the box and look for more wins, find out how to win a race here in the summertime and from there it’s just trying to grind it out. Every single race matters for us right now, so we have to make sure we’re bringing everything we’ve got.
“Honestly it’s just the little things. I mean, I know at times it really sucks to run 20th or 25th, but if you can get yourself just a tenth or two better, you’re running around 10th. It’s just a matter of getting those little things better and the more and more you work at it, the more you fine-tune it and you figure out which direction you need to go in, you’re gonna be in the ballpark.”
Custer has received some added support from a former partner—Autodesk—who will serve as the livery on his No. 41 Ford Mustang this weekend when NASCAR returns to Sonoma Raceway. Custer has yet to make a Cup start on the 2.52-mile circuit but ran two races with the K&N Pro Series in 2015 and 2019. He finished ninth and fourth, respectively.
“We have Autodesk on the car this week,” Custer said. “It’s really cool. We had them on the car at Texas a few years ago. I ran an Xfinity race and we won with them and from there it’s just been a great relationship and it’s been awesome having them on the car. We use their software a ton at the race shop to be able to design parts and do different things, so they’re a huge part of what we do.
“I’m really looking forward to it. I think the road courses have been something that’s always kind of a wild card and it’s always kind of an equalizer for the field. For us, it’s a great opportunity to have a solid run and hopefully find ourselves with a chance to win by the end of it.
“It’s a really technical place that I enjoy at Sonoma. It’s a place I haven’t ran in the Cup Series yet, so it’s gonna be a little bit of learning, but it’s just one of those places you have so much elevation change and that carousel. It’s just a fun racetrack to run.”
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