Cole Custer Writes ARCA Series History With Pocono Win

Cole Custer scored the ARCA Racing Series victory Saturday afternoon at Pocono Raceway.  Photo courtesy ARCA Media

Cole Custer scored the ARCA Racing Series victory Saturday afternoon at Pocono Raceway. Photo courtesy ARCA Media

Cole Custer became the youngest winner on a superspeedway in ARCA Racing Series history Saturday, winning the ModSpace 125 at Pocono Raceway.

Custer, 17 years and 190 days old, surpassed 2013 Pocono Raceway winner Chase Elliott as the youngest superspeedway winner by two days in taking his first ARCA victory. He is the ninth driver to win for the first time this year on the ARCA Racing Series circuit.

“It’s pretty huge,” Custer said. “It’s definitely a really prestigious track to win at. It’s a place I really wanted to win at. They have a really cool trophy and a really cool victory lane. It’s a cool place to win at. It’s the tricky triangle.”

Custer led the final 18 laps in taking the checkered flag at the 2.5-mile triangle. He took the lead from Matt Kurzejewski, another driver who was in search of his first career ARCA win. Kurzejewski did finish a career-high third.

Grant Enfinger was second in what ended up being a big point day. Enfinger leaves Pocono, unofficially, with a 180-point lead over Tom Hessert and Austin Wayne Self, both tied for second. It’s his biggest point lead of the year with six races remaining.

Menards Pole winner Frank Kimmel, Cunningham Motorsports drivers Kyle Weatherman and Tom Hessert, Matt Tifft and Enfinger were all involved in a crash in the Tunnel Turn on lap one. Kimmel fought back to finish a lap down in 15th, Hessert was able to come back and complete 24 laps but finished 25th and Tifft finished two spots in front of him.

Enfinger was hit from behind, but suffered only slight damage and was able to get back on the track and earn his second-place finish. He said he felt on Friday he thought he had a car that could win.

“We got hit from the back,” Enfinger said. “I saw it all happened so I got out of the gas and we got hit. It was one of those racing deals. I was very, very lucky to make it out of there. Maybe our luck is changing around. It seemed liked the first part of the year anything bad that was going to happen we were going to be involved. Overall, we did get everything back in order.”

Kurzejewski was far from satisfied with his career-best third. He led the most laps for the second time this season.

“Third is awesome,” he said, “but it’s hard to be proud of third when you’re not points racing. We’ve had a very good season. That win keeps slipping away. We’re a little closer each time.

“I’m disappointed in myself mainly because I want that first win,” he said. “It’s tough to get. We’ve shown this season we’re close. We’ve performed very well. I’m very tough on myself. I’m my own worst critic. A win would mean a lot to us.”

Kurzejewski led 28 laps total, Custer 18 and Will Kimmel four. Kimmel had a late race incident that relegated him to a 17th place finish.

Austin Theriault finished fourth with Josh Williams trailing in fifth.

David Levine, Austin Wayne Self, Bo LeMastus, Bobby Gerhart and Tom Berte rounded out the top ten.

Custer already is the youngest winner in the history of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, having won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September, 2014. His win Saturday at Pocono Raceway made him the youngest winner at Pocono Raceway and the youngest ARCA superspeedway winner.

Making his third ARCA start, Custer avoided the early crash after starting fifth and pitted under the green flag.

“I was already low on the track so I was able to avoid it. After that, I was just trying to bide my time and not push anything with the No. 54 (Matt Kurzejewski) and wreck both of us. We had a great pit stop and had the restart and got the lead.

“The car was really good. I can’t thank everyone at JR Motorsports and Haas Automation and everybody who has helped us put this together.”

Custer’s crew chief was Rich Lushes, a former ARCA crew member.

“It’s definitely a really tricky track,” Custer said of Pocono Raceway. “We always have great cars that we bring to the racetrack. The car was a huge deal. Rich Lushes brought a great car here. I can’t thank him enough.”

The ARCA Racing Series heads next to the short track of Berlin Raceway on Saturday, Aug. 8.

ARCA Racing Series
Pocono Raceway – Long Pond, PA
ModSpace 125 – Aug. 1, 2015

FIN STR NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN TEAM & CAR LAPS STATUS
1 5 00 Cole Custer/Ladera Ranch CA Haas Automation Chevrolet 50 Running
2 2 23 Grant Enfinger/Fairhope AL Allegiant Travel Chevrolet 50 Running
3 4 54 Matt Kurzejewski/Mansfield PA Costy’s Energy Services Chevrolet 50 Running
4 6 55 Austin Theriault/Fort Kent ME Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine Lobster Toyota 50 Running
5 8 6 Josh Williams/Port Charlotte FL Musselman’s-SW FL Cable Construction Chevy 50 Running
6 14 59 David Levine/Highland Park IL Ford Performance-MOMO-TraqGear Ford 50 Running
7 9 98 Austin Wayne Self/Austin TX AM Technical Solutions-Pirate Energy Ford 50 Running
8 17 42 Bo LeMastus/Louisville KY Crosley Brands-T&T Constr-Glad Precision Toyota 50 Running
9 12 5 Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA Lucas Oil-MAV TV Chevrolet 50 Running
10 13 20 Tom Berte/New Berlin WI CGS Premier Toyota 50 Running
11 16 86 Nick Idgalsky/Stroudsburg PA PA Fallen Trooper-H&K Group-Fox Realty Chevy 50 Running
12 15 3 Steve Fox/Hazleton PA NormHuttonRacing.com Dodge 49 Running
13 11 2 Sarah Cornett-Ching/Summerland BC Race101.net Chevrolet 49 Running
14 20 48 James Swanson/Clarksboro NJ Kan Do-Radon.com Ford 49 Running
15 1 25 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN Ansell-Menards Toyota 49 Running
16 25 58 Jairo Avila/Alhambra CA Ford Performance-MOMO-TraqGear Ford 49 Running
17 26 69 Will Kimmel/Sellersburg IN American Force Wheels-Motovicity-Vohtland Ford 48 Running
18 19 7 J.J. Pack/Bealeton VA Cushman Truck Repair Chevrolet 48 Running
19 18 10 Ed Pompa/Ballston Spa NY Milton CAT-Double H Ranch Chevrolet 48 Running
20 27 97 Ray Ciccarelli/Reisterstown MD Nitroforce Industries Titan 1000 Dodge 46 Running
21 21 19 David Sear/La Jolla CA Hope For The Warriors Chevrolet 46 Running
22 30 07 Brian Kaltreider/Hanover PA Independent Graphics-Country Cat Ford 46 Running
23 10 52 Matt Tifft/Hinckley OH Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet 33 Running
24 22 0 Don Thompson/Carlisle PA GreatRailing.com Ford 30 Handling
25 7 77 Tom Hessert/Cherry Hill NJ Barbera’s Autoland Dodge 24 Running
26 24 08 Dale Matchett/Cherry Hill NJ GreatRailing.com Chevrolet 19 Overhtng
27 23 8 Josh White/Charleston WV Hixson Construction Chevrolet 15 Brakes
28 31 12 Thomas Praytor/Mobile AL DK-LOK Chevrolet 11 Transmssn
29 29 06 Tim Viens/Daytona Beach FL Peterson Motorsports Dodge 10 Engine
30 28 68 Chris Bailey/South Park PA Kimmel Racing Ford 8 Electrical
31 3 22 Kyle Weatherman/Wentzville MO Crosley Brands-Cunningham Motorsports Ford 0 Accident
9 Mike Abram/St. Louis MO Praytor Ford DNS
40 Justin Lloyd/Barrington IL Angry Angel-Elevate Life Chevrolet DNS
Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell:  Frank Kimmel 53.423 (168.467 mph)
Margin of Victory:  4.991 seconds Cautions:  2 for 13 laps
Time of Race: 1:00:43 Average Speed:  123.525 mph
Lap Leaders:  Kurzejewski 1-24, 29-32 (28); W. Kimmel 25-28 (4); Custer 33-50 (18)

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