Last year was a season of misery for Stewart-Haas Racing but their one shining light was Cole Custer who won the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The 26-year-old is yet to win a race so far this season, but is still the driver with the best average finish so far in the competition, narrowly beating Austin Hill. If he keeps performing this way, that elusive win may not be very far away from him. He will be going into Richmond with a lot of confidence this weekend.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s brightest star has a lot to look forward to this weekend

The season did not start the way the driver of the #00 might have expected. He finished P13 in Daytona and P16 in Atlanta. However, he has finished in the top 5 in each of his last 3 NASCAR Xfinity Series race starts, and one of them was a top 2 finish. It’s clear that the Stewart-Haas Racing driver has gotten past the woes earlier in the season and now looks just as strong as he did last year when he went on a run of 11 consecutive top-10 finishes.

That’s what helped him boost his average finish to the best in the competition. He currently sits atop that list with an average finish of 7.44 with Austin Hill close behind in P2 with 7.54. A win at the Richmond Raceway will well and truly cement his place as the best-performing driver so far this year and the stats are in his favor.

Ever since he made his Xfinity Series debut on the iconic short track in 2016, he has taken part in 9 races at the venue in the series and has never finished outside the top 15. In fact, that marvelous run of consecutive top-10 finishes started with a P5 finish at Richmond Raceway last year. Ahead of the race, the defending champion is feeling quite confident.

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Confidence is at a high for the defending NASCAR Xfinity Series champion

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He will be entering the race on the back of 3 straight finishes in the top 5. Thanks to those results, Cole Custer believes that he can run near the front of the pack even when he is not having a good day. And when everything clicks, the SHR star may very well be so dominant that no one will even come close to challenging him for a race win.

“It builds some confidence just because I feel like even on our not best days recently we’ve been able to run top five and have good points and be able to maximise as good as we could. I feel like when we do have the days that we want and the speed that we want, we’re really gonna be able to make it happen,” the driver of the #00 car said as per Speed Sport.

It will be interesting to see how the defending champ runs at one of his strongest tracks this weekend. Where do you think Cole Custer will finish at Richmond? Let us know your thoughts.

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