Defending Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer stays consistent with third-place finish at Darlington

NASCAR pioneer Lee Petty would be awfully proud of the season Cole Custer is putting together in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. 

A three-time Cup Series champion, Petty was nicknamed "Mr. Consistency" for his incredibly consistent body of work in NASCAR competition. Through the first 11 races of the 2024 season, Custer has nine top 10's, six top fives and has led 222 laps. 

Custer looked to be one of the top young drivers in the Cup Series after 2020, a year in which he won the Cup Series race at Kentucky and made the playoffs. After disappointing campaigns in 2021 and 2022, however, Custer was demoted back down to the NASCAR Xfinity Series, in hopes of once again finding victory lane. In 2023, he did just that, finally capturing an elusive Xfinity Series championship. 

With the threat of a championship hangover looming over Custer's head this season, he has instead put up video game numbers. While he has yet to visit victory lane, he's finished inside the top 10 in all eight races not run on the superspeedways and even scraped across a 10th place effort at Talladega. It's not like he was awful at Daytona or Atlanta, either, finishing 13th and 16th, respectively. 

Custer has six top-five finishes in the last nine races, including a runner-up showing at Las Vegas. After starting on the pole at Darlington on Saturday, Custer led 21 laps and finished third behind race winner Justin Allgaier and runner-up Austin Hill.