By: Mitchell Breuer

After winning his first NASCAR Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway earlier this season, rookie Cole Custer will enter the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway as a playoff driver.

“It’s huge, I think we can go in there and prove some people wrong,” Custer said in a Zoom media session Wednesday.

Heading into the final ten races of the season, the driver of the No. 41 will automatically claim the 2020 Rookie of the Year by being the only rookie in the playoffs; however he realizes his team will need to be upfront on a weekly basis if he wants to get more trophies.

This has been a struggle for Custer, who is only mustered two top-five’s this year and in the last five races had more finishes outside the top-20 (three) than in it (two).

“We have had a lot of peaks and valleys this year but at the same time, we need to try and level it out more in these playoffs,” Custer said. “I think if we can begin to be consistent and put all the pieces together for these last ten races I think we’ve shown we can compete with anybody, it is just trying to put those pieces together every single race.”

For a rookie without experience, the playoffs will prove to be a tall obstacle as well. However, the first three races could favor the California-native. Not only has the series ran two events at Darlington and Bristol Motor Speedway, but Custer owns victories in the Xfinity Series at the “Lady in Black” and Richmond Raceway. Custer feels this could be beneficial, but notes you still have to do your homework.

“There is a lot of things that can go wrong in the playoffs like we have seen in the past,” Custer told POPULAR SPEED. “So, it is a matter of not putting yourself in a hole is one of the biggest things. You have to run competitively, that is for sure, but you do not want to be one of those guys that has to be desperate going into the final race.”

Custer raises a point about how getting off on the wrong foot can prove to be costly and lead to an early elimination, and with that, he will look to have better outing to Darlington than he did earlier this season when he finished 22nd and 31st in those races. He will roll off 14th on Sunday.