Custer Collects Top 3 Finish At Iowa Speedway

• Leads Contingent Of BMR Drivers In K&N East-West Combo Race

NEWTON, Iowa (Aug. 1, 2014) – Cole Custer notched a top-three finish in the Autolite Iridium XP 150 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East-West combination race at Iowa Speedway on Friday night.

The 16-year-old led a race-high 65 laps, but came up short in his bid to become the first driver to win the prestigious event twice. Custer, who led last year’s East-West race wire-to-wire in scoring his first career series win, finished third behind Brandon Jones and Kenzie Ruston on Friday.

With his No. 00 NAPA AUTO PARTS/HAAS Automation entry, Custer had the highest finish among four Bill McAnally Racing drivers at the 7/8-mile oval in Newton, Iowa. Brandon McReynolds finished 14th in the No. 16 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota, rookie Nick Drake was 16th in the No. 15 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota and Chris Eggleston was 25th in the No. 99 NAPA Filters/H2O Fire Protection Toyota in just his third series start.

Custer, who started sixth on the grid, charged into the lead just past the midway point on Friday. The Ladera Ranch, California driver maintained the top spot until running into trouble on a restart with 10 laps remaining. He slid high coming out of Turn 2 and fell back to fourth place, then managed to get to third in the final laps.

“We were checking out,” Custer said. “Then I drove in too deep and messed up. I got into the loose stuff and tried to keep it off the wall and lost four spots.”

McReynolds made the biggest charge, meanwhile, passing 28 cars after making a pit stop during the first caution of the event. He steadily worked his way toward the front – moving into 22nd by the midway break and 15th by Lap 100. While finishing 14th overall, McReynolds was third among the K&N West entries – which matches his career-best series finish of a few weeks ago at Stateline Speedway.

Drake, who had topped the speed chart during the final practice session earlier in the day at Iowa, started the race in the 11th spot. He quickly moved to 10th and remained in the top 10 for the first 50 laps, but slipped to 15th by the break. He faded by to 17th in the second half of the race, before gaining a spot as the laps wound down.

Eggleston, coming off his first career win last week on the short track at Colorado National Speedway, lined up 38th on the grid at Iowa. He worked his way up to 24th by the midway break, but could not gain much ground after that.

Custer, a member of the NASCAR Next program that spotlights NASCAR’s rising stars, is competing in select events in the East and West divisions of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series this year. Friday’s race marked his sixth overall series start of 2014. He won the K&N West season opener at Phoenix International Raceway and scored a K&N East victory at Richmond (Virginia) International Raceway.

McReynolds, also a member of the NASCAR Next program, remains third in the championship standings for the K&N West. The 23-year-old Mooresville, North Carolina driver has one pole, seven top five and eight top 10 finishes in nine series starts this season.

Drake, who also hails from Mooresville, finished 13th among the K&N East entries. He solidified his hold on second place in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings and is eighth in the overall championship standings for the K&N East – with one pole, three top five and six top 10 finishes in 12 series starts.

The Autolite Iridium XP 150, which will be televised on FOX Sports 1 on Aug. 8 at 11 a.m. ET, was the 12th of 16 races this year for the K&N East and the ninth of 14 races for the K&N West.

The next event on the K&N East schedule is the Bully Hill Vineyards 125 at Watkins Glen (New York) International on Friday, Aug. 8. It will mark the second of three consecutive weeks of series competition and the first of two road course events.

The next event on the K&N West schedule is the NAPA AUTO PARTS/Toyota 150 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington on Aug. 16.