During qualifying for the Xfinity Series race at Darlington on May 11th, 2024, Cole Custer laid down the best time, good enough to take the pole position and start on the front row. Despite his efforts, the No. 00 NASCAR Ford Mustang Dark Horse finished third – but it was a hard-fought podium finish.
It wasn’t all on Custer, though. An awful pit stop put the No. 00 NASCAR Ford off the pace early in the race during the first competition caution, forcing him to make another trip down Pit Road to address an issue with loose lug nuts. The No. 00 Mustang fired off in 33rd, but he managed to fight back to third, passing countless cars to make it happen.
Custer said that he thought he had the car to win, but it wasn’t enough to challenge eventual winner Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 7 Chevy Camaro SS.
Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Mustang, pulled off another decent finish for The Blue Oval, earning a seventh-place race. Hailie Deegan, meanwhile, had a rough go at Darlington. Her No. 15 NASCAR Ford cut a tire after contact with another competitor. She finished 36th, over 20 laps down.
| Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | BRANDT Heritage Chevrolet | 147 | 119 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 2 | 5 | 21 | Austin Hill | Bennett Transportation Chevrolet | 147 | 6 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 3 | 1 | 00 | Cole Custer | Haas Automation Throwback Ford | 147 | 21 | Ford Mustang |
| 4 | 6 | 1 | Sam Mayer | RTIC Outdoors Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 5 | 18 | 20 | Aric Almirola | He Gets Us Toyota | 147 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
| 6 | 11 | 48 | Parker Kligerman | Spiked Lite Coolers Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 7 | 9 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Terrible Herbst Ford | 147 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 8 | 12 | 2 | Jesse Love # | Whelen Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 9 | 3 | 18 | Sheldon Creed | Ivan Stewart Tribute Toyota | 147 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
| 10 | 14 | 9 | Brandon Jones | Menards/Bali Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 11 | 38 | 17 | William Byron(i) | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 12 | 2 | 81 | Chandler Smith | Smith General Contracting Toyota | 147 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
| 13 | 26 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Sci Aps Ford | 147 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 14 | 8 | 5 | Anthony Alfredo | Chevy Accessories Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 15 | 17 | 97 | Shane Van Gisbergen # | Quad Lock Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 16 | 16 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Capital City Towing Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 17 | 15 | 91 | Kyle Weatherman | DriveSmartWarranty.com Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 18 | 24 | 19 | Taylor Gray(i) | Operation 300 Toyota | 147 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
| 19 | 13 | 88 | Carson Kvapil | Clarience Technologies Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 20 | 21 | 44 | Brennan Poole | CW & Sons Infrastructure Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 21 | 25 | 11 | Josh Williams | Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 22 | 30 | 92 | Josh Bilicki | Circle B Diecast Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 23 | 34 | 26 | John Hunter Nemechek(i) | Toyota Racing Development Toyota | 147 | 0 | Toyota TRD Supra |
| 24 | 27 | 14 | David Starr | SHAR Ford | 147 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 25 | 31 | 38 | Matt DiBenedetto | Viking Motorsports Ford | 147 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 26 | 37 | 35 | Chad Finchum | Garrison Homes Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 27 | 36 | 29 | Blaine Perkins | To The Point Apparel Ford | 147 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 28 | 33 | 4 | Dawson Cram # | Prolube Oil Chevrolet | 147 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 29 | 35 | 6 | Garrett Smithley | TeamJDMotorsports.com Chevrolet | 146 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 30 | 22 | 42 | Leland Honeyman # | RANDCO Industries Chevrolet | 146 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 31 | 10 | 31 | Parker Retzlaff | FUNKAWAY Chevrolet | 146 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 32 | 29 | 28 | Kyle Sieg | RSS Racing Ford | 146 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 33 | 28 | 07 | Patrick Emerling | Liberty Brew Chevrolet | 146 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 34 | 23 | 8 | Sammy Smith | TMC Chevrolet | 146 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 35 | 4 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet | 126 | 1 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 36 | 32 | 15 | Hailie Deegan # | Airbox Ford | 102 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
| 37 | 19 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Alliance Driveway Solutions Chevrolet | 94 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
| 38 | 20 | 43 | Ryan Ellis | Classic Collision Chevrolet | 71 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
Subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford racing news, NASCAR news, and ongoing Ford news coverage.
No Comments yet