Coming off of a potentially championship hurting weekend in the Irish Hills of Michigan, Cole Custer is in need of a momentum swing. He may have gotten just that after leading final practice north of the border at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Custer was quickest in final practice after running a fast lap of 1:19.076, more than half a second faster than John Hunter Nemechek in second.
“We definitely have a really good Haas Automation Chevy,” Custer told OnPitRoad.com after practice. “We just have to get all the strategy right. We have to do qualifying and everything right. It’s not always easy, so we have to work on that.”
Although Custer is happy with his truck, he says there are still things to be improved on.
“It’s always tough getting through (turn 5),” he said. “There’s a few things you can do as a driver, and a lot of things that help setup wise, so you have to get a combination of that. I think we’re really good through the esses right now, but there are definitely places we can get better.”
Nemechek followed Custer in practice placing second, while last weekend’s winner at Michigan International Speedway, Brett Moffitt, placed third. For Moffitt, the Bowmanville road course has been a challenge as he hasn’t raced on a road course since 2013.
“It’s been a few years,” Moffitt told OnPitRoad.com. “I used to run road courses some in the K&N East Series, but I haven’t run a road course in a while. It’s a little bit of a learning curve out there. Trying to figure out exactly what I need to make the truck go fast. I’m still learning, but I think we’ll be alright for the race, and hopefully get a little bit better here.
“I need to work on learning the track. There’s a lot of elevation here. It’s harder to see going into a lot of the corners, and you just kind of need to know where uou need to be before you get there. That’s the biggest thing I’m trying to figure out. I was starting to get it figured out at the end of first practice, so hopefully we’ll be a little better in second practice.”
Austin Cindric, Daniel Hemric, Kaz Grala, Johnny Sauter, William Byron and Spencer Gallagher closed out the top-10.
Canadian Cameron Hayley wound up 11th in practice, after placing 10th in the morning session.
A pair of NASCAR Pinty’s Series drivers are making their first starts of the season, too. Gary Klutt, in his series debut for Kyle Busch Motorsports, was 16th in practice, while D.J. Kennington in the No. 49 for Premium Motorsports was 23rd.
