Cole Custer was fuming at the end of the 2024 Kansas Lottery 300. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver was engaged in a fierce battle with Chandler Smith in the opening playoff race of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, which allowed Aric Almirola to take advantage and snatch a victory. It was a bitter blow for Custer, who was hoping to secure back-to-back race wins but was thwarted by Smith’s aggressive tactics at Kansas Speedway.

Understandably frustrated, Custer was seen angrily walking towards Chandler Smith on the pit road after the race, and the pair exchanged some angry words. The reigning Xfinity Series champion sent a warning to the Joe Gibbs Racing driver in the post-race interview, making this dramatic showdown so much more entertaining!

Cole Custer is hoping to give Smith a taste of his own medicine

If there was one word to describe Cole Custer’s feelings about the final 50 laps at Kansas Speedway, it would be ‘frustrating’. The 26-year-old’s No. 00 Ford Mustang tried to chase down Smith’s No. 81 Toyota during the closing stages of the race but struggled to get past the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s defensive moves. With 10 laps remaining, Custer finally managed to break free and was hoping it would be smooth sailing from that point on, despite Almirola closing behind quickly. With three laps to go, the 40-year-old racing veteran found the pace to overtake Custer and went on to secure his second win of the season.

A visibly frustrated Custer blamed Chandler Smith for the race’s outcome, going on to tell NBC Sports, “It really made me mad when he put us in the fence on that restart. He’s going to pay the consequences for that. And I’m going to race him like he races me. They’re going to pay for the consequences. Everybody wants to try and talk, have some words. At the end of the day, he put me in the fence and he’s going to pay for it.”

It’s easy to understand why Cole Custer felt that Chandler Smith’s defensive maneuvers cost the Stewart-Haas Racing driver a playoff victory. If he had not spent as much time battling with Smith for the lead, Aric Almirola wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of the opportunity to snatch the win from under their noses. While the outcome of the race wasn’t bad for Cole Custer, who secured 51 points after finishing runner-up, the California native will look at the race as a missed opportunity to automatically qualify for the Round of 8.

There were plenty of positives Custer could take from the performance as well. His No. 00 Ford Mustang was lightning-fast across the 1.5-mile oval and he also regained his lead at the top of the driver standings after Justin Allgaier was forced to retire early, completing just 73 laps. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver remains an overwhelming favorite to reclaim his Xfinity Series title at Phoenix Raceway later this year, before starting a new adventure with the Haas Factory Team in 2025.

Chandler Smith’s side of the story

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With the playoffs underway at Kansas Speedway, the stakes are higher than ever for Xfinity Series drivers, with just seven races remaining before the season ends. Chandler Smith, who is competing for the title, was hoping to secure his third win of the season at the 2024 Kansas Lottery 300 but was forced to settle for a third-place result. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has shown incredible consistency lately, not finishing below fourth place in his last four races.

Sharing his point of view about the heated exchange with Cole Custer on-track, Smith said in a post-race interview, “We’re playoff racing and if I won this race, it advances us to the next round. There’s a lot of stakes to that obviously and not to mention he’s also the guy that we’re racing for the championship. We’re going to race hard, it’s not the regular season anymore. I’m not just going to let him go at the very end of the race like I would in the regular season if he’s that much better.”

With two more races to go before the Round of 8 begins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Chandler Smith has a few more opportunities to get back into Victory Lane. Given his performances lately, he remains one of the favorites to compete for the championship later this year.

As things stand, he is currently in second place in the Xfinity Series driver standings, just five points behind rival Cole Custer. Smith will now shift his attention to Talladega Superspeedway, which is the next playoff venue, and it will be interesting to see if Custer retaliates at the 2024 United Rentals 250, even if it could come at the risk of a penalty.