LAS VEGAS — Fatherhood has had its share of surprises for reigning Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer, but he didn’t think his dog needing surgery would be a part of that.
Custer and his wife Kari welcomed son Callahan Brian Custer this summer during NASCAR’s Olympic break.
They also have a Portuguese Water Dog named Honey. Last week, Honey ate a part of a baby bottle and needed surgery to remove the piece.
“She’s all good,” Custer said Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “She’s recovering. We had a little bit of a scare there.”
Custer will be on his own this weekend. His wife and son will remain in North Carolina. As for fatherhood, Custer is learning.
“The sleep is tough,” he said. “Having to figure that all out and everything. It’s just non-stop. You always have something to do. I think you get more and more in a rhythm with it, and my wife Kari has done a great job with it, adapting to it.
Custer’s focus is on returning to the championship race next month in Phoenix.
“You just don’t get many chances to win championships,” he said. “To have two years where you can go win championships and hopefully go back-to-back, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing, so you have to give it everything you’ve got.”
Custer enters Saturday’s Round of 8 opener second in the standings. He’s seven points behind series leader Justin Allgaier but only 11 points above the cutline.
Custer has finished in the top three in each of the last two races at Las Vegas.
He represents the last chance for Stewart-Haas Racing to score a NASCAR championship before closing its doors after this season. He will move to Cup and drive for the revamped Haas Factory Team next season.
Custer said he can’t be too aggressive in trying to go after another title.
“You just have to go out there and maximize what you got,” Custer said. “I think you put yourself in those situations where you try and be aggressive, you’re giving yourself a 25% chance of wrecking probably. … You digging yourself a hole in trying to be aggressive and then wrecking for one spot, that’s how you put yourself in a must-win situation.”
