Cole Custer reveals he spoke with Christopher Bell after Daytona 500, defends move that led to wreck

Cole Custer was involved in a pair of wrecks in the final laps at the Daytona 500, including the big one of the day, the Ryan Preece flip.

The Preece flip occurred after Custer got into the bumper of Christopher Bell, causing Bell to spin out. Bell hit the outside wall, then fell back down the track, where he collided with Preece.

Preece’s car then popped up onto the front right hood of Erik Jones, getting lift and going fully airborne. He flew across the track and eventually hit the outside wall hard before settling down again on four tires.

But it was a scary moment.

There’s no animosity between Christopher Bell and Cole Custer over the incident, though, it would appear.

“I looked back at that one too and Christopher actually texted me on Monday,” Custer revealed in an interview with FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass on Tuesday. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, my car just couldn’t really take a push that great all day.’ So there weren’t really any hard feelings it seems like there. I mean if I was going to do it again I wish I got just a tick more square on him. Maybe that would have helped it.”

Cole Custer was called out by Denny Hamlin for driving too aggressively too early in the final lap, a party to a wreck that took Hamlin out and ruined his chances of winning.

And while Custer issued a mea culpa of sorts for that one, he stood his ground on the Bell wreck.

“It sounded like he was kind of chasing his car a little bit all day, so it wasn’t, it just wasn’t the best situation,” Custer said. “But when it’s five to go you’re going to have to push and shove. It kind of is what it is. You try and help the guy as much as you can out front and there’s definitely things that I can learn from that, try and make it better.

“But yeah, I hated it because honestly I think that was the first time I’ve ever wrecked anybody at a superspeedway off my bumper. So after I felt horrible, but when you look back at it, I mean it sounds like he was kind of chasing his car a little bit.”