Cole Custer's spotter mistakes him for William Byron during final lap crash at Daytona 500

Cole Custer had an eventful final few laps in Sunday’s Daytona 500, as he found himself directly involved in two late wrecks.

The second one occurred down the backstretch on the final lap of overtime. Custer, running behind race leader Denny Hamlin, made his move to the outside coming off Turn 2. Moments later, there was contact and the “Big One” was on. Through the carnage and smoke, Custer’s spotter, Andy Houston, actually mistook Custer for William Byron, who was driving a similarly colored car.

The miscommunication was captured from the in-car footage of Custer’s No. 41 Ford, via The Daily Downforce.

Here's another look at the miscommunication between Cole Custer and his spotter. He got Cole’s car confused with William Bryan pic.twitter.com/zTQYWzuxgN

— The Daily Downforce (@dailydownforce) February 19, 2025

Houston was fully engaged with Custer before the wreck, saying “top of three, three-wide top” as Custer went to the outside of Hamlin. But once the wreck happened, Houston mistakenly began speaking as if Custer was Byron, who was making his way towards the start/finish line as the race winner. Houston made a mistake in that moment and apologized immediately.

“Sorry, Cole. I was watching the freaking 24,” Houston said over the radio. “Are you OK? Are you OK there?”

“Yeah, all good,” Custer responded.

Cole Custer responds to Denny Hamlin criticisms, addresses Daytona 500 last-lap wreck

Custer faced criticism from Hamlin, who called him out on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast.

“Cole, I have nothing against Cole whatsoever,” Hamlin said. “But when he was doing his interview with Bob [Pockrass] and chucking it up and laughing, he just caused two of the last big major wrecks of the 500. Just going for it. I’m like, ‘You don’t have to.’”

Hamlin explained that Custer, the younger driver, needs to have a more patient approach.

“When you’re pushing the 20 car there, that was not a dire situation,” Hamlin said. “You’re in a great spot to push the 20 clear. You get clear, race for the win. There’s plenty of time left. But some of these guys just get so excited that they think that they have to make a move now. And we have to, I’ve got to run into you right now. There is no tomorrow.”

In an interview with Pockrass on Tuesday, Custer issued a mea culpa of sorts.

“There were definitely things that made me want to take that run on the backstretch,” Custer said. “Because I got such a big run from the 19 [Chase Briscoe] pushing me, and I was probably a couple car lengths back of Denny at the time. I just tried to take the run. It was the last lap. I tried to take it. I knew I probably should have waited for the front stretch, but it’s one of those things you learn from the next time.

“… But yeah, Custer said, “looking back at it I definitely would agree I wish I would have waited for the frontstretch to give myself a little better shot at it.”

On3’s Thomas Goldkamp contributed to this article.