Rookie Custer earns his first victory

Cole Custer became the first rookie winner in the NASCAR Cup Series in nearly four years, surging to the lead in a four-wide, final-lap scramble Sunday at Kentucky Speedway.

Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. were dueling side by side for the lead on the lap 265 final restart when Custer – with a push from Matt DiBenedetto on the outside in the backstretch – made his move in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. As the leaders bunched in Turn 1, Custer slid ahead and outlasted Truex’s Toyota.

“I knew I just had to get to the top,” said Custer, who led twice for five laps – the first of his young career. “The top rolled pretty good and once I got past and I was like in third I was like, ‘I’ve just got to take a shot and do whatever I can here.’

“And it ended up the 4 (Harvick) and the 19 (Truex) got together a little bit and I was able to take advantage of it.”

Though Custer raced to a Kentucky win last July in the Xfinity Series, he and other drivers entered Sunday without a chance to practice or qualify.

Matt Kenseth’s Turn 4 spin forced the final caution and created the opportunity for Custer’s victory. He finished 25th after starting from the back with Truex as both failed two prerace inspections.

The victory was the first by a series rookie since Chris Buescher at Pocono on Aug. 1, 2016. Making his 20th series start, the 22-year-old Custer celebrated with a frontstretch burnout as his crew happily ran to greet him.

DiBenedetto was third, and Harvick fourth – both in Fords. Kurt Busch, the winner last year, was fifth.

Cambridge, Wisconsin, native Matt Kenseth finished 25th.

Formula One: Lewis Hamilton won the Styrian Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday in Spielberg, Austria, to clinch an 85th career win and move within six of Michael Schumacher’s Formula

One record.

Most of Schumacher’s wins were during a dominant spell with Ferrari, but his old team is struggling badly. For the second time in the past four races, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel crashed into each other and went out.

When Hamilton stood on the podium he raised a clenched right fist.

Hamilton’s record-extending 89th career pole on a rain-drenched track was one of his best in extreme conditions, but during the race he was hardly challenged as he finished a sizeable 13.7 seconds ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and 33.7 ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.