Being a rookie driver on the NASCAR Cup Series tour can be intimidating enough and present its own set of unique challenges and unexpected firsts. Imagine what it must be like your first year behind the wheel at the sport’s highest level in the world of COVID-19.

“It’s definitely made it a little interesting starting races,” rookie driver Cole Custer told The Republic during a phone interview Friday from Bristol, Tennessee, where he’s preparing to race his No. 41 Haas Tooling.com Ford in Sunday’s Supermarket Heroes 500.

“You’re going 180 (mph) into Turn 1 with no practice and you’re around some of the best drivers in the world. So, yeah, as a rookie it can be hard at times. I think we all do a lot of studying and we pretty much know what to expect and what our limits are and what we need to do that first lap. It’s just trying to adapt as fast as you can and figure out your car and how you can make it better throughout the race.”

Sports are starting to return during the pandemic and NASCAR, perhaps not surprisingly, has led the charge in the U.S. But because of ongoing precautions such as social-distancing requirements, the Cup Series has had to alter much of its race-day traditions.

There’s no pole qualifying in the traditional sense, as starting grids – at least for now – are determined by a random draw. With no on-track qualifying, there has been no practice laps, either. It’s literally been a “cold open” for crews at every race. And because the 2020 schedule has been compacted due to COVID-19, the Cup Series has been operating at a dizzying pace.

Sunday’s race at Bristol, for instance, will be the Cup Series’ fifth race in a span of just 15 days. That’s enough racing in such a short amount of time to make any driver’s head spin, especially a rookie like Custer, 22.

Doing it regularly against some of the giants in the sport like Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick, one of his teammates at Stewart-Haas Racing, can be unnerving to say the least.

“At times, for sure,” Custer said. “Nobody knows exactly what to expect ever. You’re always going to have a little bit of nerves, but at some point, you just have to treat it like any other race and all the drivers just like any other driver. I don’t think it’s different than any other series; it’s just on a lot bigger stage.”

Bristol Motor Speedway will be just the second short-track race of the season and Custer is looking forward to it considering the good results he had at the last one. He finished ninth at the FanShield 500 at Phoenix Raceway back in March, his first and only Top 10 finish in 11 career Cup Series starts to date.

About the only thing he can take out of his run in Arizona is positive memories, though, because the 1-mile asphalt oval at Phoenix is nothing like the high-banked, half-mile concrete oval at Bristol.

“You can’t really find two more extremely different tracks from a short-track standpoint,” Custer said. “But the thing that does translate is it’s the same motor package, the same aero package, so all those things that are the basis of the car are the same. I think our team has a good grasp on that; it’s just a matter of trying to put it together as fast as we can for a race that doesn’t have any practice.

“We had a strong run at Phoenix with a Top 10 so hopefully we can keep the momentum going for the short tracks and see what we got.”

Custer, born in Ladera Ranch, California, tore up NASCAR’s Xfinity Series the past few years, racking up nine career wins and a staggering 71 Top 10 finishes in 104 starts. Tony Stewart and Gene Haas knew they had a special young driver with greatness ahead of him when they signed Custer to replace Daniel Suarez in the No.41 car this year.

It hasn’t paid off with any checkered-flag finishes yet, but Custer knows those days are coming.

“You can’t focus on things that are that far out. You’ve got to focus on what’s happening here and now and if you do the things that are happening here and now good enough, those things will happen in the future,” he said. “It’s surreal to be racing in the Cup Series, though. I’ve watched it since I was a little kid. It’s amazing making some of my first starts and everything.”

It’s a delicate balance for a young driver like Custer. He’s used to winning and is a fierce competitor on the track, but he also knows he must throttle down his expectations and learn the fine blend of patience, aggressiveness and consistency.

Brashness and recklessness is the quickest way to see his lifelong dream go up in smoke.

“As a rookie, you have to always remind yourself that you have to finish races, that sometimes it’s not your day,” Custer said. “Either you’re off or your car is off. Whatever it is, you have to make sure you’re there at the end of the race to try and make something out of it. Because if you start wrecking cars, it’s a long way back up from there.

“It ruins you in points, it puts you behind as a team, and you’re not learning on the track. We want to go out there and win but you have to put your expectations in check, especially when you’re not having those days that you want.”

Custer said his hours in the seat have been as invaluable as the wisdom and pep talks he’s had with Stewart and Harvick, who have combined for four Cup Series championships and 99 total victories. He knows his first Cup Series win is coming someday, perhaps even this year.

“It would be unreal,” Custer said. “It means a lot at this level to have any kind of wins, so with the level of competition and the teams that are running, especially with how hard it is getting going and figuring everything out, it would be by far the biggest of my career and it would mean a ton.”

Reach McManaman at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @azbobbymac. Listen to him live on Fox Sports 910-AM every Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 on Calling All Sports with Roc and Manuch and every Wednesday night from 7-9 on The Freaks with Kenny and Crash.

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