“You had me fooled there”: Dale Earnhardt Jr. teases ‘oldest’ Cole Custer in a hilarious age banter

Everyone vying for the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship except for Cole Custer is either 30 or older. Thanks to what Dale Earnhardt Jr. felt was Custer’s “po*nstache”, the reigning series champion also appeared to be in his thirties.

Custer, who turned 26 this January, is the prime example of how a mustache can make one look older. Speaking of which in the latest episode of the Dale Jr Download podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said,

“He looks the oldest. Damn Cole, you had me fooled there for a minute. I thought you were in your 30s!”

Custer, a native of Ladera Ranch, California, drives the No. 00 Mustang full-time for Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. As of today, he owns 15 victories in the series and leads the standings with 772 laps led in all. Furthermore, he is tied with Joe Gibbs Racing driver Sheldon Creed for the most number of top-10s (22) this season.

Tomorrow, Custer will defend his title that he won last year leading a race-high 96 laps at Phoenix Raceway. In nine starts at the mile-long short track in Avondale, Arizona, he has four top-5s and seven top-10s. Per NASCAR, his average finish there is 7.6.

“We definitely have to go there and find something,” Custer said in a recent interview (via NASCAR). “At the end of the day, I feel like we have as good of a shot as anybody. We’ve had fast cars there before and there’s no reason why we can’t go there and compete for a championship.”

Custer was the last driver to qualify for the coveted championship race on points. In last week's playoff race at Martinsville Speedway, he finished fourth and took home 46 playoff points, the second-highest in the 38-driver field.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. calls out Cole Custer’s bruise from last week’s race

Last week at Martinsville, Cole Custer got into a brawl with Kaulig Racing driver Chandler Smith following an aggressive last-lap duel. Smith, the driver of the No. 81 QuickTie Toyota, was the one to take the swing at Custer, who later called his rival’s punch as being “so soft”.

Here is how it went down (via Frontsretch):

The “soft” punch was enough to leave Smith with a $10,000 fine and Custer with a black eye. Noticing the mark on the outside of the latter's left eye, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said,

“I've been sitting here 30 minutes and just noticed that you got a black eye…That (expletive) slap gave you a black eye?

“I guess I bruise easy,” was Custer’s only explanation.

“What, did he have a ring on?” a visibly surprised Earnhardt wondered. "What the (expletive)? Did y'all see that?"

The four drivers who were invited to Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s podcast will go up against each other on Saturday from 7:30 PM ET. The 200-lap event will air live on The CW while, radio updates will be available on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.