COLE CUSTER SENDS 'DREAM' MESSAGE TO GENE HAAS AFTER NASCAR DECISION

Cole Custer admits he would love to return to the NASCAR Cup Series behind the wheel of Gene Haas' new team next season. Last month, Haas and Tony Stewart - who co-own Stewart Haas Racing - announced the team would be shutting down next season, but Haas declared on Thursday that he would continue to operate one Cup Series team and two Xfinity teams.

Custer, the reigning Xfinity Series champion and the leader of this season's standings, has a long-standing relationship with Haas and he has his eyes on taking the Haas Factory Team Cup Series seat in 2025. Custer, 26, has made 117 starts in the Cup Series and spent three seasons driving Stewart-Haas Racing's No. 41 Ford, with 10 top-10 finishes and one victory at Kentucky in 2020.

But he was sent back to the Xfinity Series at the end of the 2022 campaign, and he admits his only goal since has been to earn his way back to the big time. And with a seat becoming available at the Haas Factory Team, Custer hopes he gets the chance to prove himself again.

"Yeah, I mean, I'd love to," he told Motorsport.com. "You know, that's what my career has been, I guess is, you know, it's always tied to - that relationship. I think you know what Gene Haas has done in this sport and you know it would be a dream come true to get to run that Cup car.

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"I've tried to go back to the Xfinity Series to prove what I can do and try and make the most of it and you just kind of try and hope it all sorts of itself out. Whenever I went back to this series, my goal was always to go back to cup, you know? So, I've been trying to work on what I can do to get myself better over the past year and a half."

Custer believes he is a different driver five years on from his NASCAR Cup Series debut and he believes he would be much better prepared for the challenge If it comes his way.

"I really didn't know what I was doing," he said of his time in the Cup Series. "You know, I was just trying to go out there and hit the gas and go fast, you know, and hopefully you had a car underneath you that could do it," Custer said of the start of his NASCAR career. Now I think you just have so much more knowledge of what goes into it and on the bad days, you're able to make the most of it.

"I feel like when you're that young, it's like if you get thrown curveball. It's harder to know what to do to make the most of it. As a veteran, you just kind of know how to grind away and, you know, make the most of the day. But that was one of those magical days where you have everything work out right."

2024-06-23T11:52:30Z dg43tfdfdgfd