NASCAR INSIDER PROJECTS HAAS FACTORY TEAM 2025 PLANS WITH REMAINING SHR CHARTER

Gene Haas recently announced the formation of Haas Factory Team, and he likely has one driver in mind for his one Cup Series charter. Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports projects Cole Custer as the top candidate to drive the for Haas Factory Team.

“Considering he has continued to sponsor former Cup driver and defending Xfinity champion Cole Custer — and Custer’s father is running the Haas Factory Team — it would stand to reason that Custer is the top candidate,”Pockrass wrote.

Custer currently drives the No. 00 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, a team that is shutting down at the end of the year. In the Cup Series, Custer won the 2020 Quaker State 400 in Kentucky and was named Rookie of the Year that season. He last competed full-time in the Cup Series in 2022 with SHR before transitioning to the Xfinity Series. After winning the Xfinity Series title in 2023, Custer has recorded 12 top-10 finishes this year.

On Denny Hamlin’s Actions Detrimental podcast, he also projects Custer to be the driver for HFT. “I would assume it’s Cole Custer simply with the relationship Gene Haas has with Joe Custer,” Hamlin said. Which is Cole’s father, who essentially kind of runs Stewart-Haas now on the day-to-day. They’ve got a long-standing relationship there which is good. I think Cole has earned his right to if he gets the opportunity back in the Cup car. Think he has earned that right through performance. I think he’s your regular season point leader in Xfinity right now, he’s up front and solid every single week. And sometimes it’s good to get a reset. And I think Cole got that reset and is certainly warranted to be back in the Cup Series on Sunday.”

Gene Haas announces formation of Haas Factory Team

It was announced last week that HFT will operate one Cup charter and two Xfinity teams next season. Custer’s father will be the president of the team, and the drivers will be announced at a later date.

“My commitment to motorsports hasn’t changed, just the scope of my involvement,” Haas said in a release. “Operating a four-car Cup Series team has become too arduous but, at the same time, I still need a platform to promote Haas Automation and grow HaasTooling.com.

“Maintaining my presence in Cup allows Haas Automation to compete at NASCAR’s highest level, which is important to our customers and distributors. The Xfinity Series program provides a full weekend experience for our guests, and it delivers added depth and scale to our overall operation.”

The post NASCAR insider projects Haas Factory Team 2025 plans with remaining SHR charter appeared first on On3.

2024-06-27T17:07:23Z dg43tfdfdgfd