CONCORD, N.C. — Cole Custer’s return to the NASCAR Cup Series after two seasons back in the Xfinity Series saw him contend for victory in the Daytona 500.
Unfortunately, his day ended in a last-lap crash and a 21st-place finish for the Haas Factory Racing No. 41 Ford team.
Still, Custer is optimistic as the team heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend.
“It was a great start for our team at Haas Factory racing,” Custer told the media on Wednesday. “It was a great way to start off the year having both Xfinity cars have a shot at the win and having a Cup car have a shot at the win. It doesn’t get much better than that. I can’t say enough about our people and how hard they’ve worked over the offseason and to see them get rewarded and have a shot to win races is a great way to start. Hopefully, we can just keep it going and have another shot at it at Atlanta.”
Custer acknowledged there are differences from the Xfinity car to the Next Gen Cup Series machine.
“There’s definitely little things like trying to get used to the mirrors and just your whole surroundings in general, but it’s been pretty solid so far and nothing too crazy,” he said. “I have a great team around me and just have to keep building it.”
Custer, who won the 2023 Xfinity Series championship, said the biggest difference from the last time he ran full-time in the Cup Series to now is his personal growth.
“I think the biggest thing for me is how much I’ve changed in the last couple of years, just knowing how much better to work with your team to try and fix problems and things like that because usually race weekends do not go perfect,” the 27-year-old driver explained. “Usually, there’s always something you’ve got to fix, something you’ve got to make better and the teams that can go in the right direction and fix those things tend to be better.
“The driver is a huge part of that and how they communicate with their team, so I think that’s one of the biggest things, and just having the confidence to know you can go out there and compete with the best of them.”
Custer is working with a new crew chief in Aaron Kramer.
“I think it’s honestly a good way to ease into that kind of relationship just because you have a little bit bigger window on hitting your balance and how it all plays out with the handling of the cars,” Custer said. “I think Aaron has done a great job and obviously giving me a shot to go win a race at the end of the Daytona 500. I can’t really ask for much more and they worked so hard this week. It was incredible the amount of work they did on that car because after the Duels, pretty much every single body panel had to be replaced, and the floor and the splitter.
“We had to take the engine out. It was a lot of work and for them to still give me a car that could go compete definitely shows what we can do.”
