LOUDON, N.H. — On Thursday, Gene Haas announced that he will remain in NASCAR in 2025 despite plans to shut down his operation with Tony Stewart at season’s end.
Titled Haas Factory Team, the organization will retain one Cup Series charter from Stewart-Haas Racing and also operate two Xfinity Series entries. Joe Custer, the current co-president of SHR, will serve as president of Haas Factory Team.
So when it comes to putting together a driver lineup, Cole Custer — son of Joe — obviously becomes a top choice.
“I’d love to. At the end of the day, that’s what my career’s been, I guess. It’s always tied to that relationship,” Custer said Friday when asked about driving for his father in Cup. “At the end of the day, I think what Gene Haas has done in this sport, it would be a dream come true to get to run that Cup car.
“Whenever I went back to the Xfinity Series, my goal was always to go back to Cup. So, I’ve been trying to work on what I can do to get myself better over the past year and a half. At the end of the day, you try and do as best you can and you hope it all sorts itself out.”
Driving for his father certainly isn’t new. Custer’s been at SHR since 2017, spending three seasons in Xfinity before making it to Cup in 2020. He won at Kentucky Speedway as a rookie, making the playoffs and ultimately finishing 16th in points.
The next two seasons weren’t nearly as kind, as Custer finished in the top 10 a combined five times in 72 races. He placed no higher than 25th in driver’s points.
It only made sense to move Custer back to Xfinity — and he capitalized. Winning three times, he won the series title behind 21 top 10 finishes in one of the most competitive Xfinity fields to date.
Through 15 races this season, Custer has 12 top 10s. Though he hasn’t made it back to victory lane, his incredible consistency has given him shots to win each week.
“I think the biggest thing is you’ve got to look yourself in the mirror. You’ve got to figure out the ways that you can be better,” Custer said, speaking about his demotion after 2022. “You got to try and work on yourself and try and keep making gains in those areas. Cause at the end of the day, like it’s never always a perfect situation. You got to try and make the most of it and work with your team and try and fix problems.
“At the Cup level, the top 30 guys, you give them something underneath them that they can go fast with, give them a good car, a fast car, they’re going to go fast. The top 30 guys all have talent. It’s just how you communicate with your team to get that consistently. How you work with your team to fix problems and really be able to hone in on getting the car exactly how you want it every single weekend and consistently.”
Is he a top-30 talent?
“I hope so,” Custer said. “I think when you look at what I’ve done at the Xfinity level, I think the guys that I’ve raced against that are in the Cup level now, I think there’s no reason why you can’t.”
While Haas retaining a charter may have been a surprise, the SHR announcement in general created a massive silly season chain reaction. Front Row Motorsports announced it purchased one of the team’s available charters, meaning two more remain on the market.
Still, the opportunities are limited. Other prospects like Chandler Smith, Corey Heim, Austin Hill and Jesse Love are all knocking on the door for Cup rides.
That said, Custer knows that if he gets the opportunity to return, he has to take advantage regardless of the circumstances.
“I think the hard part about Cup is it’s not like there’s just a ton of them, so you take them when you can get them,” he said. “It’s not like you’re going to get one every single year, an opportunity to go Cup racing. A lot of guys, you’ve got to take that shot, no matter what the car is a lot of the time.
“You see a lot of guys, like, say, (Martin) Truex (Jr.), he didn’t get to Gibbs until later in his career. Different guys that have gone that path, but at the end of the day, if you can go Cup racing, you go Cup racing. It’s definitely, it’s the place every driver wants to be and compete against the best.”