Custer On HFT: ‘I Feel Like We’re Starting To Turn A Corner’

Cole Custer (David Rosenblum/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – In an environment as competitive as the NASCAR Cup Series, success doesn’t happen overnight and the things that drivers and teams want to achieve take time to build.

That’s exactly what the first 16 weeks of the season have been for Cole Custer and the revamped Haas Factory Team organization.

Up until the early portion of the summer, heartbreak, frustration, and required patience have been the themes for the rebranded leftovers of what was once the four-car squad of Stewart-Haas Racing.

However, at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez road course last Sunday, a breakthrough came for Custer as he captured his first top 10 of the season.

It marked the best Cup Series finish for Custer since Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in 2022, where he also finished eighth.

“It was great for our team to be able to go there and get an eighth-place finish. We had a solid car all day and good strategy. We didn’t make any mistakes,” said Custer. “The pit crew did well and overall, it was just a really solid day for us. Hopefully, at the halfway point of the season, we’re able to start clicking off some good finishes and move in the right direction.”

Sunday in Mexico City was Custer’s first top 10 in a points-paying Cup Series race in three years. Of course, he hasn’t been idle since then, dropping back and dominating the second-tier NASCAR Xfinity Series for two seasons – including a championship in 2023.

But for the run to come on a road course – where Custer’s career average has been 19th – was nothing short of a stunner. It also marked his career-best road course finish in the Cup Series.

Custer was also quick to compliment the Mexico City track, where the top level of stock car racing was competing for the first time, on its raciness throughout the weekend.

Cole Custer in action at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. (Nigel Kinrade/NKP photo)

“Mexico City raced really well. It had some really good passing zones with turns one, four, 11 and 12, so it’s an interesting track. There's also a fall off with the cars, meaning it’s not an easy place to get around,” Custer noted of the track characteristics. “The track was awesome. I wouldn’t mind going back, although logistically it can be hard. We found that out as a team with our flights getting cancelled, but I feel like with a second [visit to Mexico] … everything would be easier.”

As he navigates his second chance at full-time racing in the Cup Series, the 27-year-old said he and his team put the pressure on themselves to perform, with the ultimate goal of winning. He emphasized the expectation is to run up front, but acknowledged that getting to that level will take time.

“At the end of the day, the start of the season didn’t go how we wanted. We wanted to be in a better spot, but I feel like we’ve been starting to bring better cars to the racetrack,” he said. “The intermediates have definitely been tough on us; hopefully as the year goes on, we’re able to grow and get all of the aerodynamic stuff figured out, because it’s just so important.

“But I feel like we’re starting to turn a corner.”

Custer admitted there are a lot of moving parts with what is essentially a brand new Cup Series team. Part of that is building a notebook to get better each week, but also getting used to different new shop equipment, including their simulation technology at the race shop.

He also said that things haven’t been as easy as a “plug and play,” and that when operating a small team, preserving equipment is also a task.

Part of embracing the early season challenge has been recognizing the small victories, such as three top 20s in a four-week stretch between late April and mid-May.

In contrast, in the first 16 races Custer endured 12 finishes outside the top 20. But optimism in the HFT camp remains strong about taking strides in their results this summer.

“I believe we’re moving in the right direction. I feel like the road courses, the short tracks, the superspeedways, all of those should be strong suits for our team,” said Custer. “I think we’re still working on the intermediate stuff, but I think we’re rolling towards that goal.”

What is that goal? It’s putting full races together to breathe new energy into the back half of the year. That hope looks to begin building a foundation starting this weekend at Pennslyvannia’s Pocono Raceway.

Custer said part of the team’s slow start has been getting completely comfortable with the Next-Gen car, due to his inexperience from being in the Xfinity Series the last two years. But with two Xfinity Series wins at Pocono, Custer is no stranger to victory lane at the ‘Tricky Triangle’.

With the track’s unique design of a triangle figure, vastly different corners, and long straightaways, teams will have their hands full trying to find success – especially at a venue where fuel mileage and strategy are often key.

In his two Next-Gen starts at Pocono, Custer’s best finish is 17th. Therefore, he wants to attack Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions with purpose.

“You don’t ever feel like you left Pocono and did an absolutely perfect job, because it’s so hard to really hit perfect laps around that place every single time,” he said. “I’ve won a couple Xfinity races there and an ARCA race, but I feel like it’s always a place that challenges you … where you can always do better.”

And as for building further in Cup Series competition overall, Custer knows that process is going to be a case of little steps combining to make bigger leaps.

“Everybody has dialed in these cars so good that it’s just a game of thousandths, literally thousandths of trying to figure out ways to make gains and beat the guy next to you. The field has really gotten a lot tighter,” he pointed out. “The cars have gotten to drive better, so you really just have to be 100 percent in every single area. We hope to show that in the second half of the year.”

Broadcast coverage of the Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono is set for Sunday, June 22 at 2 p.m. ET, live on Prime Video, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.