When it was announced in May 2024 that Stewart-Haas Racing would be closing its doors at the end of the season, it was seen as the end of an era for a team that had experienced all the highs and lows that NASCAR racing has to offer.
But a shred of what was SHR lives on through former Stewart-Haas co-owner Gene Haas, who retained a single Cup Series charter following the announcement.
In 2025, the rebranded Haas Factory Team is fielding their lone Cup Series entry for 2023 Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer, who drove for SHR in the Cup Series from 2020-22 before a lack of performance relegated him to the Xfinity Series.
After a stellar two-year stint with SHR’s Xfinity Series program, Custer was called back up to the Cup Series for 2025 and tapped as the new face of Gene Haas’ Cup Series operation.
With the promotion comes an inherent sense of pressure that Custer and the No. 41 team aren’t backing away from.
“We all put the pressure on ourselves,” Custer said in a virtual news conference on Wednesday. “At this level, we all want to go win. There’s a lot of people that have won races on our team (and) expect to go run up front. That’s our end goal, is going to compete for wins. We’re putting that pressure on ourselves, and we know we need to get better. I think at the end of the day, our guys aren’t going to stop working until they get there.”
While those goals are certainly good to use for motivation, the climb to Cup Series victory lane is not an easy one, especially for a team in Haas’ situation.
“As a new team, we have to be smart about trying to go out there and get solid finishes (and) trying to maximize our days,” Custer said. “Sometimes that’s not for a win. It’s a matter of how we build our notebook and move in the right direction. You don’t want to be tearing up cars when you’re trying to build a program. You have to be smart.
“There’s a lot of people who want to prove some people wrong on our team, and we want to go out there and compete with the best of them.”
