Cole Custer to Drive No. 41 Ford for Haas Factory Team in 2025, Returning to NASCAR Cup Serie
Cole Custer, the current NASCAR Xfinity Series champion, will have another opportunity to compete in the highest division of the sport in 2025.
Custer will drive the No. 41 Ford for the Haas Factory Team in 2025 following the conclusion of the NASCAR Cup Series season, which saw Stewart-Haas Racing’s four-car operation dissolved.
Along with further help from Ford Performance, the Haas Factory Team will continue to maintain a technical collaboration with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing.
From 2020 to 2022, Custer participated in three full seasons in the Cup Series, winning one race at Kentucky Speedway and finishing in the top five in 108 starts overall.
Custer won three races in his Xfinity Series comeback season, including the Championship 4 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
For owner Gene Haas, who also runs the Haas F1 Team, the 26-year-old driver from Ladera Ranch, California, is excited about the opportunity to compete at the highest level of NASCAR once again.
Custer, who won the Xfinity race at Pocono last Saturday and is currently leading the series standings by 51 points over second-place Justin Allgaier, stated that “getting an opportunity back in Cup was the major aim.”
“It means a lot to me to have the chance to drive for the Haas Factory Team next year, and I think our team’s resources will allow us to accomplish some really amazing things.” We’re prepared to work and hire some excellent employees, and I believe we can compete with the finest.
Additionally, the Xfinity Series programme, which was launched under the Stewart-Haas brand, will be sustained by Haas Factory Team. Riley Herbst, the current driver, has received an offer from the new Haas Factory Team, according to Cole’s father Joe Custer, the team president, but no agreement has been signed.
Custer added that the Haas Factory Team looked into various options before deciding on the technical partnership with RFK.
Custer stated, “We have every resource we need heading into next year, along with Ford as a partner.”
Playoff Grid 101: Projected standings, notes for all three NASCAR national series
The regular season is winding down for all three NASCAR national series and the Playoffs picture is coming into focus. So, what does the Playoff Grid look like? We’re here to answer.
Let me start with a note. The race into the postseason is shown by the playoff standings that are available on our Standings page.There are just 16 drivers who advance (12 for Xfinity and 10 for the Craftsman Truck Series). The standings indicate who has already secured a spot by a win, followed by the points positions for the remaining drivers.
If the postseason began today, the precise standings are depicted in this Playoff Grid projection.
What we do is as follows:
— For the first round, the points of every playoff driver are reset to 2,000.Every race win adds five playoff points to the total of 2,000 points. For instance, Kyle Larson has three victories, giving him fifteen playoff points.A stage victory is worth one playoff point. For instance, Justin Allgaier has 11 stage victories, which translates to 11 playoff points.The drivers’ positions in the regular-season standings are taken into consideration in this forecast. Completing in the top ten earns bonus points. The winner of the regular season receives fifteen extra playoff points. Ten additional playoff points are awarded to the second place finisher, eight to the third place finisher, and so on down to one point for the tenth place finisher. Here, too, we employ that.
This is the precise Playoff Grid for the three national series that are headed to Indianapolis.
NASCAR Cup Series
Notable: Ryan Blaney won at Pocono Raceway for his second victory of the 2024 campaign. With his victory at the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania track, the reigning Cup Series champion increased his lead in playoff points to 12.As the summer stretch heats up and the 2023 winner attempts to enhance his postseason position with five races left, everything seems to be falling into place for Blaney’s No. 12 crew.
| Driver | Playoff points | Regular-season bonus | Total points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Larson | 23 | 10 | 2,033 |
| Denny Hamlin | 20 | 7 | 2,027 |
| Christopher Bell | 24 | 3 | 2,027 |
| William Byron | 16 | 6 | 2,022 |
| Chase Elliott | 6 | 15 | 2,021 |
| Ryan Blaney | 12 | 4 | 2,016 |
| Tyler Reddick | 8 | 8 | 2,016 |
| Martin Truex Jr. | 3 | 5 | 2,008 |
| Brad Keselowski | 5 | 2 | 2,007 |
| Austin Cindric | 7 | — | 2,007 |
| Alex Bowman | 5 | 1 | 2,006 |
| Joey Logano | 6 | — | 2,006 |
| Daniel Suárez | 5 | — | 2,005 |
| Chris Buescher | 2 | — | 2,002 |
| Ty Gibbs | 2 | — | 2,002 |
| Ross Chastain | 1 | — | 2,001 |
Xfinity Series of NASCAR
Notable: Cole Custer made his first visit to Victory Lane at Pocono after taking home the 2023 Xfinity Series championship. Custer had done everything but win a race in 2024 prior to Pocono. Now that he has a victory under his belt, Custer of Stewart-Haas Racing can concentrate on winning the Regular Season Championship by carrying on with his excellent year of consistency.
| Driver | Playoff points | Regular-season bonus | Total points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Justin Allgaier | 16 | 10 | 2,026 |
| Chandler Smith | 15 | 8 | 2,023 |
| Cole Custer | 8 | 15 | 2,023 |
| Austin Hill | 13 | 7 | 2,020 |
| Shane van Gisbergen | 17 | — | 2,017 |
| 6Jesse Love | 9 | 5 | 2,014 |
| Sam Mayer | 11 | 1 | 2,012 |
| AJ Allmendinger | 0 | 6 | 2,006 |
| Riley Herbst | 1 | 4 | 2,005 |
| Sheldon Creed | 0 | 3 | 2,003 |
| Parker Kligerman | 1 | 2 | 2,003 |
| Sammy Smith | 0 | — | 2,000 |
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Notable: The back-and-forth battle for the regular season title continued at Pocono between Corey Heim and Christian Eckes. After Eckes led every lap in the previous race to win at Nashville, Heim responded with a trip to Victory Lane at the “Tricky Triangle.” Heim’s up to 31 playoff points compared to Eckes’ 20, with two races to go until the Truck Series Playoffs.
| Driver | Playoff points | Regular-season bonus | Total points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corey Heim | 31 | 10 | 2,041 |
| Christian Eckes | 20 | 15 | 2,035 |
| Nick Sanchez | 11 | 8 | 2,019 |
| Ty Majeski | 5 | 7 | 2,012 |
| Rajah Caruth | 5 | 6 | 2,011 |
| Tyler Ankrum | 2 | 5 | 2,007 |
| Grant Enfinger | 0 | 4 | 2,004 |
| Taylor Gray | 0 | 3 | 2,003 |
| Ben Rhodes | 0 | 2 | 2,002 |
| Daniel Dye | 0 | 1 | 2,001 |
