Haas Factory Team has yet to reveal who will drive its only NASCAR Cup Series charter in 2025, but Denny Hamlin believes he knows who it will be. Gene Haas decided to keep the team in the Cup Series as a single-car operation after announcing that Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) will cease operations after the 2024 season. Joe Custer, the current Vice President of SHR, will lead the team, prompting speculation that his son, Cole Custer, will return to the Cup Series with the new team.
On his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, Hamlin mentioned he wasn’t surprised by Haas’s decision to retain one charter and sell the other three. He believes Cole Custer has performed well enough in the Xfinity Series to deserve another shot in the Cup Series. Hamlin stated, “I don’t know why this became such a shock to everyone… I had heard for a while that they were gonna keep one… I guess to the outside, it was a shock.”
Hamlin speculated that Cole Custer would likely be the driver due to the strong relationship between Gene Haas and Joe Custer, who oversees daily operations at SHR. Hamlin praised Cole’s performance in the Xfinity Series, where he is the current regular season points leader with consistent top-10 and top-five finishes.
Cole Custer, 26, recently won his first Xfinity Series championship driving the No. 00 Ford for SHR. Although winless in 16 races this season, he leads the point standings with 13 top-10 and seven top-five finishes. Custer previously drove the No. 41 Ford for SHR in the Cup Series from 2020 to 2022, finishing 16th, 26th, and 25th in the standings and securing his first victory at Kentucky in July 2020.
Custer expressed his desire to return to the Cup Series with HFT, saying, “I’d love to… It would be a dream come true to get to run that Cup car. I’ve tried to go back to the Xfinity Series to prove what I can do and try and make the most of it. And you just kind of try and hope it all sorts itself out.”
