Haas team reaffirms commitment to Cup Series program

Joe Custer was adamant Saturday that Haas Factory Team has no interest in selling its charter or changing its NASCAR Cup Series operation.

“We have unfinished business in the Cup Series as Haas Factory Team,” said Custer, the COO, at Iowa Speedway. “So, no. We are dead committed. Gene Haas is an F1 owner and a NASCAR owner, and we intend to keep it that way.”

The organization plans to keep things as is on the Cup Series side, where Joe's son Cole Custer is the sole driver in the No. 41 Chevrolet, but is set to expand its O’Reilly Auto Parts Series effort to three full-time entries next season. Dean Thompson will be one of the drivers.

Haas reversed course in 2024 after initially announcing with partner Tony Stewart the plan to sell all four charters in the Cup Series and leave the sport. At the time, the duo cited it as the right time in their personal lives to pass the torch and noted how much commitment and labor racing requires.

But instead, Haas rebranded everything, ended up keeping one charter and downsizing on the Cup Series side. He kept the two O’Reilly Series teams and then, this year, switched from a partnership with Ford to Chevrolet, which included a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports.

“His business is strong,” Custer said of Haas. “He’s a friend, a mentor, and also a passionate racer. So, we are going to try to figure out Cup as a single-car team, and we’ve got a way to go. Stay tuned because we’re not happy. We’re happy with what the trend has been recently, but GM believes in us, our owner believes in us, our partners believe in us, our driver believes in us.”

Cole Custer finished 32nd in the point standings in 2025 with three top-10 finishes. His average finish is thus far worse in 2026 than it was in 2025, and he does not have a top-10 finish. The team is 30th in the standings.

“We’ve got some cool things happening on the Cup side,” said Joe Custer. “When I say cool things: single-car team, we really have no interest, frankly, in expanding into a multi-car team. We have more of an interest in becoming closer and closer to GM and our technical partner. That’s our vision, and we feel we have a lot to offer – weird stuff, not normal stuff.

“Manufacturing, things that aren’t sexy, things that are behind the scenes that we try to leverage and come to our partners, key players, whether it be GM or Hendrick, etc. … and I just want fast race cars. That’s all I want out of it. I want to go to the front. We’re not there yet. We’ve got some work to do, so stay tuned. We’re not sitting around. We’re moving.”