Cole Custer

Cole Custer
Custer at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2024
Born	Cole Matthew Custer (1998-01-23) January 23, 1998 (age 26) Ladera Ranch, California, U.S.
Achievements	2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Champion 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Regular Season Champion Youngest NASCAR Truck Series winner (16 in 2014) Youngest NASCAR K&N Pro Series West winner (15 years, 6 months, 10 days) 2nd youngest winner in a NASCAR-sanctioned race
Awards	2020 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Cup Series career
117 races run over 5 years
Car no., team	No. 41 (Haas Factory Team)
2023 position	52nd
Best finish	16th (2020)
First race	2018 Pennzoil 400 (Las Vegas)
Last race	2023 Hollywood Casino 400 (Kansas)
First win	2020 Quaker State 400 (Kentucky)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 12 1
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
176 races run over 8 years
2023 position	1st
Best finish	1st (2023)
First race	2016 ToyotaCare 250 (Richmond)
Last race	2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship Race (Phoenix)
First win	2017 Ford EcoBoost 300 (Homestead)
Last win	2024 Food City 300 (Bristol)
Wins Top tens Poles 15 119 21
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
42 races run over 3 years
2016 position	10th
Best finish	10th (2016)
First race	2014 Kroger 250 (Martinsville)
Last race	2016 Ford EcoBoost 200 (Homestead)
First win	2014 UNOH 175 (Loudon)
Last win	2015 American Ethanol Presents the Drivin' for Linemen 200 (Gateway)
Wins Top tens Poles 2 24 5
Statistics current as of November 9, 2024.

Cole Matthew Custer (born January 23, 1998) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 41 Ford Mustang for Haas Factory Team. He is the son of Joe Custer, the team president of Stewart–Haas Racing. He is the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion.^[1]

Custer began racing quarter midgets at age four. In 2011, Custer won the USAC National Focus Young Guns Championship. The following year, Custer began racing late models, winning ten races and earning Rookie of the Year honors.^[2]

In 2013, Custer joined the K&N Pro Series East, making his debut at Bristol Motor Speedway^[2] for Ken Schrader Racing. During the season at Iowa Speedway, Custer won the pole position, led every lap, a record for a combination race, and won, becoming the youngest race winner in K&N Pro Series history at age 15, beating Dylan Kwasniewski's record by six months.^{[3][N 1]} Custer would win again at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, also from the pole.^[6][7] He finished eighth in the series standings.^[8] Custer later ran in the K&N Pro Series West's season-ending race. Custer led every single lap, but was turned by Gray Gaulding on the final lap, and finished sixth.^[8]

In the 2014 season, Custer won the Pro Series West opener at Phoenix International Raceway, holding off Greg Pursley and Brennan Newberry on the green–white–checker finish.^[9]

In 2014, Custer joined Haas Racing Development to run nine races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, making his debut in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway.^[8] Custer started the race 9th, and finished 12th.^[10] In qualifying for the Drivin' for Linemen 200 at Gateway Motorsports Park, Custer set the track record with a 136.426 miles per hour (219.556 km/h) lap speed, becoming the youngest pole winner in NASCAR history.^[11]

At New Hampshire Motor Speedway on September 20, 2014, Custer won the Camping World Truck Series' UNOH 175 from the pole, becoming the youngest winner in the history of NASCAR's national touring series at 16 years, 7 months and 28 days.^{[12][N 2]}

On January 12, 2015, JR Motorsports announced that Custer would drive a truck for them in ten races in 2015.^[13] On June 13, 2015, Custer won the Truck race at Gateway Motorsports Park, holding off the No. 23 truck of Spencer Gallagher, after the dominating trucks of Erik Jones and Matt Crafton were involved in two wrecks at laps 142 and 152.

When he turned 18 years old in 2016, JR Motorsports began fielding the No. 00 truck for Custer full-time, competing for the Rookie of the Year title. At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park during the Chevrolet Silverado 250, John Hunter Nemechek and Custer were battling for the lead when Nemechek bumped Custer before running both Custer and himself off-road, pinning Custer to the wall. Before the winner was declared, Nemechek was tackled by Custer; Nemechek would be named the winner.^[14]

In 2016, Custer made his Xfinity Series debut for JR Motorsports at Richmond International Raceway, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro.^[15] He drove the No. 88 for JR Motorsports to a career best fourth-place finish at Charlotte in the Hisense 4K TV 300.

On September 16, 2016, Stewart–Haas Racing announced that Custer would drive the No. 00 Ford Mustang full-time in 2017, with Haas Automation as the primary sponsor.^[16] Custer began the 2017 Xfinity season with a crash at Daytona, finishing 37th. He rebounded the next week at Atlanta, finishing 10th.

After making the Playoffs in his first appearance, Custer began making a surge at the end of the season including leading the most laps at Chicago and Kansas. Custer missed the Final Four by two spots after racing head to head with Daniel Hemric, the next week, Custer put on a clinic by leading the most laps, winning both stages and en route to his first Xfinity win at the Homestead–Miami Speedway in South Florida. The next year at the fall Texas race, Custer got his second career win when he passed Tyler Reddick on the last lap, clinching his spot in the Championship Four.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2019 season, Custer scored wins at Fontana, Richmond, Pocono, Chicago, Kentucky,^[17] and Dover. He finished second at Darlington, but was declared the official race winner after Denny Hamlin was disqualified when his car failed to meet height requirements during post-race inspection.^[18][19] At the end of the Kansas race, Custer got into a fight with Reddick on pit road.^[20] Custer finished the 2019 season second in points after finishing second again to Reddick at Homestead.^[21]

In March 2018, Custer joined Rick Ware Racing for his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.^[22] He finished 25th. He returned for the June Pocono race where he would finish 26th. At Richmond Raceway in the fall, he qualified a surprising tenth, though he would go on to finish 26th.^[23]

On November 15, 2019, Stewart–Haas Racing announced that Custer will replace Daniel Suárez in the No. 41 Ford in 2020.^[24] He scored his first Cup top-ten finish at Phoenix, while his maiden top five came at Indianapolis.^[25][26]

A week after Indianapolis, Custer won his first Cup race in the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway, passing Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., and Ryan Blaney on the last lap.^[27] He became the first rookie to win in the Cup Series since Chris Buescher in 2016, the first rookie to do so in a non-shortened race since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2007,^[28] and the 33rd driver to win a race in all three NASCAR national touring series.^[27] With the win, Custer made the 2020 Playoffs, but was eliminated following the third round at Bristol.^[29] He finished 16th in the points standings and was awarded the Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors.^[30] Custer remained with Stewart-Haas for the 2021 season. However, his results were inconsistent and he missed the playoffs after the regular-season finale at Daytona as he was 26th in the points standings with just two top tens at Talladega and Dover.^[31]

After a two-year absence, Custer returned to the Xfinity Series in May 2021 at Circuit of the Americas, driving the No. 17 for SS-Green Light Racing and Rick Ware Racing in a collaboration with Stewart–Haas Racing.^[32]

Custer returned to Xfinity Series competition in February 2022 at Auto Club Speedway, driving the No. 07 for SS-Green Light Racing in a collaboration with Stewart–Haas Racing. He would end up winning the race after leading 80 laps. It was his 10th career Xfinity Series win, and the first win for SS-Green Light Racing.^[33]

On October 11, 2022, Custer and crew chief Mike Shiplett were fined US$100,000 after Custer intentionally slowed down and checked up on the last lap of the Charlotte Roval race, allowing his SHR teammate Chase Briscoe to advance to the next round of the playoffs. In addition, Shiplett was indefinitely suspended and the No. 41 team was docked 50 owner and driver points.^[34]

On November 16, 2022, SHR announced that Ryan Preece would replace Custer in the No. 41 in the Cup Series in 2023 while Custer would move back to the Xfinity Series, driving a second full-time car for SHR. The team announced on November 23, 2022 that he would drive the 00 once again.^[35] Custer started the 2023 season with a ninth place finish at Daytona. He scored his first win of the season at Portland.^[36] Custer also won at a rain-shortened Chicago street race.^[37] Following the Michigan race, the No. 00 was docked 20 driver and owner points and five playoff points, and crew chief Jonathan Toney was fined US$25,000 after the post-race inspection revealed unapproved splitters.^[38] Custer won at Phoenix and claimed his first Xfinity Series championship.^[39]

On July 3, Rick Ware Racing announced that Custer would return to the Cup Series to drive the No. 51 at Atlanta, New Hampshire, and Pocono.^[40]

On November 2, 2023, Custer announced he would continue in the No. 00 in 2024.^[41] Two days later, Custer would go on to win his and Stewart–Haas's first Xfinity Series championship at Phoenix Raceway after holding off Justin Allgaier and John Hunter Nemechek on an overtime restart.

Custer started the 2024 season with a 13th place finish at Daytona. He scored wins at Pocono and Bristol, as well as the regular season championship.^[42][43] Despite not winning a race during the playoffs, Custer stayed consistent enough to make the Championship 4.^[44] After the race at Martinsville, Custer was involved in a post-race altercation with Chandler Smith.^[45]

On May 28, 2024, Stewart–Haas Racing announced it would shut down its NASCAR operations at the end of the season.^[46]

On July 20, 2024, Custer announced his Cup Series return in 2025 with the No. 41 of Haas Factory Team, which is a reorganization of Stewart–Haas Racing.^[47]

Born in Ladera Ranch, California, Custer is the son of Joe Custer, who is the team president of Stewart–Haas Racing and the chief operating officer of Haas F1 Team.^[48] SHR co-owner Gene Haas' company, Haas Automation, sponsors Custer.^[2] He attended Ladera Ranch Middle School and Tesoro High School.

He is married to Kari Custer. In July 2024, Kari gave birth to a son.^[49]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.)

NASCAR Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NCSC	Pts	Ref
2018	Rick Ware Racing	51	Ford	DAY	ATL	LVS 25	PHO	CAL	MAR	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	DOV	KAN	CLT	POC 26	MCH	SON	CHI	DAY	KEN	NHA	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	IND	LVS	RCH 26	ROV	DOV	TAL	KAN	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	63rd	01	[50]
2020	Stewart–Haas Racing	41	Ford	DAY 37	LVS 19	CAL 18	PHO 9	DAR 22	DAR 31	CLT 12	CLT 18	BRI 35	ATL 19	MAR 29	HOM 22	TAL 22	POC 16	POC 17	IND 5	KEN 1	TEX 39	KAN 7	NHA 8	MCH 34	MCH 25	DRC 22	DOV 11	DOV 10	DAY 30	DAR 12	RCH 14	BRI 23	LVS 16	TAL 31	ROV 9	KAN 14	TEX 14	MAR 13	PHO 28	16th	2202	[51]
2021				DAY 11	DRC 13	HOM 23	LVS 25	PHO 31	ATL 18	BRD 24	MAR 18	RCH 23	TAL 10	KAN 24	DAR 36	DOV 10	COA 36	CLT 21	SON 20	NSH 30	POC 38	POC 24	ROA 17	ATL 17	NHA 14	GLN 17	IRC 25	MCH 23	DAY 24	DAR 11	RCH 22	BRI 28	LVS 29	TAL 13	ROV 18	TEX 19	KAN 18	MAR 23	PHO 13	26th	575	[31]
2022				DAY 20	CAL 11	LVS 33	PHO 16	ATL 34	COA 23	RCH 22	MAR 21	BRD 13	TAL 29	DOV 15	DAR 26	KAN 22	CLT 21	GTW 29	SON 21	NSH 26	ROA 15	ATL 9	NHA 27	POC 17	IRC 9	MCH 31	RCH 26	GLN 11	DAY 16	DAR 14	KAN 22	BRI 8	TEX 35	TAL 21	ROV 24	LVS 20	HOM 24	MAR 14	PHO 16	25th	589	[52]
2023	Rick Ware Racing	51	Ford	DAY	CAL	LVS	PHO	ATL	COA	RCH	BRD	MAR	TAL	DOV	KAN	DAR	CLT	GTW	SON	NSH	CSC	ATL 32	NHA 35	POC 25	RCH	MCH 25	IRC	GLN 28	DAY	DAR	KAN 24	BRI	TEX	TAL	ROV	LVS	HOM	MAR		52nd	01	[53]
	RFK Racing	6	Ford																																				PHO QL†
2025	Haas Factory Team	41	Ford	DAY	ATL	COA	PHO	LVS	HOM	MAR	DAR	BRI	TAL	TEX	KAN	CLT	NSH	MCH	MXC	POC	ATL	CSC	SON	DOV	IND	IOW	GLN	RCH	DAY	DAR	GTW	BRI	NHA	KAN	ROV	LVS	TAL	MAR	PHO	-*	-*
† – Qualified for Brad Keselowski

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
2020	Stewart–Haas Racing	Ford	12	37
2021			27	11
2022			31	20

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	NXSC	Pts	Ref
2016	JR Motorsports	5	Chevy	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH 6	TAL	DOV																			CLT DNQ	KAN 35	TEX	PHO	HOM 17	100th	01	[54]
		88												CLT 4	POC	MCH	IOW	DAY	KEN 32	NHA	IND	IOW	GLN	MOH	BRI	ROA	DAR	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV
2017	Stewart–Haas Racing	00	Ford	DAY 37	ATL 10	LVS 11	PHO 21	CAL 35	TEX 5	BRI 32	RCH 13	TAL 26	CLT 7	DOV 4	POC 7	MCH 10	IOW 24	DAY 22	KEN 11	NHA 9	IND 5	IOW 5	GLN 12	MOH 35	BRI 10	ROA 8	DAR 9	RCH 14	CHI 7	KEN 5	DOV 8	CLT 6	KAN 19	TEX 5	PHO 7	HOM 1*	5th	2288	[55]
2018	Stewart–Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste			DAY 14	ATL 39	LVS 9	PHO 8	CAL 6	TEX 4	BRI 8	RCH 6	TAL 9	DOV 13	CLT 2	POC 5	MCH 3	IOW 4	CHI 3	DAY 25	KEN 5	NHA 9	IOW 9*	GLN 6	MOH 7	BRI 4	ROA 4	DAR 2	IND 29	LVS 3	RCH 15	ROV 7	DOV 2	KAN 26	TEX 1	PHO 8	HOM 2*	2nd	4035	[56]
2019				DAY 14	ATL 2	LVS 9	PHO 4	CAL 1	TEX 34	BRI 3	RCH 1*	TAL 32	DOV 4*	CLT 24	POC 1*	MCH 12	IOW 2	CHI 1*	DAY 26	KEN 1*	NHA 2	IOW 29	GLN 7	MOH 8	BRI 22	ROA 10	DAR 1	IND 7	LVS 4	RCH 3	ROV 8	DOV 1	KAN 11*	TEX 8	PHO 2	HOM 2	2nd	4035	[57]
2021	SS-Green Light Racing with Rick Ware Racing	17	Ford	DAY	DRC	HOM	LVS	PHO	ATL	MAR	TAL	DAR	DOV	COA 7	CLT	MOH	TEX	NSH	POC	ROA	ATL	NHA	GLN	IRC	MCH	DAY	DAR	RCH	BRI	LVS	TAL	ROV	TEX	KAN	MAR	PHO	85th	01	[58]
2022	SS-Green Light Racing	07		DAY	CAL 1*	LVS	PHO	ATL	COA 3	RCH	MAR	TAL	DOV	DAR	TEX	CLT	PIR	NSH	ROA 25	ATL	NHA	POC 10	IRC	MCH	GLN 11	DAY	DAR	KAN	BRI	TEX	TAL	ROV	LVS	HOM	MAR	PHO	75th	01	[59]
2023	Stewart–Haas Racing	00	Ford	DAY 9	CAL 27	LVS 12	PHO 12	ATL 12	COA 32	RCH 5	MAR 3	TAL 4	DOV 7	DAR 3	CLT 3	PIR 1	SON 6	NSH 9	CSC 1*	ATL 3	NHA 22	POC 33	ROA 30	MCH 16	IRC 6	GLN 7	DAY 5	DAR 4	KAN 36	BRI 4	TEX 6	ROV 2	LVS 3	HOM 13*	MAR 19	PHO 1*	1st	4040	[60]
2024				DAY 13	ATL 16	LVS 2	PHO 5	COA 4	RCH 10	MAR 8	TEX 5	TAL 10	DOV 5	DAR 3	CLT 32	PIR 6	SON 9	IOW 6	NHA 3*	NSH 9	CSC 18	POC 1	IND 2*	MCH 30	DAY 32	DAR 2	ATL 31	GLN 21	BRI 1*	KAN 2	TAL 26	ROV 13	LVS 8	HOM 2	MAR 4	PHO 8	2nd	4029	[61]

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	NCWTC	Pts	Ref
2014	Haas Racing Development	00	Chevy	DAY	MAR 12	KAN	CLT	DOV 14	TEX	GTW 6	KEN	IOW 8	ELD	POC	MCH	BRI 8	MSP 9	CHI	NHA 1*	LVS	TAL	MAR 29	TEX	PHO 3	HOM		25th	302	[62]
2015	JR Motorsports		Chevy	DAY	ATL	MAR 16	KAN	CLT	DOV 13*	TEX	GTW 1	IOW 9	KEN	ELD 29	POC	MCH	BRI 16*	MSP 10*	CHI	NHA 24	LVS	TAL	MAR 4*	TEX	PHO 26	HOM	22nd	305	[63]
2016				DAY 24	ATL 17	MAR 29	KAN 7	DOV 5	CLT 13	TEX 14	IOW 2	GTW 15	KEN 14	ELD 6	POC 5	BRI 6	MCH 22	MSP 2*	CHI 9	NHA 6	LVS 3	TAL 29	MAR 7	TEX 9	PHO 10	HOM 10	10th	502	[64]

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

NASCAR K&N Pro Series East results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	NKNPSEC	Pts	Ref
2013	Ken Schrader Racing	00	Chevy	BRI 24	GRE 19	FIF 22	RCH 3	BGS 10	IOW 4	LGY 23	COL 15	IOW 1*	VIR 19	GRE 16	NHA 1*	DOV 14	RAL 5			8th	452	[65]
2014	Bill McAnally Racing	00	Chevy	NSM	DAY	BRI 14	GRE	RCH 1*	IOW 11	BGS	FIF	LGY	NHA	COL	IOW 3	GLN 16	VIR 18	GRE	DOV 18	20th	234	[66]
2015			Toyota	NSM	GRE	BRI	IOW	BGS	LGY	COL	NHA	IOW	GLN 5	MOT	VIR	RCH	DOV			43rd	40	[67]
2016	HScott Motorsports with Justin Marks	98	Toyota	NSM	MOB	GRE	BRI	VIR	DOM	STA	COL	NHA	IOW	GLN 3	GRE	NJM	DOV			44th	41	[68]

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Racing Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	ARSC	Pts	Ref
2015	JR Motorsports	00	Chevy	DAY	MOB	NSH	SLM	TAL	TOL	NJE 5	POC 24	MCH	CHI	WIN	IOW	IRP	POC 1	BLN	ISF	DQN	SLM	KEN	KAN	41st	560	[69]
2016	Ken Schrader Racing	54	Chevy	DAY 10	NSH	SLM	TAL	TOL	NJE	POC	MCH	MAD	WIN											69th*	390*	[70]
	Athenian Motorsports	05	Chevy											IOW 7	IRP	POC	BLN	ISF	DSF	SLM	CHI	KEN	KAN
2017	Mason Mitchell Motorsports	78	Ford	DAY	NSH	SLM	TAL	TOL	ELK	POC	MCH	MAD	IOW	IRP	POC	WIN	ISF	ROA 11	DSF	SLM	CHI	KEN	KAN	88th	175	[71]

ARCA Menards Series West results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	AMSWC	Pts	Ref
2013	Ken Schrader Racing	00	Ford	PHO	S99 18	BIR	IOW	L44	SON	CNS	IOW	EVG	SPO	MMP	SMP	AAS	KCR		38th	66	[72]
			Chevy															PHO 6*
2014	Bill McAnally Racing	00	Chevy	PHO 1*	IRW	S99	IOW	KCR								PHO 3			20th	121	[73]
			Toyota						SON 12	SLS	CNS	IOW	EVG	KCR	MMP	AAS
2015				KCR	IRW	TUS	IOW	SHA	SON 9	SLS	IOW	EVG	CNS	MER	AAS	PHO			47th	35	[74]
2019	Sunrise Ford Racing	22	Ford	LVS	IRW	TUS	TUS	CNS	SON 4	DCS	IOW	EVG	GTW	MER	AAS	KCR	PHO		39th	40	[75]
2023	High Point Racing	55	Ford	PHO	IRW	KCR	PIR 2*	SON 18	IRW	SHA	EVG	AAS	LVS	MAD	PHO				26th	70	[76]

Notes

Citations

• Official website
• Cole Custer driver statistics at Racing-Reference