driver

Details:

• Event: eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series
• Time/Date: 1:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 22
• Location: Virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
• Distance: 100 laps (150 miles)

Where to Watch:

• FS1 (DIRECTV Channel 219 and Dish Channel 150)

■ Announcers: Jeff Gordon, Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds, with in-race commentary from Clint Bowyer.

• FOX Sports Go app

Overview:

• The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series is an exhibition esports series featuring a collection of actual racecar drivers from the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series.

• While the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series kicks off on Sunday at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway, it will be a multi-week series emulating the original 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

• With the sports world on a necessary hiatus to combat the spread of the coronavirus, the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series exists for the drivers to have a bit of fun until the return of their respective series.

• Each race in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series will consist of 35 drivers.

KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 M&M’S Camry in the eNASCAR IRacing Pro Invitational Series:

You got into the iRacing simulator for the first time this afternoon (Saturday). What did you learn and who is helping you out?

“I’ve never done iRacing before and I don’t even have a setup. Fortunately, Ty Gibbs has a setup that I was able to practice on this afternoon for the first time. The biggest thing I learned is that lap-one, cold tires is “ice,” then it feels good for about 10 laps, and then the car gets really tight. Since you can’t change the setup, it’s really going to be tricky to figure out the balance of me fixing that. Thankfully, Ty Gibbs, ‘Boris’ (Bryan Cook, JGR Chief Digital Officer) and my Cup car engineer William Hartman, are big into iRacing and they were also helping me learn this afternoon – trying to get all the basics down of practicing pitting, restarts and everything I need to know. You aren’t going to learn it all in a few hours. These guys that are really good at iRacing do it on a regular basis, they’ve done a ton of work to get as good as they are. It’s cool to get our virtual M&M’S Camry out there and have some fun while trying to learn a new trade.”

• This will be Busch’s first official iRacing start in a virtual NASCAR Cup Series race.

• Busch’s Rowdy Energy Drink is a sponsor on the No. 51 Toyota driven by Malik Ray in the weekly eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series for Joe Gibbs Racing with Interstate Batteries as a sponsor on the No. 18 Toyota driven by Graham Bolin.

• In actual NASCAR Cup Series racing at Homestead, Busch has two victories, including last year’s season-finale when he clinched his second title in NASCAR’s top series.

KANNAPOLIS, North Carolina (March 11, 2020) – Cole Custer and the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) will compete at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday in this season’s second event at an intermediate track. Custer will make his first career NASCAR Cup Series start at the 1.54-mile track in Sunday’s Folds of Honor 500.

Custer heads to Atlanta coming off of his best career Cup Series finish, ninth, earned at Phoenix Raceway. The young driver was also the highest finishing 2020 Rookie of the Year contender. The Haas Automation driver started 16th and battled an intermittent power steering problem along with a tight-handling Mustang and finished ninth in the 316-lap event. It was a solid day for the four-car SHR organization with all four entries finishing in the top-10 in the season’s fourth race.
For the last five seasons, Atlanta was the second race of the season. The track is significant because it’s a 1.5-mile layout and a majority of the tracks on the Cup Series circuit are that length and similarly shaped. If things go well this weekend at Atlanta for Custer and the SHR organization, it bodes well for the team’s competitiveness on the same style of track for the rest of the season.
SHR has two wins at the Georgia track – Kevin Harvick in 2018 and team co-owner Tony Stewart in September 2010. Additionally, the Kannapolis, North Carolina team has amassed four pole awards and a total of nine top-fives and nine top-10s, in 39 starts there.
Custer has three starts at Atlanta in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with two top-10 finishes in three starts. Last year, he captured the pole position and finished second to Christopher Bell. He has one Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series start at Atlanta. He started sixth in 2016 and finished 17th.
In his last nine Xfinity Series starts at 1.5-mile tracks, Custer earned two wins, four top-fives, six top-10s and one pole award. The victories were captured at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, and Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. He led a total of 410 laps in the nine starts on his way to an average finishing position of 10.4 and an average starting position of 3.2.
The 22-year-old has made two starts at intermediate tracks behind the wheel of a Cup Series car, both at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The first occurred in March 2018, when he started 30th and finished 25th for the No. 51 Rick Ware Racing team. The second was in his No. 41 Mustang last month, when he started 17th and finished 19th.
“The Xfinity cars have more horsepower than the Cup cars at the bigger tracks, but the Cup cars have a lot more downforce and drag,” Custer said. “The Cup cars are going slower down the straightaways, but much faster in the corners. For me, the biggest difference is getting used to how much speed I can actually carry into the corner with the Cup car, when I’ve been doing something different for three years.”
Haas Automation, founded in 1983 by SHR co-owner Gene Haas, is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. The company manufactures a complete line of vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers and rotary tables and indexers. All Haas products are constructed in the company’s 1.1 million-square-foot Oxnard manufacturing facility and distributed through a worldwide network of Haas Factory Outlets.
Even though Custer had a trio of starts in the Cup Series in 2018, 2020 officially marks his Rookie of the Year campaign in NASCAR’s most prestigious series. He’s competing for the honor with notables Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick. The three have battled against each other in the Xfinity Series and are making the full-time transition to the Cup Series together.

Cole Custer: Driver of the No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

What do you do to decompress after a race?
“It’s hard to decompress because all we think about is racing. I try and hang out with friends. We have a lake near the house in North Carolina and I like to go out on the boat with friends as a way to relax. I golf a little here and there, too.”
What is the biggest difference for you between the Xfinity and Cup Series?
“I think, for me, it is getting used to the cars. They are a lot different, especially with the 550 package, and how you work the throttle and everything. How you are going to do that is a lot different than Xfinity. At the same time, you make one little mistake and are a little off in one area, you will lose a ton of spots. Everybody here is pushing it to the limit. Everyone in the top-25 in the Cup Series is probably capable of winning races. It is a matter of trying to perfect every part of it.”
Have you had any pranks pulled on you as a Cup Series rookie?
“Nothing yet, but I’m waiting for it. I feel a guy like (Clint) Bowyer is probably going to be the first one to pull a prank on me. Who wouldn’t pick Bowyer as the first person to do it?”

No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang Team Report
Race 5 of 36 – Folds of Honor 500 – Atlanta

Car No. 41: Haas Automation Ford Mustang Team Report

At Track PR Contact: Mike Arning with True Speed Communication (Mike.Arning@TrueSpeedCommunication.com)

Primary Team:

Driver: Cole Custer

Hometown: Ladera Ranch, California

Crew Chief: Mike Shiplett

Hometown: Amherst, Ohio

Engine Specialist: Evan Cupples

Hometown: Hudson, Illinois

Car Chief: Tony Cardamone

Hometown: Bristol, Virginia

Engine Builder: Roush Yates Engines

Headquarters: Mooresville, North Carolina

Spotter: Andy Houston

Hometown: Hickory, North Carolina

Over-The-Wall Crew:

Fuelman: Chad Emmons

Hometown: Tyler, Texas
Carrier: Dwayne Moore

Hometown: Griffin, Georgia

Jackman: Brett Morrell

Hometown: Windham, Maine

Front Changer: Josh Leslie

Hometown: Mount Clemens, Michigan

Rear Changer: Coleman Dollarhide
Hometown: Hickory, North Carolina

Road Crew:

Transporter Driver: Eddie DeGroot and Scott Robbins

Hometown: Baldwinsville, New York and Woodfield, New Hampshire, respectively
Shock Specialist: Aaron Kuehn

Hometown: Kensington, Connecticut
Mechanic: Nick McIntosh

Hometown: Havre, Montana
Tire Technician: Thomas Gagliano

Hometown: East Hampton, Connecticut
Engineers: Scott Bingham and Davin Restivo

Hometowns: Lawrenceville, Georgia and Ashboro, North Carolina, respectively
Mechanic: Joe Zanolini

Hometown: Sybertsville, Pennsylvania

Atlanta Motor Speedway Notes of Interest:

Cole Custer will make his first Atlanta Motor Speedway Cup Series start on Sunday to bring his total of career Cup Series starts to eight.
The Haas Automation driver finished ninth last weekend at Phoenix Raceway. Custer was the highest finishing Rookie of the Year contender at the suburban Phoenix track.
2020 marks Custer’s first fulltime season in the Cup Series and he will contend for Rookie of the Year honors along with four other Cup Series competitors.
The Ladera Ranch, California native has three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Atlanta. In last year’s race he started from the pole position and finished runner-up in the 163-lap event. He also has one NASCAR Truck Series starts at the intermediate oval.
Custer will sign autographs at the SHR merchandise hauler in the fan midway on Sunday, March 15 beginning at 10:55 a.m.

Kevin Harvick Returns to SiriusXM Airwaves March 25

KYLE BUSCH eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Homestead Advance

No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang: Cole Custer Folds of Honor 500 Race Advance