RWR To Give Winningest Driver in Bowman Gray History First Career NASCAR Cup Series Start in NASCAR Clash

RWR To Give Winningest Driver in Bowman Gray History First Career NASCAR Cup Series Start in NASCAR Clash

Tim Brown: Rookie or Ringer?

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Dec. 17, 2024) – Ever since he was a fresh-out-of-high-school 19-year-old just beginning his racing career, Tim Brown had an eye on competing in the NASCAR Cup Series. Nearly 35 years later, Brown will finally get the opportunity to race in NASCAR’s premier division.

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NASCAR Cup Series to Race on the Streets of Chicago for the First Time

NASCAR Cup Series to Race on the Streets of Chicago for the First Time

For the first time ever, the sights, sounds and speed of NASCAR are coming to the streets of downtown Chicago on July 1-2, 2023. One of the most iconic cities in the world, Chicago will add another chapter to its illustrious sports history when the NASCAR Cup Series debuts against the backdrop of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline in the Grant Park 220 on Sunday, July 2 at 5:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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

No. 41 Haas Automation Ford Mustang: Cole Custer Folds of Honor 500 Race Advance
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.
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NASCAR DRIVER TO MEET FANS & HONOR LOCAL HERO AND RACE FAN

NASCAR DRIVER TO MEET FANS & HONOR LOCAL HERO AND RACE FAN

LifeLink® of Georgia and Donate Life Georgia to host

NASCAR Cup Series driver Joey Gase to honor organ, eye & tissue donors

 Hampton, GA (March 11, 2020) – Following his mother’s death in 2011 from a sudden brain aneurysm, NASCAR driver Joey Gase made the decision to donate her organs, eyes and tissues, which ultimately touched the lives of 66 individuals in desperate need of a transplant.  Since then, Gase has become as passionate about donation as he is about racing.  In 2015, he was awarded NASCAR’s inaugural COMCAST Community Outreach Award for his work supporting organ, eye and tissue donation and donor families. Rick Ware Racing is excited that Gase will pilot the No. 53 entry in the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season. (more…)

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