After getting a shot with a full-time journey within the Cup collection with Stewart-Haas Racing in 2020, Custer tried to take advantage of it. He had received 9 Xfinity races in 100 begins and completed runner-up within the championship standings for 2 consecutive seasons.
Nonetheless, after incomes one win in three Cup seasons together with a career-best sixteenth within the collection standings, SHR opted to maneuver Custer again right down to Xfinity in 2023.
Seemingly not the perfect transfer for a driver’s ego, Custer nonetheless embraced the problem, and it turned out to be a profession renaissance. He received three races this yr, together with final Saturday’s season finale which earned him his first NASCAR championship.
In truth, Custer and his Xfinity teammate Riley Herbst have been the one SHR drivers to win races this season in what turned out to be a down yr for the group’s 4 Cup groups.
A calculated transfer
Staff co-owner Tony Stewart praised Custer’s resilience and though the choice had already been made to have Custer run one other season in Xfinity in 2025, the Corridor of Fame driver believes Custer is effectively on his method again to NASCAR’s elite division.
“It was a calculated choice to maneuver him again, and it was for him to realize confidence,” Stewart defined. “His confidence has grown, the management aspect is coming into play, as effectively.
“I believe it’s a sound query that, yeah, when a driver makes it to the massive present after which has to step again one collection, there’s lots of issues that would go mistaken. However there was a motive we made that call.
“It’s character-building. And it’s like I instructed him (after he received Saturday), ‘This is the reason we did what we did, and that is what you’re doing, the steps that you simply’re making and the progress you’ve made this yr is precisely what we have been hoping for.’ ”
Custer, 25, mentioned that whereas he’s nonetheless younger and hopefully has an extended profession forward of him, he admitted he “acquired knocked down somewhat bit” from the demotion again to Xfinity.
Picture by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Pictures
Cole Custer, Stewart-Haas Racing, Haas Automation Ford Mustang
“While you go to the Cup degree, it’s so aggressive. Issues can simply not go proper for just a few years. It’s simply how it’s, how tight it’s,” he mentioned. “I labored with an incredible group of men up there, however the way it all works out, typically it simply doesn’t work.
“To come back down right here and nonetheless have individuals imagine in you, work with (crew chief) J.T. (Jonathan Toney) and actually grind it out. We actually didn’t begin out the yr excellent.
“To come back again right here and actually simply carry a bullet and every little thing that we’ve realized all year long and communicated, I most likely requested J.T. 10,000 questions this yr, and he’s really appeared into each single one.”
Whereas Custer didn’t win seven races like his 2019 Xfinity season, Custer’s improvement on the monitor this season, and development in maturity and management helped present SHR its season spotlight.
“Being part of a brand new group and having the ability to construct that all year long, that’s probably the most proud issues I’ve been part of as a result of I really feel like they leaned on me to be a frontrunner,” Custer mentioned.
“I really feel prefer it’s a really proud second to have the ability to construct what we constructed this yr and go from a crew that was stable firstly of the yr however construct it right into a championship crew.”
These traits are why Stewart believes Custer’s NASCAR future stays shiny.
“He’s doing the suitable issues. He’ll find yourself in a Cup automobile in some unspecified time in the future I really feel like sooner or later,” Stewart mentioned. “He’s doing the work. He’s been an incredible chief on the store with these guys.
“I’ve the utmost confidence that he will likely be again in a Cup automobile in some unspecified time in the future.”
