Cole Custer Finishes 21st at Daytona After Strong Cup Run
DAYTONA, FL (Feb. 16, 2025) - Haas Factory team enjoyed a successful team debut this weekend at Daytona, as Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed finished second and third in the Xfinity Series. On the Cup side, Cole Custer had a chance to go to victory lane in the Daytona 500, but was caught up in an incident on the final lap and finished 21st in the season-opening race.
Custer restarted third in NASCAR overtime and used the outside lane to force the field three-wide on the final lap, before a spin on the backstretch ended his Daytona 500 bid. He was collected in "The Big One", despite having a strong HaasTooling.com Ford and putting it in position to at the very end.
Rain postponed the start of the 67th running of the "Great American Race" for nearly three and a half hours, but the intensity was high for all 200 laps on Sunday.
After battling in the back of the pack across the first two stages, Custer utilized the outside groove to gradually work his way through the field. In the midst of nonstop three-wide racing, he rode the top lane up to the 18th position before a caution for debris reset the field on lap 161.
The 41 team opted for fuel only on their final pit stop, and held steady until an incident with 14 laps remaining. He was able to manuver through a four-car pileup at the front of the field, and put his Ford Mustang on the second row with under 10 laps left in the race.
He managed to push Christopher Bell to the lead with five laps to go, before the No. 20 got loose and hit the wall entering turn three to force a yellow, and an overtime finish. Custer was third as he took the white flag in overtime, but was a casualty of a wreck on the final lap as he attempted to synergize the third lane.
Custer leaves Daytona with 16 total points and is tied for 21st in the Cup Series point standings after the first week of the regular season.
Mayer and Creed finished second and third, respectively, in their debut for Hass Factory Team on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.
A late caution reset the field and set up an overtime finish, with both drivers positioned on the first two inside rows in overtime battling for the win. However, Jesse Love was able to hold off the Haas Factory Team teammates, as Mayer and Creed rounded out the top three.
For Mayer, it marked the best finish of his career at Daytona, and first career top-5 at the track. After running outside the top-10 in the first two stages, the 41 team drove through the field and ran up front for a majority of the last stage. He manuvered through a crash coming to the white flag, and held on to a second-place finish.
Still eyeing his first Xfinity win, Creed was strong all night long as he earned a race-high 17 stage points across the first half of the race. The 00 team led seven laps in the final stage and restarted on the front row in overtime, but settled for a top-5 finish at Daytona for the fourth consecutive race.
Creed scored 51 total points on Saturday night, and is the current Xfinity points leader heading into Atlanta next weekend. Mayer sits in fifth place with 35 points overall.
Up Next
Atlanta Motor Speedway hosts race two on the NASCAR Cup Series/Xfinity season next weekend. Race coverage Sunday is set for 5 p.m. ET on the CW for the Xfinity series, and 3 p.m. ET for the Cup Series on FOX.
About Haas Factory Team
The Haas Factory Team is a NASCAR Cup and Xfinity program owned by Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation. Beginning in 2025, the team will feature Cole Custer driving the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Cup Series, while Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer take on the Xfinity Series in the No. 00 and No. 41 Ford Mustangs, respectively. Based in Kannapolis, North Carolina, the Haas Factory Team reflects a commitment to performance and engineering excellence, carrying forward Gene Haas's commitment to motorsports.