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Joe Custer of Haas Factory Team is optimistic about securing the 2025 Xfinity Series Championship after the 2024 title "slipped" through their fingers. To make this optimism work, the Gene Haas-owned team has ramped up its squad by appointing a new crew chief line-up, and a new director of competition to its Xfinity roaster.
Haas Factory Team (formerly Stewart-Haas Racing) missed out on the 2024 Xfinity Series crown after Cole Custer failed to win the season-ending race at Phoenix. He lost the title to Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsport.
Allgaier failed to win the Phoenix race as well, but he clinched the title thanks to a superior point cushion. The race that Custer needed to win was won by his teammate Riley Herbst to wrap up the season on a bittersweet note for SHR (currently HFT).
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As the 2024 season is over, the Haas Factory Team is looking towards the next one with optimism. Speaking about this, Joe Custer, the president of HFT, opened up on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Here's what he said:
"We believe we'll be starting where we left off. We finished half the deal in Phoenix, with winning a race and the championship slipped through our fingers, which was disappointing, but we were there."
"We led a lot of laps, we had a lot of speed, we're optimistic about next year at Phoenix. Putting our two drivers hopefully into that final race," Custer added. (0:48-1:12)
The Haas Factory Team was rebranded from Stewart-Haas Racing after Tony Stewart decided to withdraw from NASCAR at the end of 2024. Currently, Gene Haas owns the team, and Joe Custer as President runs it.
Haas Factory Team introduced a new crew chief line-up for 2025 Xfinity season
The Haas Factory Team went through some major restructuring after Tony Stewart pulled out from the sport. The team kept only one charter in the Cup Series and handed it to its former Xfinity driver, Cole Custer.
Haas also brought in Sam Mayer from JR Motorsport and Sheldon Creed from Joe Gibbs Racing for its Xfinity Series line-up. This has come after existing driver Riley Herbst moved to 23XI Racing's Cup Series seat, days after Custer was promoted to the Cup Series.
To run the new drivers, HFT appointed new crew chiefs and a director of competition. Here's what Joe Custer had to say about this:
"We're excited that Jason Trinchere has come on board to Crew Chief Sam Mayer. So we've got Jonathan Toney with Sheldon Creed and Jason with Sam," he said. "So crew chiefs are set. So we've elevated Adam Gravett to director of competition for Xfinity." (0:11-0:35)
HFT will continue with three drivers in the Cup and Xfinity Series and will operate with Ford as its manufacturer for the 2025 season.
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