Haas Factory Team News
Custer Uses Mix of Strategy and Speed to Finish 25th at Kansas Speedway.
By Haas Factory Team
KANSAS CITY, KS (April 19, 2026) – Cole Custer battled tire strategy, long green-flag runs, and a late overtime restart to secure a hard-fought 25th-place finish at Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon.
Cole Custer started 29th for his 10th career start at Kansas and used a strategic, patient approach throughout the 267-lap race. The No. 41 HaasTooling.com Chevrolet showed strong pace early, as Custer battled tire wear and climbed as high as fifth during the opening run. Pitting late on lap 44 from inside the top five put him one lap down, but he maintained solid speed and stayed within reach of the leaders to close out Stage One.
A wave around under the stage caution returned Custer to the lead lap to begin Stage Two. With no early yellow, he short-pitted on lap 102, briefly going two laps down but gaining fresher tires than the field. Custer capitalized on the strategy and remained consistent, finishing Stage Two in 23rd after an extended green-flag run.In the final stage, Custer continued his steady effort through the longest green-flag run of the day before a late caution forced overtime. After taking a wave around to gain track position, he kept his HaasTooling.com Chevrolet clean on the restart and crossed the line in 25th, completing a resilient afternoon at Kansas.“Overall, Aaron (Kramer) made a great pit call and kept us in the game,” Custer said. “We had good long-run speed in our HaasTooling.comChevrolet, and our guys worked their tails off. I feel like we had our best race of the year today, so we just need to continue to build off that.”
- 41 Cole Custer
Cole Custer started 29th for his 10th career start at Kansas and used a strategic, patient approach throughout the 267-lap race. The No. 41 HaasTooling.com Chevrolet showed strong pace early, as Custer battled tire wear and climbed as high as fifth during the opening run. Pitting late on lap 44 from inside the top five put him one lap down, but he maintained solid speed and stayed within reach of the leaders to close out Stage One.
A wave around under the stage caution returned Custer to the lead lap to begin Stage Two. With no early yellow, he short-pitted on lap 102, briefly going two laps down but gaining fresher tires than the field. Custer capitalized on the strategy and remained consistent, finishing Stage Two in 23rd after an extended green-flag run.In the final stage, Custer continued his steady effort through the longest green-flag run of the day before a late caution forced overtime. After taking a wave around to gain track position, he kept his HaasTooling.com Chevrolet clean on the restart and crossed the line in 25th, completing a resilient afternoon at Kansas.“Overall, Aaron (Kramer) made a great pit call and kept us in the game,” Custer said. “We had good long-run speed in our HaasTooling.comChevrolet, and our guys worked their tails off. I feel like we had our best race of the year today, so we just need to continue to build off that.”
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