Custer Shows Promising Speed in HFT Chevrolet Cup Series Debut at Daytona. Mayer Leads Six Laps in O’ Reilly Series; Creed Rallies After Early Incident.

DAYTONA BEACH, FL (February 15, 2026) – Haas Factory Team showed front-running speed at Daytona International Speedway in its Chevrolet debut, with Cole Custer battling inside the top five before a late crash resulted in a 24th-place finish. In O’ Reilly competition, Sam Mayer led six laps, while Sheldon Creed ran up front before an incident hindered his day.

Cup Series

41 Cole Custer
Cole Custer and the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Chevrolet team leaned heavily on fuel strategy throughout Sunday’s Daytona 500. Starting 23rd in his fifth appearance in the Great American Race, Custer dropped to the rear early to conserve fuel and took advantage of an early caution to top off. He worked the bottom lane into the top 10 during stage one before returning to the back of the pack to save fuel, ultimately finishing the opening segment 32nd after a late splash of gas.In stage two, Custer again prioritized track position and fuel mileage, restarting 28th before methodically working forward. After a caution for a multi-car incident on lap 87, he restarted 24th and used the top lane to charge into the top 15 by halfway. Minor splitter damage from a lap-119 crash didn’t slow his progress, and he closed the stage 22nd under caution.A strong pit stop to start the final stage vaulted Custer to seventh, and he quickly joined the lead draft. Running the high line, he moved into the top five and eventually led the outside lane with 35 laps to go while battling for the lead. Fuel strategy proved decisive, however, as he ran out of gas while running fourth during green-flag stops and cycled to 31st before a late caution reset the field. Custer rallied back into the top 15, but a last-lap crash relegated him to a 24th-place finish.“We put ourselves in position at the end of the race to compete for a win hut didn’t quite have enough fuel,” Custer said. “There were a lot of positives, and we learned a lot for later in the season but we’ll move on to the next one.”

O’ Reilly Series

00 Sheldon Creed
The No. 00 Ollie’s Chevrolet made its manufacturer debut at Daytona with a strong start to the 120-lap event. After qualifying fifth, Sheldon Creed briefly worked with teammate Sam Mayer before slipping back in the draft. Running the bottom lane in 15th on Lap 19, the team rallied late in stage one, surging back into the top five with four laps to go. A crash on the final lap resulted in right-side damage after clipping the wall, but Creed still crossed the line sixth to earn five stage points.The team lost a lap under the stage caution while making repairs and restarted Stage Two in 33rd. Further damage from the lap 30 incident required an additional green-flag stop on lap 42, costing several more laps. The No. 00 team continued to battle but went on to finish the second stage in 35th, four laps down.Despite the early damage and multiple trips to pit road, the No. 00 team kept fighting to the checkered. They maximized the remainder of the race, staying on track and capitalizing on late-race incidents to leave the first race of the season with a 24th-place result.“We got caught up in the first crash and tried to manage our night after that by picking up some positions there late,” Creed said. “Not the way you want to start the year, but proud of Haas Factory Team and proud to have Ollie’s on board.”

41 Sam Mayer
Sam Mayer showed immediate speed in his HFT’s first start as a Chevrolet team at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, qualifying third in the No. 41 Audibel Chevrolet. After being shuffled back on the opening-lap restart, Mayer charged to second midway through stage one and ducked underneath Sammy Smith with four laps remaining to lead the bottom lane. However, contact off turn four on the final lap forced him into the outside wall, forcing him to settle for a 13th-place stage finish.He restarted the second stage with minor damage but still on the lead lap in 28th and drove back into the top 10 by lap 50. However, a tire issue late in the run caused him to lose drafting help in the main pack, resulting in a 30th-place finish in stage two.Mayer surged from 24th into the top 10 on the final-stage restart and ran third in line behind RCR teammates Austin Hill and Jesse Love. He briefly assumed the lead during green-flag pit stops and paced the field for six laps, but after pitting with 35 laps to go, the cycle shuffled him to the rear. A late multi-car incident in turn one ended his promising night, leaving him with a 31st-place finish despite a strong car.“Everyone at Haas Factory team worked their butts off to get that Audibel Chevrolet back out there and it was really, really fast in the pack,” Mayer said. “I’m okay and we’re going to move on to EchoPark and bring another fast racecar next weekend.”

Up Next
EchoPark Speedway plays host to the second race on the NASCAR schedule next weekend in Atlanta, Georgia. Race coverage Sunday is set for 5 p.m. ET on the CW for the O’ Reilly Series, and 3 p.m. ET on FOX for the Cup Series.

About Haas Factory Team:
Haas Factory Team is a NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series program owned by Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation. New in 2026, Haas Factory will align with Chevrolet. As part of the manufacturer switch, HFT will have a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports, which will include using Hendrick-built engines across both series. The team will feature Cole Custer driving the No. 41 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the NASCAR Cup Series, while Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer take on the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in the No. 00 and No. 41 Chevrolet Camaros, 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.