Custer Battles Through Tight-Handling Car on Sunday at Martinsville
MARTINSVILLE, VA (March 29, 2026) – Cole Custer and the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Chevrolet team battled adversity throughout Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, overcoming a tight-handling car and long green-flag runs to grind out a 31st-place finish.
41 Cole Custer
Starting 24th on Sunday, Cole Custer took the green flag for his ninth career start at Martinsville Speedway and quickly settled into the challenge of heavy traffic. The No. 41 HaasTooling.com Chevrolet showed consistent pace in the opening stage, though a tight-handling condition limited his corner turn. Custer fell a lap down with 10 laps remaining, but a late caution for a spinning car allowed him to regroup and finish Stage One only one lap behind the leaders.
Custer gained a position early in Stage Two with a pass on Austin Dillon before a caution on lap 105 brought him to pit road for fresh tires in an attempt to earn the free pass. The tight condition persisted on the restart, forcing Custer to manage the car through a long green-flag run. He ultimately maintained his rhythm through the stage’s end but ended the second stage two laps down.
The final stage became a test of endurance with an extended green-flag run before pit stops cycled through. Custer pitted on lap 296, and a caution on lap 311 for debris allowed him to take the wave-around and regain one lap. Restarting as the only car three laps down, he continued to battle through the closing laps, ultimately finishing 31st in a determined Martinsville effort.
“It was a pretty frustrating day because I think we had solid speed, but one run didn’t go our way and we couldn’t recover from it,” Custer said. “We should be proud of the speed in our HaasTooling.com Chevrolet but just bummed it didn’t all come together for us.”
Up Next
The NASCAR Cup Series takes next weekend off for the Easter holiday, but returns to the track on Sunday, April 12th, at Bristol Motor Speedway with race coverage on FS1 set for 3 p.m. ET.
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.