Cole Custer Shines Under Lights in Coca-Cola 600, Finishes 16th in Rain-Shortened Race.

CONCORD, NC (May 24, 2026) –

Cole Custer capped off a consistent weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a 16th-place finish in Sunday night’s weather-shortened Coca-Cola 600. After starting 22nd in his No. 41 Sysco / Hickory Tavern Chevrolet, Custer and his team battled to earn their second consecutive top-20 finish.

41 Cole Custer

After a strong run in Saturday night’s O’Reilly Series race, Cole Custer returned to Charlotte on Sunday and started 22nd after rain canceled qualifying the day prior. Custer quickly moved into the top 20 in the No. 41 Sysco / Hickory Tavern Chevrolet before battling a tight car early in the race. Multiple cautions in Stage One allowed the team to make adjustments, and Custer recovered to finish the opening segment in 27th.

Following another stop during the stage break, Custer and the No. 41 team came to life in Stage Two. Restarting 31st, Custer charged forward and gained 11 positions in the opening laps to move inside the top 20. The strong run continued through the middle portion of the race, as he climbed as high as third before making a scheduled green-flag stop on lap 150. After the pit cycle, Custer maintained his momentum and raced his way to a strong 13th-place finish in Stage Two.

Custer restarted Stage Three from 15th and continued to battle inside the top 20 throughout a long green-flag stretch. A caution for a loose tire shortly after the restart shuffled strategy across the field, and the No. 41 team elected to stay out with weather nearing closer in the area. Custer fought to maintain track position before making his pit stop on lap 251 and cycling back into 17th place, where he finished Stage Three.

A quick stop during the final stage caution positioned Custer 16th for the closing run, and another early yellow provided the team with one final opportunity to take two right-side tires. Custer kept the No. 41 Sysco / Hickory Tavern Chevrolet clean through multiple late-race cautions and was running 13th when lightning in the area brought the race to a halt. Following three separate weather delays, the race was called on lap 373 with Custer scored in 16th place, marking back-to-back top-20 results.

“We brought a really fast car tonight, and my team made great adjustments all race long to keep us competitive,” said Custer. “That was definitely one of our strongest and most complete races of the season. Huge thanks to everyone at Haas Factory Team and Sysco / Hickory Tavern for their support all weekend long.”

Up Next

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Nashville Superspeedway next Sunday, May 31st, with race coverage on Prime set for 7 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.