{"id":47434,"date":"2024-07-20T12:15:17","date_gmt":"2024-07-20T17:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=47434"},"modified":"2024-07-23T14:04:06","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T19:04:06","slug":"nascar-saturday-indianapolis-notebook-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2024\/07\/20\/nascar-saturday-indianapolis-notebook-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Indianapolis Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Reid Spencer and Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Cole Custer will return to NASCAR Cup Series with Haas Factory Team<\/b><\/p>\n

SPEEDWAY, Ind. \u2014 In 2025, reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer will get a second chance in the sport\u2019s top division.<\/p>\n

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Cole Custer, driver of the #00 Haas Automation Ford, exits the car during qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pennzoil 250 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 20, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by James Gilbert\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Custer will drive the No. 41 Ford for the Haas Factory Team in 2025 after the dissolution of Stewart-Haas Racing\u2019s four-car NASCAR Cup Series operation at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

The Haas Factory Team also will maintain a technical alliance with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, with additional support from Ford Performance.<\/p>\n

Custer spent three full seasons in the Cup Series from 2020 through 2022, winning one race at Kentucky Speedway and posting one other top five in 108 starts during that period.<\/p>\n

Returning to the Xfinity Series last season, Custer won three races, including the Championship 4 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old driver from Ladera Ranch, Calif., welcomes the chance to return to NASCAR\u2019s top level for owner Gene Haas, who also operates the Haas F1 Team.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get an opportunity back in Cup was the biggest goal,\u201d said Custer, who won last Saturday\u2019s Xfinity race at Pocono and leads the series standings by 51 points over second-place Justin Allgaier.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have this opportunity to get to drive for Haas Factory Team next year is huge for me, and I think we can do some really special things with the resources we have as a team. We\u2019re ready to get work and get some great people, and I think we\u2019ll be able to compete with the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haas Factory Team also will continue to maintain the Xfinity Series program started under the Stewart-Haas banner. Haas Factory Team president Joe Custer, Cole\u2019s father, says the new organization has made an offer to current driver Riley Herbst, but no deal has been finalized.<\/p>\n

Custer also said Haas Factory Team explore other possibilities before settling on the technical alliance with RFK.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlong with Ford as a partner, we\u2019re lacing no resource going into next year,\u201d Custer said.<\/p>\n

Denny Hamlin longs to add Brickyard 400 trophy to his collection<\/b><\/p>\n

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin has fashioned a celebrated career\u201454 NASCAR Cup Series wins, including three Daytona 500 victories, three Southern 500 wins and a Coca-Cola 600 trophy.<\/p>\n

But the 43-year old veteran still has that one cherished trophy he\u2019d love to add to the collection: a Brickyard 400 win on the historic oval track.<\/p>\n

Hamlin has eight top-10 finishes in 15 starts on the oval and scored a career-best third-place finish three times, in 2008, 2014 and 2018<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me the Southern 500 and the Brickyard 400 (are) kind of equal in prestige,” said Hamlin, who added that he\u2019s glad NASCAR moved its big event from the road course back to the 2.5-mile oval.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always felt that we were going to come back here one day,\u201d said the driver of the No. 11 JGR Toyota. \u201cI was never resigned to the fact that the road course was going to be a permanent thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I just didn\u2019t know how long my career would go at that point. I don\u2019t have that many chances left. It\u2019s less than what\u2019s on my hand I would think, so just going to take advantage of every opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall, I feel like I\u2019ve always been in contention here, just never gotten it done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamlin was one of three drivers who participated in a test at Indianapolis earlier this season and was third quickest in practice on Friday.<\/p>\n

Martin Truex Jr. reflects on the Indianapolis win that got away<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. will be the first to tell you that his record on the 2.5-mile oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is far from exemplary.<\/p>\n

In 16 starts on the big track, Truex has one top five and three top 10s to his credit. His average finish is a lackluster 22.4.<\/p>\n

But the Brickyard 400 Truex remembers most vividly is the race in 2017, when he had a car capable of winning.<\/p>\n

Kyle Busch had the dominant car that day, having led 87 of the first 102 laps, but Truex had taken the top spot from his fellow Toyota driver on Lap 103, before Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Jimmie Johnson crashed on the backstretch to cause the eighth caution of the afternoon.<\/p>\n

As the leader, Truex chose the inside lane for the restart on Lap 111, with Busch to his outside. Their cars raced side-by-side toward Turn 1, with Busch pulling slightly ahead entering the corner.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Truex\u2019s car lost grip and slid up the track into Busch\u2019s Camry, wrecking both cars beyond repair.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that one definitely hurt,\u201d Truex acknowledged. “This has never been what I\u2019d consider one of my best tracks, and that year we had what we needed to win, and I made a dumb move.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I could redo that one, for sure, and see how the day would have played out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s race may be Truex\u2019s last chance for a victory at Indianapolis. In June, he announced his retirement from full-time, effective at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Chase Briscoe in pursuit of memorable victory on his home track<\/b><\/p>\n

Chase Briscoe has a lot to look forward to\u2014his wife is pregnant with twins, and he recently signed a contract with the championship Joe Gibbs Racing organization to continue competing in the NASCAR Cup Series after his current team, Stewart-Haas Racing, closes shop at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Before all those other important events commence, however, the proud Hoosier most wants to earn a win at his home track, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in his racing idol Tony Stewart\u2019s iconic No. 14 Ford.<\/p>\n

Briscoe won a NASCAR Xfinity Series race on the road course configuration in 2020. He competed in a pair of Xfinity Series races on the 2.5-mile oval in 2018 and 2019, scoring top-10 finishes both times. All three of his NASCAR Cup Series starts in the No. 14 have been on the road course, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt certainly means a little bit more when it\u2019s on the oval,” Briscoe allowed. \u201cWhen you think about the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the history is on the oval, it\u2019s not on the road course.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut still, winning here in general is very, very special. So, for me, if I was able to win on the oval, it would mean a little bit more, but it\u2019s going to mean more than any other race track I could win at regardless.”<\/p>\n

Briscoe conceded it will be emotional for him driving for fellow Indiana-native Stewart one last time at The Speedway.<\/p>\n

\u201cFull transparency, I cry every year just on the ride-around deal,” Briscoe said. \u201cWith it being on the oval and doing it in the 14, all that, it\u2019s going to definitely be emotional for me. It\u2019s something that I honestly hadn\u2019t even thought about until a couple weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor seven- or 10-year-old Chase, if you would have told him that he was going to get around one Brickyard 400 in the 14 car for Tony Stewart, I don\u2019t think I would have ever believed you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer and Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Cole Custer will return to NASCAR Cup Series with Haas Factory Team SPEEDWAY, Ind. \u2014 In 2025, reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer will get a second chance in the sport\u2019s top division. Custer will drive the No. 41 Ford for the Haas Factory Team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":47437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[421,16],"class_list":["post-47434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-indianapolis-motor-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/GettyImages-2162811195-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-cl4","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47434"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47454,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47434\/revisions\/47454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}