While Stewart-Haas Racing wraps up its operations, the 4 drivers are delivering a fitting farewell. Cole Custer did so recently and also stamped his ticket out of a winless streak. The No. 00 team finally clambered out of the shadows for their first win of the year, although it had a solid rival on its heels.

Justin Allgaier, like Custer, faced a similar streak of upsets this season. But in the post-race media interaction with EssentiallySports journalist Bharat Aggarwal at the Pocono Raceway, Custer clearly did not like being compared to his track rival. Instead, the SHR driver is focused on his newfound glory.

Which drivers make up NASCAR’s “unluckiest duo”?

The defending Xfinity Championship winner scraped Victory Lane several times this season, from Las Vegas to New Hampshire. Cole Custer gathered seven top-ten and seven top-five finishes till today. Finally, the mountains of Pocono Raceway delivered him his much-anticipated glory. But his foremost Pocono rival also faced a similarly cumbersome situation.

Justin Allgaier overcame his own race upsets earlier this year in Darlington. Before that, bizarre circumstances had afflicted Dale Earnhardt Jr’s pupil, like the late-cut tire that deprived Allgaier of a near-certain win at Phoenix in the fourth race of the season. Yet Cole Custer seemed adamant about owning his victory with personal pride.

Our NASCAR journalist Bharat Aggarwal asked the Xfinity champ whether Custer and Allgaier could be dubbed the unluckiest duo of the sport. Especially because their combined laps led are 91, and Custer only has one win to show for it. The SHR driver negated such a query by saying, “Uh I don’t know, really. That’s a really tough question. We have definitely had some things not go our way. I’m not going to say I’m the unluckiest guy in NASCAR.”

Cole Custer further stressed that Lady Luck has blessed him with multiple top-fives. “I mean, whenever we had shots to win, I think I’m pretty lucky. You know what? I’m a person.” Yet he emphasized that luck is not always crucial. “So I feel like we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing, I’m not going to put any luck on it. You know, we got to make our own luck in a lot of ways. So I think we made our own luck today. And we just got to keep doing that.”

After Justin Allgaier won the first stage of today’s Xfinity race, a pit-road penalty hit the JR Motorsports fixture. Yet even as he wove his way back to the front, Cole Custer proved a thorn in his side. The SHR driver won Stage 2 when William Byron’s flat tire emitted debris. Then the Stewart-Haas Racing driver took the lead from Allgaier with nine laps remaining. He held off the JR Motorsports Chevrolet by .670 seconds to secure his 14th career victory.

The victory marks a great tribute to Stewart-Haas Racing, a team that achieved its first Cup win at Pocono Raceway as well. Custer himself admitted to not going gentle into that good night. “It’s not been the easiest year for Stewart-Haas. So to muscle out a win has been huge.” Yet Custer looks poised to come back next year working for one of the team owners, possibly in a Cup seat.

Haas’ plans might rope in Custer

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After 15 years of glittering victories, it feels a little uncanny that Stewart-Haas Racing is finally letting go of the anchor. 69 victories and two championships in the NASCAR Cup Series are no mean feat, all under the aegis of Tony Stewart and Gene Haas. But every good thing comes to an end. Yet SHR may not entirely end things, as Gene Haas will retain one of SHR’s four charters and form a new organization called Haas Factory Team.

Haas, a machine tool manufacturer, hopes to build his NASCAR and outside interests together and released a statement that read, “Operating a four-car Cup Series team has become too arduous, but, at the same time, I still need a platform to promote Haas Automation and grow HaasTooling.com.” 

So instead of four, only one Cup car will run for Gene Haas. And Cole Custer, being the best, as per Haas, seems likely to transition to the Cup Series next year. While his father, Joe Custer, will remain the team president, Cole Custer might grab the Cup seat. But it all depends on Haas. “We don’t have anything for sure for next year,” Cole Custer said. “It’s up to Gene Haas and what Gene wants to do.”

Winning the Pocono race today must have amplified his chances for that Cup seat. As Cole Custer told EssentiallySports, the driver would need a lot more than luck to tackle the challenging road ahead.