The Stewart-Haas Racing team courted controversy during the NASCAR Cup race at the Charlotte Roval. This was because Cole Custer appeared to brake very early for the chicane. That allowed Chase Briscoe to make up two places on the track, in a final couple of laps. Naturally, the NASCAR officials punished the team and Custer, for apparent team orders. In light of all this, NASCAR spotter Freddie Kraft admitted that teams could soon get creative to circumvent this.
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He confessed, “You are going to hear wacky sh*t on the radio when we get to Martinsville and Phoenix“. Meanwhile, fellow spotter TJ Majors opened up on an interesting story involving Dale Earnhardt Jr. He said, “We used to have a code for like watching football games. I’d tell Dale Jr, ‘That pizza guy delivered’ or something like that.”
What else did the NASCAR spotters say about Cole Custer?
They acknowledged that they always have code words to use on pit roads. Unfortunately, it has now reached a stage where code words are fine unless directed to the driver from the pit box. Owing to this, there is a strong feeling that at the next races at Martinsville and Phoenix, the use of code words will increase. To make matters worse, NASCAR will most likely be powerless to stop this from happening.
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The only time that NASCAR could wisen up is if the team orders are blatantly obvious. As was the case for Stewart-Haas Racing and Cole Custer at the Charlotte M0tor Speedway Roval. Already, Custer is in a very tight spot, because team owner Gene Haas is keen to retain his services.
However, co-owner Tony Stewart is planning to rope in Ryan Preece to race in his stead in 2023. One thing is for sure, both NASCAR and the Cup Series teams will be vigilant in the next couple of races, but for different reasons.
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