The NASCAR Xfinity Series is resuming after a long haul of three weeks, with the first stop at Michigan International Speedway. Riley Herbst will be looking for a back-to-back win after his Indianapolis dominance. The qualifying session has concluded, and the stage is set for Stewart-Haas Racing, as Riley Herbst qualified second with a lap speed of 171.233 mph. Cole Custer qualified 4th with a lap speed of 171.119 mph. However, Michigan is an oval where they have shown dominance this year. But what about their performance on road courses?

Stewart-Haas Racing is one of the strongest teams in the Xfinity Series, yet they haven’t managed many wins. Both of their drivers, despite being consistent, only got their wins recently, so late in the competition! In a pre-race press conference, the #15 team discussed how SHR has struggled on road courses.

Stewart Haas racing and their fate on road courses

In the Xfinity Series, despite being in a comfortable position in points, they have struggled to get good finishes on road courses. The most recent example was the Chicago Street Race, where Cole Custer finished 18th and Riley Herbst finished 28th. Before that, at Sonoma Raceway, Custer finished 9th, while Herbst was 13th. Neither of them has managed a podium finish on a road course this season.

Currently, Custer is sitting at the top of the standings, with his teammate in the #15 car in 5th. Both have had consistent performances this season. Custer has nine top 5s and sixteen top 10s. On the other hand, Herbst has four top 5s and nine top 10s. Still, they have struggled to get wins. Riley Herbst reiterated this ahead of the Michigan race, saying, “We didn’t really have the best start to the year obviously the points leader, by just being consistent. But the speed that we both were showing at the end of the last year wasn’t really there at the beginning of this year.”

They only recently got their first wins of the season. The defending champion got his first at the Tricky Triangle, followed by Herbst winning at the Indianapolis Speedway, where Custer finished in P2. Getting wins this late is likely due to the team’s inability to find good pace on road courses, and they have some work to do in that area.

Herbst addressed their road course curse and said, “I’d say our weakness right now is probably our road course program it’s not where we need to be by any means.” The pair will be hopeful of getting more wins, especially on road courses, as the daunting playoffs approach. Custer will want to finish this season on a high as he moves to the top league next season. If he manages to overcome this road course dilemma, it will most likely make things easier for him in the Cup Series, where he will be working alongside a new crew chief.

Cole Custer’s Cup series crew chief has been announced

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The Stewart-Haas team has announced that they will shut down operations after the 2024 season. However, out of their four charters, they have decided to retain one in the Cup Series under the name of the Haas Factory Team. Who better to pilot the program than the Xfinity champion Cole Custer? Custer previously drove three full seasons in the Cup Series (2020-2022). His only Cup Series win came in 2020 at the Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. He also won the Rookie of the Year award in 2020 as he qualified for the playoffs.

In his second chance, Custer will be eyeing more success, now that Aaron Kramer has joined as his crew chief. Kramer is a veteran of the racing industry. Most recently, he served as lead race engineer for Chris Buescher and the No. 17 team. He joined RFK in 2016 and transitioned to the Cup Series in 2019. The Haas Factory Team’s president, Joe Custer, is confident about Kramer. According to Joe, Kramer, being an engineer, has skill sets that are of prime importance for the next-gen car.

Reiterating this he said, “NASCAR, and the Cup Series in particular, has become very engineering-driven. Limited track time and the nuances of the NextGen car have put a premium on simulation and data, and to really maximize all that information, you need people who can apply that information to the car and work closely with the driver to fine-tune the car.”

With Kramer on board, the Haas Factory Team seems all set to try and achieve glory in the Cup Series in 2025. What do you think will be their chances? Would the one-driver team be successful? Let us know in the comments below.