Gene Haas, the billionaire behind one of only two American teams on the F1 grid, just dropped a major bombshell in the NASCAR world—and it comes with a defiant message for the doubters.
At Iowa Speedway on Saturday, Haas Factory Team president Joe Custer announced the organization is expanding its NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series operation by adding a third car. The new driver? Dean Thompson, who’s jumping over from Sam Hunt Racing to join Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer in the lineup.
Both Creed and Mayer are sitting pretty in the standings, with a real shot at the post-season Chase when the regular season wraps up at Daytona later this month.
But the bigger headline came when Custer addressed the future of Haas’s top-tier NASCAR Cup Series team, which currently fields only one car each week. Rumors have been swirling that the team might sell its coveted charter—a guaranteed starting spot in every race—and walk away from the Cup Series entirely.
Custer shot that down hard.
“We have unfinished business in the Cup Series as Haas Factory Team,” he told reporters Saturday morning. “So, no, we are dead committed.”
He emphasized that Gene Haas is an F1 owner, a NASCAR Cup owner, and an O’Reilly owner—and they plan to keep it that way. Custer called Haas a friend, a mentor, and a passionate racer, adding that the team is determined to figure things out as a single-car operation.
“We got ways to go. But stay tuned. Stay tuned, because we’re not happy, (but) we’re happy with what the trend has been recently.”
It’s worth noting that Custer’s son, Cole, is the current driver of Haas’s No. 41 Cup car, sitting 30th in the standings after 22 races. But the boss insists that’s not the reason for the commitment.
With GM, partners, and the driver all believing in the project, Custer teased “some cool things happening on the Cup side.”
What exactly does Haas have up its sleeve—and could this NASCAR expansion eventually connect back to their F1 ambitions?
