KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (Aug. 15, 2024) – Haas Factory Team has hired Aaron Kramer to be the crew chief for driver Cole Custer and the No. 41 NASCAR Cup Series team in 2025.
Kramer will come to Haas Factory Team at the conclusion of the 2024 season from RFK Racing, with whom Haas Factory Team will have a technical alliance. The 35-year-old from Wellsville, New York, is currently the lead race engineer for Cup Series driver Chris Buescher and the No. 17 team.
Kramer has been with RFK since 2016, rising from an electrical and data systems engineer who oversaw the team’s 8-post advanced track simulator rig to lead race engineer on RFK’s No. 60 NASCAR Xfinity Series team in 2018. Kramer was promoted to Cup in 2019, working as the secondary race engineer for two years with the No. 6 team and driver Ryan Newman before moving to the No. 17 team in 2021 with Buescher.
Kramer was on the pit box for Buescher’s first Cup Series win with RFK on Sept. 17, 2022 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway before becoming the lead race engineer for the No. 17 team in 2023. Since then, Kramer has won three more races with Buescher and helped orchestrate his career-best finish of seventh in last year’s championship standings.
“Aaron’s engineering pedigree and his history with RFK Racing are great assets for Haas Factory Team. We’re proud to have him join our team,” said Joe Custer, president, Haas Factory Team. “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. Aaron is that person, and we’re confident he can build a team of like-minded people who will have our race team ready to go for 2025.”
Kramer earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) in 2016. Throughout his college years, Kramer was immersed in racing. After being the car chief at K-Automotive Motorsports for driver Brian Keselowski in 2010, Kramer joined Max-Q Motorsports in 2011. He was the front-end mechanic for the team’s No. 37 Cup Series entry during his freshman year at UNCC. From 2012 through the midpoint of 2015, Kramer built engines at Arrington Racing Engines. He spent the remainder of 2015 with BorgWarner Turbo Systems as a commercial vehicle application engineer. Kramer joined Penske Technology Group in 2016, providing wind tunnel support and operating the team’s 7-post rig with cars from Team Penske’s NASCAR and INDYCAR operation. That time with Penske paved Kramer’s path to RFK.
“This is a great opportunity and I’m very grateful for it,” Kramer said. “I’ve been working toward the crew chief position since I was racing go-karts in high school. It’s a proud moment to have it come with Haas Factory Team. Their alliance with RFK makes the learning curve a little less steep because I’m very familiar with the people and processes at RFK.
“Having Cole as the driver is a huge asset. He’s highly motivated and dedicated to his craft. He puts in the time away from the track so that he’s ready every time he climbs into the racecar. That’s what you want as a crew chief. We’re going to push each other and support each other to get the best results possible.”
Custer is the reigning Xfinity Series champion and current Xfinity Series point leader who secured his spot in the NASCAR Playoffs with a victory July 13 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. Custer’s move to Haas Factory Team in 2025 brings the 26-year-old back to the Cup Series, where he was the 2020 Rookie of the Year and a race winner in just his 20th career start – July 12, 2020 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta.
“I’m very happy to have Aaron join Haas Factory Team,” Custer said. “Crew chief is a crucial piece in the makeup of a race team and Aaron brings a lot to our program. His background will really be a plus for me and our whole organization. Both of us still have jobs to do this year, but it’s reassuring to know that he’ll be my guy on top of the pit box next year.”
