Mayer and Creed Finish Top 5 in NXS at Nashville Superspeedway
Custer Matches Best 1.5-Mile Finish of 2025 Season on Sunday Night
Xfinity Series
Haas Factory Team (HFT) enjoyed a strong showing under the lights at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday night, as both of its drivers—Sam Mayer in the No. 41 and Sheldon Creed in the No. 00—secured top-five finishes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race. The impressive outing marked the fourth time this season that both HFT entries have finished inside the top five in the same event, underlining the team’s growing consistency and competitiveness.
The weekend began on a high note during Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session. Mayer secured a starting position on the inside of the second row, clocking in third-fastest, while Creed wasn’t far behind, rolling off from fifth on the grid. Their strong starting positions proved crucial, as both drivers were able to maintain track position through the early laps of the race.
Stage One saw the HFT duo hold steady in the top 10 as the field remained tightly bunched. A caution with 20 laps to go in the stage reshuffled the running order, but both Mayer and Creed managed to hold firm and secure valuable stage points. Creed crossed the line in sixth, while Mayer was close behind in seventh.
As the race moved into Stage Two, Creed’s No. 00 Ollie’s Ford Mustang came alive. He surged through the field, climbing as high as second while putting pressure on race leader Justin Allgaier. Despite Creed’s charge, Allgaier held firm and swept both opening stages. Meanwhile, Mayer steadily worked his way forward to finish the second segment in sixth, keeping both HFT entries solidly in contention.
“Our No. 00 team had a great night, and it started with a good qualifying effort and great stops on pit road kept us in it all night,” Creed said. “It was fun to lead some laps tonight, but ultimately it was a great run for us to kick of the summer stretch.”
A key moment for the team came during the pit stop at the end of Stage Two, where the No. 00 pit crew delivered a fast stop that allowed Creed to win the race off pit road and assume the lead heading into the final stage. Mayer also benefited from strong service in the pits, gaining two positions and restarting just behind his teammate.
The restart was chaotic, with an early caution bunching up the field. Creed handled the pressure well, maintaining the lead and opening up nearly a one-second advantage over Connor Zilisch. Over the next run, Creed led 25 laps—the most he’s led in a single race this season—before Zilisch managed to reel him in and complete the pass for the lead with 68 laps to go.
Shortly after, Allgaier took advantage of the jostling between Creed and Zilisch to slip past into second, shuffling Creed back to third. Mayer, continuing his consistent climb through the field, made a late-race move on his teammate with 15 laps remaining to grab third position. When the checkered flag waved, Mayer crossed the line in third, followed closely by Creed in fourth, capping off a highly successful night for the Haas Factory Team.
“We had a solid day overall. Our team has a ton to be proud about and we stayed in the game all day,” Mayer said. “I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks, and know we’ll have a shot to put our Audibel Ford in victory lane this summer.”
Mayer sits third in the total points standings with 473 points on the season, while Creed is in sixth place with 381 points. The NASCAR Xfinity Series takes a one-week break this weekend, before heading to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City on June 14 at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Cup Series
Cole Custer turned in one of his most well-rounded performances of the 2025 season on Sunday night, earning a 19th-place finish at Nashville. The run matched his best result on a 1.5-mile track this year, along with Texas earlier this year (19th), and showcased steady progress from the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford team.
Starting deep in the field in 29th, Custer gained a couple of spots early but dropped back to 30th after a green-flag pit stop on lap 49 for four tires and fuel. With no cautions in the opening stage, he went a lap down and finished Stage One in 30th.
Custer got back on the lead lap by taking the wave-around at the start of Stage Two and quickly began moving forward. A series of early-stage cautions allowed him to gain positions, and by lap 124, he was up to 17th. Despite dealing with a tight race car, he maintained solid pace and wrapped up the second stage in 16th.
The final stage opened with more gains, as Custer climbed to 11th after several drivers ahead received pit-road penalties. Over the long green-flag run, the handling on the No. 41 Ford began to loosen up even more, and Custer slipped back to 14th by lap 230. After the final round of green-flag pit stops, he settled into 19th and held that spot to the checkered flag.
“Our guys did a great job tonight and have been working their tails off to get better and better,” Custer said. “We ran a good number of laps inside the top 15 and brought home a solid top-20 finish, but this race showed we can go out there and compete.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Michigan International Speedway next weekend for the 15th points race on the schedule, with race coverage set for 2 p.m. ET on Prime.
About Haas Factory Team
The Haas Factory Team is a NASCAR Cup and Xfinity program owned by Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation. Beginning in 2025, the team will feature Cole Custer driving the No. 41 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Cup Series, while Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer take on the Xfinity Series in the No. 00 and No. 41 Ford Mustangs, respectively. Based in Kannapolis, North Carolina, the Haas Factory Team reflects a commitment to performance and engineering excellence, carrying forward Gene Haas’s commitment to motorsports.
