Mayer Earns Sixth Top Five Finish in 2025 at Texas
Custer Enjoys Best Finish of Season at 1.5-Mile at TMS
Xfinity Series
Sam Mayer restarted on the front row in both overtimes at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon, after a strategic call to run long in the final stage paid off. He was able to secure a fifth-place result, his sixth top-5 finish this season, while Sheldon Creed was collected in an incident on lap 104.
“It’s so frustrating, because we fought so hard today,” Mayer said. “This team worked really hard to get us in that spot at the end, and it’s really unfortunate how that final sequence played out.”
Rain throughout the day on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway forced the cancelation of practice and qualifying for the Xfinity Series. However, with both Haas Factory Team (HFT) Fords towards the top of the points standings entering the race, Sheldon Creed was able to start sixth with Mayer right behind him in seventh.
The lack of practice loomed large at the beginning of Saturday’s 200-lap race, as three cautions flew within the first 20 laps. Creed and Mayer held their track position throughout the first stage, though, gracefully riding the bottom of the track to finish fifth and sixth, respectively.
The No. 00 pit crew was able to gain Creed four spots on pit road at the stage end as the Road Ranger Ford restarted third to begin stage two. Mayer’s team opted for an air pressure adjustment due to tightness through the corners and exited pit road in sixth position.
The second stage ran entirely green, as passing became increasingly difficult with more rubber laid down on the track. Creed remained in third to earn 13 stage points on the afternoon, while Mayer gained a spot and finished the middle segment in fifth to earn 11 stage points at TMS.
Despite a strong showing up to that point, Creed was involved in an incident on lap 104 exiting turn two as he was spun across the track and made contact with the inside wall. The damage sustained from the hit forced the No. 00 out of the race, as he settled for a 36th-place finish.
“I felt like we were a good restart and getting the lead away from having a good shot at winning,” Creed said. “We’re headed in the right direction and I’m really proud of everyone at Haas Factory Team. We’ll take the next couple of weeks to reset, and then come back swinging.”
Mayer pitted under the caution and restarted 22nd, electing to run long in the final stage before their final pit stop. Their strategy paid off, as the Andy’s Ford Mustang cycled to the lead with 44 laps to go, moments before a caution was thrown for a spin on the frontstretch. With only eight cars on the lead lap, Mayer was able to put on fresher tires and restart sixth.
A chaotic end to the race saw three cautions over the final 12 laps, as Mayer once again jumped to the lead after a brilliant move through the middle of a three-wide battle at the front. He restarted on the front row in both overtimes and kept the No. 41 in position to win at the end, despite a fifth-place finish.
Cup Series
Cole Custer overcame adversity all afternoon long, battling with a loose race car in the early stages. However, the No. 41 team continually made changes throughout the course of the race, and had nice long run speed to secure their best finish, 19th, at a mile-and-a-half track this season.
He qualified 20th after a strong practice session on Saturday, but dropped as low as 28th over the short 20-lap run to begin the race. His pit crew was able to gain him five spots under yellow, but the car was not able to turn through the center of the corners as he took home 27th in the opening stage.
Crew chief Aaron Kramer continued calling for changes to push the No. 41 car forward, and they were able to find speed during the long runs. However, just as Custer began laying down some of his fastest laps of the race, an untimely caution towards the end of the second stage forced Custer to settle for 28th.
Despite a spin on pit road and contact from a crash on lap 247, the Red Baron Ford kept grinding forward as the team secured a 19th-place finish. It marked his second-best finish of the season, behind Talladega last Sunday (13th), as the team keeps making positive strides following the off weekend.
“We definitely fought hard all day long and ended up with a decent finish, so there’s something for us to take away this weekend,” Custer said. “There was really good speed in the car, but we just had a few unlucky breaks at the end. We’ll look ahead to next week and see what we can do at Kansas.”
Up Next
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Kansas Speedway next weekend for the 12th race on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, while the Xfinity Series takes the next two weekends off. Race coverage for the Cup series is set for 3 p.m. ET on FS1.
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.
