SPEEDWAY, IN (July 27, 2025) – It was a solid weekend at the Brickyard for the Haas Factory Team. Sam Mayer delivered a strong performance at Indianapolis, leading 32 laps and finishing second after a thrilling late-race surge in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. Teammate Sheldon Creed showed top-five speed and battled through adversity, proving he was a contender before late contact dropped him to 17th. In Sunday’s Cup race, Cole Custer overcame a flat tire and late-race chaos to rally for a 20th-place finish, building momentum with solid speed throughout the day.
Xfinity Series
41 Sam Mayer
Sam Mayer led 32 laps Saturday and came within one spot of pulling off the victory at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He flexed his muscle early, starting from the pole and dominating the opening stage. Mayer led the field throughout the segment and held off a determined challenge from Justin Allgaier to win Stage One.
After pitting between stages, Mayer restarted fourth and spent much of Stage Two battling in the middle of the top 10. He slipped back briefly to eighth around lap 51 but worked his way up to seventh before the stage ended. Though he didn’t lead laps in this segment, Mayer kept the Audibel Ford in striking distance as teams began factoring in changing track conditions and looming weather.
Mayer’s crew delivered a fast pit stop before the final stage, gaining him three spots and setting him up to restart fourth. He quickly jumped to third, but a series of cautions, including several for weather, shuffled the field and created chaotic restarts. After briefly falling to fifth, Mayer capitalized when Allgaier hit the wall while leading, surging to third. On the final restart with four laps to go, he powered past Taylor Gray to take second and held that spot through the checkered flag, scoring a hard-fought runner-up finish.
“Really proud of these guys. They really put the work in the last couple of weeks. We’ve been getting better and better every time we show up at the racetrack,” said Mayer. “This place, we brought a heater for sure.”
00 Sheldon Creed
Sheldon Creed rolled off third at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Saturday and quickly climbed to second behind teammate Sam Mayer. The Haas Factory Team duo controlled the early laps, running nose-to-tail at the front of the field. However, Creed began battling a loose-handling car mid-run, which caused him to drop back a few spots. Despite the handling issues, the Road Ranger Ford stayed inside the top 10 and closed out Stage One in sixth place.
Following a pit stop between stages, Creed restarted 13th for Stage Two and methodically worked his way forward. He picked up a couple of spots to run just outside the top 10, eventually settling into 11th. Creed maintained that position to end the stage and stayed within striking distance heading into the final segment.
Creed’s team gained him one spot on pit road before the final stage, allowing him to restart 10th as the threat of rain loomed. He held position through an early caution and took advantage of a chaotic restart to break into the top eight. Creed steadily advanced, climbing as high as fourth with under 10 laps to go. Unfortunately, he sustained damage in a late-race incident when Austin Hill and Aric Almirola crashed in front of him, leaving Creed with a wounded nose. Though he restarted fourth with four laps remaining, the damage severely impacted the car’s handling and aerodynamics, dropping him to a 17th-place finish.
“A decent day overall,” said Creed. “I was clawing my way back through and keeping our car clean and got caught up in someone else’s mess. I thought we had a good shot at winning, if not, probably a top three or top five. With the nose, torn up at the end, we were super tight and just fell back.”
Cup Series
41 Cole Custer
Cole Custer started 29th for Sunday’s Brickyard 400. The Haas/Autodesk Ford gained a few spots early despite Custer managing a loose racecar. A two-tire stop with an air pressure adjustment was made in hopes of improving balance. Overcoming those obstacles, Custer climbed to 19th by the end of Stage One.
Following a pit stop, Custer restarted Stage Two in 26th and steadily made progress, moving up to 19th by lap 68. However, his momentum was derailed when he suffered a right-rear tire issue on lap 79, which forced him to pit uner green and go a lap down. He finished the stage in 25th, fighting to recover from the setback but still mired in traffic.
In the final stage, Custer restarted 26th and focused on a solid finish after the earlier tire issue. He made slow but steady gains, running 24th with nine laps remaining. After a lengthy red flag the ensuing restart led to another crash, which allowed Custer to get the free pass. On the second overtime restart, Custer managed to pick up several spots in the closing laps and crossed the finish line in 20th.
“Overall, I feel like we had a lot of speed in our car,” said Custer. “We had a tire go down and had to fight back from that and get out lap back. But overall I was really happy with the speed that we had. We just need to keep the momentum going and build our notebook to figure out how to keep it rolling.”
Up Next
The NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series head to Iowa Speedway next weekend. Race coverage for Xfinity is set for 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday on the CW, and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network for the Cup Series.
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.
