NASCAR: New Cup team set for 2025 driver announcement

Stewart-Haas Racing recently confirmed that they will be shutting down at the end of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, leaving all four of their current drivers in pursuit of new rides for next year.

Front Row Motorsports plan to acquire one of the team's four charters and expand to three cars, and 23XI Racing and Trackhouse Racing Team are both said to be looking to do the same.

However, team co-owner Gene Haas later confirmed that he plans to retain the other charter and compete full-time with a one-car Haas Factory team.

Three of the Stewart-Haas Racing's four Cup Series drivers have already found new rides for 2025.

Chase Briscoe is set to move to Joe Gibbs Racing to replace the retiring Martin Truex Jr., Josh Berry set to move to Wood Brothers Racing to replace Harrison Burton, and Noah Gragson set to move to Front Row Motorsports, either to replace the Spire Motorsports-bound Michael McDowell or to occupy the team's new third entry.

The team's other driver, Ryan Preece, has not yet confirmed his plans for the 2025 season and remains a free agent.

But Haas Factory Team have long been expected to go in a different direction and instead promote Cole Custer from the Xfinity Series.

Custer, whose father Joe is currently a Stewart-Haas Racing executive and is set to run the new Haas Factory Team, competed for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Xfinity Series for three seasons before he was promoted to their Cup Series team in 2020.

But after struggling in the Cup Series for the better part of three years, he was sent back down to the Xfinity Series in 2023. He won the 2023 championship and is the current points leader, so a return to the top level could very well be warranted. And now is the perfect time for it.

The 26-year-old Ladera Ranch, California native has long been sponsored by Haas's companies, and given the fact that Haas referenced his desire to continue to promote Haas Automation and Haas Tooling among the reasons for retaining one of Stewart-Haas Racing's four charters, bringing Custer back to the Cup Series makes sense.

Custer is set to announce his plans on Saturday morning ahead of the Xfinity Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Xfinity Series race at the Speedway, Indiana track's four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) oval since 2019.

It is expected that the entry will either be numbered No. 00, which is Custer's number in the Xfinity Series, or No. 41, the Cup Series entry currently driven by Preece which has relied heavily on Haas primary sponsorship.

Stewart-Haas Racing's other Xfinity Series driver, Riley Herbst, is expected to be signed by 23XI Racing to be their third driver, should they indeed expand next year.