Haas Factory Team
Bristol Motor Speedway
NASCAR Cup Series Notes
Race Information
● Event: Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Round 28 of 36)
● Date/Time: Saturday, September 19 | 7:30 p.m. ET
● TV/Radio: USA | Performance Racing Network | SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90)
● Location: Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tennessee
● Layout: 0.533-mile concrete oval
● Laps/Miles: 500 laps/266.5 miles (Stages: 125-125-250)
● Track Activity:
Friday, September 18
Practice
4:30 p.m. ET
TruTV | PRN | SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90)
Qualifying
5:40 p.m. ET
TruTV | PRN | SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (channel 90)
Notes of Interest
● At Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend, Cole Custer’s No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will be adorned with a Texas A&M University livery that features the message “Standing for America”, extending a commemoration that began on campus during Texas A&M’s Red, White and Blue Football Game at Kyle Field a week ago.
● Custer’s Texas A&M Chevrolet will feature a design rooted in Aggie identity and American symbolism. The livery extends Texas A&M’s recent 9/11 tribute at Kyle Field to the track. “United in Remembrance,” accompanied by the years “’01–’26,” incorporates artwork directly from the Red, White and Blue tribute shirts worn by nearly 108,000 fans during the Sept. 12 football game. The design carries forward a visual created for that tribute, connecting the No. 41’s “Standing for America” message with a powerful moment of remembrance and unity shared by the Aggie community.
● Bristol marks the second race of the season where Texas A&M will serve as Haas Factory Team’s primary sponsor. Earlier this season, the Texas A&M car at the Anduril 250 paid tribute to President George H.W. Bush during a weekend celebrating the U.S. Navy’s 250th anniversary at Naval Base Coronado. Bush was one of the youngest naval aviators to serve during World War II. He later became an honorary Aggie who saw his commitment to public service reflected in Texas A&M and chose the university as the home of his presidential library and museum, The Bush School of Government and Public Service, and his final resting place.
● Known as “The Last Great Colosseum,” Bristol Motor Speedway is one of NASCAR’s most distinctive and celebrated venues. It is historic, loud, fast, close, and proudly different. Every fact points back to the same truth: Bristol is not just a race on the calendar. It is one of NASCAR’s great traditions.
● A 0.533-mile concrete oval, the corners at Bristol feature variable banking from 24 to 28 degrees, with the straightaways also banked. That shape gives the track its high-energy rhythm: fast enough to feel huge, tight enough to keep every lap intense. It is short-track racing turned all the way up.
● While the history of Bristol Motor Speedway dates back to 1961 when the Volunteer 500 marked its first NASCAR Cup Series race, the Tennessee short track staged its first Cup Series night race in August 1978, with Cale Yarborough taking the checkered flag.
● Darrell Waltrip owns the most Bristol Cup Series wins by a driver with 12, including an incredible run of seven straight from 1981-1984.
● Experiencing its own excitement away from the track, Texas A&M University has risen to No. 6 in the world in the American Caldwell 2026–27 Global University Visibility (GUV) Rankings — up 15 spots from 2024. Texas A&M ranks No. 5 among all U.S. universities, No. 2 among U.S. public universities and No. 1 overall in Texas in the 2026–2027 rankings, making it one of the world’s most talked about, searched, visited, followed and watched institutions of higher education.
By the Numbers
● Custer will be making his eighth NASCAR Cup Series start at the track dubbed “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile.” At a facility where beating and banging are a requisite part of racing, Custer has remarkably completed 91% of his laps there and has recorded a top-10 finish, two top-15 starts and only a single DNF (Sept. 2020).
● In his 27 Cup starts this season, Custer has completed 7,009 of a possible 7,361 laps, resulting in an impressive 95.2% lap completion percentage. The California native has also led three laps.
● Custer has six top-10 finishes in eight career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts at Bristol, including a 2024 victory. He also has three career NOAPS poles.
● NASCAR Cup Series teams will use the same left- and right-side Goodyear Racing Eagles at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend that they used in the spring race at the Tennessee track. Each team receives 13 sets of tires for the race weekend (10 new race sets, one qualifying set transferred to the race and two sets for practice). They will also receive four sets of wet weather tires, should conditions warrant.
No. 41 Texas A&M Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Driver and Crew Chief
Driver: Cole Custer
Hometown: Ladera Ranch, California
Crew Chief: Aaron Kramer
Hometown: Wellsville, New York