Cole Custer will not run in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Focused Health 250 at EchoPark Speedway this weekend after his team announced early Friday that the 2023 champ will not be among the field of 38. Custer, who primarily runs in the NASCAR Cup Series with Haas Factory Team, piloting the No. 41 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, has had five total starts in O’Reilly so far this season at Charlotte, Pocono, Las Vegas, Kansas, and most recently at Chicagoland.
This means primary driver Garrett Smithley will shift gears back to the No. 0 SS GreenLight Racing entry for the remainder of the season. Now Custer has more breathing room to focus on the Cup Series as he’s had a rocky season and currently sits 160 points outside the playoff cutline and ranks 33rd in overall standings behind Kaulig’s Ty Dillon. But it’s inevitable that he won’t make the cutline for playoff contention. However, he’ll at least be far removed from the stresses of his usual double duty, but it seems this could be too little too late.
Stats don’t lie, and for a driver who hasn’t had a single win, pole, top ten, or top 5 this season, and has an average start and finish on the borderline of 26th, there’s one question that seems to be running through the minds of weekly onlookers: Is the Cup Series treating him as well as O’Reilly? The Cup Series can be frustrating because there’s no room for error, and consistency is a must. Those two factors alone are pivotal to success in Cup, and that’s where many drivers who transition to the national stage run into trouble.
Since the start of the 2026 season, Custer has run into issues on the track, whether due to grip issues on restarts, pit-cycle mishaps, or late-race mechanical problems. Chicagoland told a big part of that story and ultimately resulted in a daunting P31 finish, dropping him by 217 points. Compared across his five O’Reilly starts, he earned 3 top-10s and averaged a start of 27.6 and a finish of 10.8, which is better, but there is still room for improvement.
These starts certainly tested Custer, yet the plan was never for him to run a full-season program, but to gain extra seat time. Perhaps he will add more O’Reilly starts in 2027, though there is no recent news to suggest he will be returning to the series. Smithley, on the other hand, has had a much better season out of his ten starts. His most promising finish was at EchoPark Speedway in early February, where he finished P14 and earned 513 points, so he steps back into the O’Reilly Garage in the No. 0 just in time to make a statement.
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