Haas Factory Team announced Saturday at Iowa Speedway that Dean Thompson will drive for the organization’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series program in 2027, but the bigger news of the morning was what wasn’t announced.
Haas Factory Team — which is in its second season as a single-car NASCAR Cup Series team since Stewart-Haas Racing shuttered at the end of 2024 — isn’t selling its Cup Series charter, which would be very valuable.
With driver Cole Custer behind the wheel, the team has been off the pace over the last two years. Custer enters Sunday’s race at Iowa Speedway 30th in the Cup Series standings with only two top-10 finishes through 22 races.
Haas Factory Team committed to Cup Series
“We have unfinished business in the Cup Series as Haas Factory Team,” said HFT COO Joe Custer. “We are dead committed. Gene Haas is an F1 owner and a NASCAR Cup owner, and also an O’Reilly owner, and we intend to keep it that way. His business is strong. He’s a friend, a mentor and also a passionate racer.
“We are going to try to figure out Cup as a single-car team. We got a ways to go. But stay tuned. Because we’re not happy, We’re happy with what the trend has been recently. GM believes in us. Our owner believes in us. Our partners believe in us. Our driver believes in us. We’ve got some cool things happening on the Cup side. We really have no interest, frankly, in expanding to a multi-car team. We have more interest in becoming closer and closer to GM and our technical partner. That’s our vision.”
With the addition of Thompson to the team’s 2027 NOAPS lineup, HFT will field three O’Reilly Series entries in 2027, though it’s yet to be confirmed that Sam Mayer and Sheldon Creed will return to the team next season.
Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.