Custer’s WWE NXT Ford Comes Home in Second at Homestead

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

The pro wrestling sponsorship curse lives on after Cole Custer brought the No. 00 NXT on The CW Ford Mustang home in second during Saturday’s Credit One NASCAR AMEX Credit Card 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Custer led 67 of 200 laps before Austin Hill, who led a race-high 82 laps, out ran the defending series champion during the final stretch of green flag competition.

With 12 laps remaining, Hill passed Custer before entering the final corner and never looked back as he scored a career equal fourth win of the season. More importantly, he punched his ticket into the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks.

“We did some things to our car to make it better but that 21 car on the long run really had it together today,” said Custer after the race. “We will move on to the next one. I feel good about Martinsville.”

For the second time this season, Custer sported WWE’s NXT brand in the Xfinity Series. Only this time, it was the newly revamped black and silver look compared to the orange and white colors Custer drove at Kansas Speedway. A race where Custer also finished second last month.

Prior to the 300-mile race, Custer appeared on NXT last Tuesday where he partnered up with Hank Walker and Tank Ledger. Even playing a role in costing OTM’s Bronco Nima and Lucien Price the match with Nima getting a taste of Custer’s helmet.

From there, the duo double teamed Nima with Ledger taking the pin fall victory.

Afterwards, Custer, Walker, and Ledger all shared a dancing moment with Miami native Lola Vice.

“It’s just been fun. I think showing your personality a little bit and going to that NXT, WWE match was really cool,” Custer on his NXT appearance during Friday’s press conference.

“Just some really awesome people and everybody made you feel really welcome. It was definitely a really cool once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Once the fun and games were had, it was business as usual for “Stone Cole” as he’d hope to have left Florida with a Championship 4 berth and bringing a win for the WWE Universe.

Instead, Custer can only look at the winner doing burnouts as a third win this season will have to wait another week.

Prior to the final stint, Custer explained his car ran well that no changes were needed on his Stewart-Haas Racing machine. However, Hill had his number and ended up winning by over three seconds. Thus, he’ll have a bit of work to do at Martinsville as he’s 28 points to the good of possibly fighting for another series title before moving back to the Cup Series in 2025.

“We just got pretty loose that run,” said Custer. “I don’t know if we got that much worse but the 21 I think got way better than what they were the run before. I hate it. We had NXT and CW on the car and I wish we got them a win. Points-wise, I think we will be in a solid spot, and we just have to go into Martinsville with everything we’ve got.”

Aside from a GameStop tie-in sponsorship with Kyle Busch and Joey Logano sporting SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 on their cars at Texas in 2009, a WWE primary sponsored car has yet to win in NASCAR’s national touring divisions. The last time a pro wrestling company sponsored a winning car in NASCAR was at Talladega in 1996 when Greg Sacks scored an Xfinity Series victory for World Championship Wrestling (WCW).

Heading into Martinsville, Custer sits fourth in points and expects the race to be crazy as six Playoff drivers are fighting for two Championship 4 spots.

“It is going to be crazy. No matter what it is always going to be crazy,” said Custer. “We have to bring our best stuff there because you never know who is going to win. We just have to go out there and I think being the team that we are, we will be in the fight.”