Gold Line: Cole Custer, 2026 Haas Tooling ZL1

Well, I've picked up my fourth 1/64 from the 2026 Nascar Cup season this week. The subject is Cole Custer's Haas Factory Team Chevy ZL1, sponsored by HaasTooling.com. The car is of course based on the new all-metal chassis which has also been updated to reflect the new nose on all the ZL1s across the Cup field. The No. 41 team is truly on an island these days, and while the team isn't competing for wins, they've been running well as of late. For a closer look at the only Haas F.T. car this year so far, read on...

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Above: Cole Custer shakes down his Haas Factory Team Daytona 500 car during a practice session on February 11, 2026. (Photograph by Joel Bray/Jayski.com).

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The red, white, black, and gray colors of Haas Tooling has been a familiar part of the Nascar Cup field for many years. With the 2024 closure of Stewart Haas Racing, Haas Factory Team emerged from the ashes. The endeavor hasn't really done many noteworthy things since its' inception, but Chevy's Cup program in general has struggled, even with a new nose in 2026. The team has no top 5's or top 10's this season, but as I'm writing this during the Nascar bye week, Custer has stated to put together top 15's. That's a start, and could be indicative of better days ahead. The car itself looks quite good. Lionel Racing has got the design and the colors correct. I will say the rear quarter panel titles look perhaps a bit too angled, but it's a tricky detail to replicate. Glad to have one of these join the collection to represent HFT.

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Sources:
-haasfactoryteam.com
-Jayski.com
-Lionelracing.com
-Nascar.com
-racing-reference.info