The reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion is back to defend his title with the support of a few fellow champs in Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. Custer will sport a bright and vibrant orange Ford Mustang Dark Horse for the first time this season spotlighting NXT on CW and several of its championship-winning wrestlers. Launched by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul “Triple H” Levesque, NXT has aired weekly since 2012 and features the brightest young talent in sports entertainment. Nearly 90 percent of the participants in last year’s WrestleMania were developed under the NXT banner. Led by WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, NXT is popular with younger audiences. WWE Superstars, including Roman Reigns, Seth “Freakin” Rollins and Charlotte Flair, have come up through NXT, a series similar to the Xfinity Series where rising stars attempt to find their way into the elite series of their sport. Many NXT Superstars have gone on to WWE’s main roster and performed on the biggest stage. Kansas will be the first of two races for this partnership, with the second coming on Oct. 26 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This weekend, Custer’s No. 00 Ford Mustang will highlight four of the NXT’s Superstars – on the hood NXT Women’s champion Roxanne Perez and Trick Williams, while the quarter panels will feature NXT Women’s North American champion Kelani Jordan and NXT champion Ethan Page. The No. 00 Stewart-Haas team will also host Jordan and Page at the track for their first NASCAR race this weekend. Custer hopes the NXT Superstars connection this weekend helps him kick off this year’s playoff run with the ultimate result as he seeks to successfully defend his 2023 Xfinity Series title.

— Stewart-Haas Racing —