Cole Custer and the No. 41 Ford Mustang team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) welcome back Dixie Vodka and introduce an exciting new product offering as the NASCAR Cup Series visits Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway for the first time for Sunday‘s inaugural Ally 400. Dixie Vodka, the largest premium craft vodka produced in the Southeast, has created a new, ready-to-drink canned cocktail called “Tony‘s Tea” alongside a series of three other canned cocktails from the brand. Tony‘s Tea, named for NASCAR Hall of Famer and SHR co-owner Tony Stewart, features a combination of iced tea and lemonade spiked with Dixie Vodka‘s award-winning flagship Southern Vodka.
Custer and the No. 41 Dixie Vodka Tony‘s Tea Ford for SHR join their Cup Series counterparts for Sunday‘s historic debut at the 1.333-mile concrete oval that hosted NASCAR‘s Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series events from 2001 through 2011. For only the fifth time in 16 races this season, the Cup Series will practice and qualify prior to Sunday‘s main event. A 50-minute practice session is set for 2:05 p.m. EDT Saturday with qualifying set for 11:05 a.m. Sunday.
Sunday‘s race marks the 56th career start for the 23-year-old Custer, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year, and his 29th on an intermediate racetrack. He has one win — last July at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta — and six top-10 finishes in his previous 28 starts on intermediate tracks.
Custer arrives at Nashville 27th in the Cup Series standings, 102 points behind the top-16 cutoff for the NASCAR playoffs, after his 20th-place finish in the most recent points-paying race two weekends ago at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.
— Stewart-Haas Racing —