When Cole Custer returns to the NASCAR Cup Series next season for the inaugural campaign for Haas Factory Team, it will come with Aaron Kramer calling the shots as crew chief.
Kramer currently serves as lead engineer for the Roush Fenway Keselowski No. 17 for Chris Buescher. The hiring of Kramer tracks as Haas Factory Team will have a technical alliance with RFK.
Kramer has been with RFK since 2016, starting as an electrical and data systems engineer overseeing 8-post simulation to lead engineer on the No. 60 Xfinity Series car in 2018 shared by Austin Cindric, Ty Majeski and Chase Briscoe.
Kramer was promoted to Cup in 2019, working as the secondary race engineer for driver Ryan Newman at the Roush Fenway No. 6 before moving to the No. 17 team in 2021 with Buescher.
Kramer was on the pit box for Buescher’s first victory for RFK at Bristol before becoming lead engineer in 2023. He’s since won three more races with Buescher and helped lead their career best seventh place championship finish last season.
Now Kramer will lead his own team.
“Aaron’s engineering pedigree and his history with RFK Racing are great assets for Haas Factory Team. We’re proud to have him join our team,” said Joe Custer, president, Haas Factory Team. “NASCAR, and the Cup Series in particular, has become very engineering-driven. Limited track time and the nuances of the NextGen car have put a premium on simulation and data, and to really maximize all that information, you need people who can apply that information to the car and work closely with the driver to fine-tune the car. Aaron is that person, and we’re confident he can build a team of like-minded people who will have our race team ready to go for 2025.”
Kramer graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2016 and has spent his entire adult life in racing. He worked for Bob and Brian Keselowski in 2010, Max-Q Motorsports in 2011 and even worked with Buescher at JTG Racing as a front end mechanic while in college.
He joined Penske Technology Group in 2016 working on the 7-post simulator for Penske’s Cup and IndyCar programs.
“This is a great opportunity and I’m very grateful for it,” Kramer said. “I’ve been working toward the crew chief position since I was racing go-karts in high school. It’s a proud moment to have it come with Haas Factory Team. Their alliance with RFK makes the learning curve a little less steep because I’m very familiar with the people and processes at RFK.
“Having Cole as the driver is a huge asset. He’s highly motivated and dedicated to his craft. He puts in the time away from the track so that he’s ready every time he climbs into the racecar. That’s what you want as a crew chief. We’re going to push each other and support each other to get the best results possible.”