Since 2009, Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) has been a congruous candidate for victories and championships in the NASCAR Cup Series, with drivers like Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, and Kurt Busch penning chapter after chapter of the new-era team’s legacy.
But, after 16 seasons of competing at the highest level of stock car racing, the final chapter will be etched into stone following the November 10 season-finale at Phoenix Raceway.
The organization, co-owned by three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and successful businessman Gene Haas, confirmed on Tuesday that the four-car operation would be closing its doors at the end of 2024.
With that confirmation, the team’s four drivers — Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe, and Ryan Preece – are now left as free agents, while the four charters that sat within the organization will now be up for grabs heading into 2025.
A joint statement from team co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas reads:
“We have made the difficult decision to close Stewart-Haas Racing at the conclusion of the 2024 season. It is a decision that did not come easily, nor was it made quickly. Racing is a labor-intensive, humbling sport. It requires unwavering commitment and vast resources, with a 365-day mindset to be better than everyone else. It’s part of what makes success so rewarding.”
“But the commitment needed to extract maximum performance while providing sustainability is incredibly demanding, and we’ve reached a point in our respective personal and business lives where it’s time to pass the torch. We’re proud of all the wins and championships we’ve earned since joining together in 2009, but even more special is the culture we built and the friendships we forged as we committed to a common cause – winning races and collecting trophies.
That is the same commitment we made to our personnel, our partners and our fans coming into this year, and that commitment will remain through the season finale at Phoenix. “We have tremendous respect and appreciation for all of our employees, and we will work diligently to assist them during this transition to find new opportunities beyond the 2024 race season.”
Stewart-Haas Racing was shaped into its current form in 2009, when Tony Stewart moved on from Joe Gibbs Racing to purchase a 50% ownership stake in Haas CNC Racing, beginning its new era by fielding a pair of entries for Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman.
Since its inception, SHR has fielded entries for several notable drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, including Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Danica Patrick, Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, and multiple others.
In the team’s third season under the Stewart-Haas branding, team co-owner Tony Stewart won the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship historically, winning five of the final 10 races, and tying Carl Edwards in the point standings. Three seasons later, in 2014, the organization captured its second (and most recent) championship at NASCAR’s top level, with Kevin Harvick bringing the newly-formed No. 4 team, led by Rodney Childers, to the title with a walk-off win at Homestead.
During a 16-year tenure in NASCAR’s National Series, Stewart-Haas Racing has managed to collect 100 victories — a milestone they celebrated last Fall at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Riley Herbst. Of those 100 victories, 69 were recorded in the NASCAR Cup Series, 23 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, 2 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and two in the ARCA Menards Series West.
Kevin Harvick, who spent a decade paired with Rodney Childers driving the No. 4, has collected a major share of the organization’s success, securing 37 victories in the NASCAR Cup Series and a sole NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Atlanta in 2018 – in partnership with Biagi Denbeste Racing.
In addition to the team’s long-standing program in the NASCAR Cup Series, Stewart-Haas Racing has also built a championship-winning program in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, which has been in operation since 2017. This season, SHR fields a pair of entries for defending champion Cole Custer and Riley Herbst, while also providing support to smaller teams such as RSS Racing, AM Racing, and the part-time Rette Jones Racing.
All plans for the organization’s four current drivers (Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe, and Ryan Preece) will be announced at a later date, as they are made official, as will the destinations for Stewart-Haas Racing’s four NASCAR Cup Series charters.
