What happens to Stewart-Haas Racing’s NASCAR charter numbers? Bob Pockrass gives an explanation

Stewart-Haas Racing, a team that has achieved significant success in the NASCAR Cup Series, will cease its operations at the end of the 2024 season. However, this move raises several questions about the team's charter numbers.

NASCAR introduced the charter system in 2016. The franchise-based model was created to provide better incentives to full-time teams in the series, thereby providing better business certainty and the ability to work closely with the motorsport's governing body. The system also allowed big teams to own a maximum of four cars, making the competition fair for the smaller teams.

Currently, the Gene Haas and Tony Stewart-owned racing team has four charters. Of these four, three charters are likely to be sold to Front Row Motorsports, 23XI Racing, and Trackhouse Racing. Meanwhile, teams such as Legacy Motor Club, RFK Racing, and JTG Daugherty Racing have expressed interest in purchasing the fourth charter.

However, fans also had doubts with regard to the fate of the car numbers and questioned renowned FOX Sports journalist Bob Pockrass with regard to the same on X.

"NASCAR controls the numbers but understands teams have equity in the numbers. If anyone who buys charters wants that number equity, likely would be able to keep it," Pockrass wrote in response.

As of now, there is no confirmation about racing numbers from the teams or NASCAR. However, we can expect more clarity as soon as the deals are finalized.

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A brief look at Stewart-Haas Racing's history

Since its debut in 2009, Stewart-Haas Racing has become a force to be reckoned with in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team has won three championships, two in the Cup Series (2011 and 2014) and one in the Xfinity Series (2023).

The team owns four charters in the Cup Series and has been associated with several drivers, such as John Andretti, Scott Riggs, Kevin Harvick, Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart, Chase Briscoe, Kurt Busch, and a few others. It has 69 Cup Series, 26 Xfinity Series, and one Truck Series victories to its name to date.

However, since the introduction of next-gen cars, the iconic team found it difficult to stay relevant in the sport, unlike its rivals, Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports. Witnessing a steady downfall in the overall performance, co-owners Stewart and Haas decided to shut operations at the end of the current season.

In a statement released earlier this month, the co-owners said: (via sportingnews.com)

"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."

Currently, the team is running Josh Berry (#4), Noah Gragson (#10), Chase Briscoe (#14), and Ryan Preece (#41) in the Cup series. Cole Custer and Riley Herbst represent the team in the Xfinity Series.