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Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), one of the premier racing teams in NASCAR, will not be on the Cup grid after the 2024 season. The Tony Stewart-led team, which has claimed 69 checkered flags, along with two Cup titles in NASCAR’s top-tier series since its formation in 2009, will shut down at the end of the year, co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas announced on Tuesday (May 28).
Recent years have been tough for SHR, as they have struggled to find success in the Next Gen era, falling down compared to big NASCAR teams like Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing.
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The failure of the competition was due to the indifference of the sponsoring organizations.
Tony Stewart’s team has lost two major sponsors, Smithfield and Anheuser-Busch, ahead of the current season. SHR and Ford are also set to part ways at the conclusion of the 2024 NASCAR season, and without Ford’s backing, continuing in NASCAR would be difficult for the team.
The three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Tony Stewart and Haas Automation founder Gene Haas have appeared to be focusing on other aspects of their businesses in recent years.
Haas has invested in F1 team in recent years, while Stewart started an NHRA drag racing team with his wife, who drove last year, and Stewart is driving his eponymous team this year.
What SHR co-owners said about shutting down its doors at the end of the 2024 season
Rumors have been circulating about SHR’s exit from the sport for a year. Team co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas made it official on Tuesday afternoon by releasing a joint statement on social media regarding the future of the team and explaining their decision to shutter the four-car Cup operation.
In a statement, co-owners Stewart and Gene Haas said:
“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.”
SHR competes full-time in the Cup Series and the Xfinity Series. The team fields four cars in the Cup Series: the #4 (Josh Berry), the #10 (Noah Gragson), the #14 (Chase Briscoe) and the #41 (Ryan Preece). Meanwhile, the organization also employed Xfinity drivers Cole Custer and Riley Herbst.
With Stewart-Haas Racing's decision to shut down operations in NASCAR, their drivers' future is uncertain.
