When it comes to silly season in NASCAR, it usually is about a driver. Now there’s news about a whole team. On Tuesday Stewart-Hass Racing announced that it will be closing its doors after the 2024 season.
SHR closing its door is shocking and not surprising at the same time. There had been rumors on social media about people not knowing what Stewart-Hass Racing’s future would be. It appears that owner Gene Hass is focused on other businesses, like his Formula One team, and co-owner Tony Stewart is more focused on NHRA after starting a NHRA team.
“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,” Hass and Stewart said in a statement. “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.”
Hass has fielded cars in the NASCAR Cup Series since 2002. Stewart joined forces with Hass in 2009 to form SHR. In 2017 SHR expanded to have two Xfinity Series team where they have won 22 races and two championships. In the Cup Series SHR has won 69 races and two championships. However SHR a has struggled in recent years as they haven’t won a Cup Series race since August 2022. SHR also lost two sponsorships and was going to lose its Ford support at the end of the year.
So what will happen now to SHR’s drivers Josh Berry, Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, and Ryan Preece? SHR has four charters that they could sell, and at least three of them will go to existing Cup teams, one to Front Row Motorsports, one to 23XI Racing, and one to Trackhouse Racing, according to Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports. Berry, Briscoe , and Gragson will probably go to those teams. As for Preece he could go to Spire Motorsports, or Kaulig Racing, or Rick Ware racing , or Legacy Motor Club as those look like his only options.
SHR closing is sad and bad for Nascar. SHR was one of the big teams and was very successful. Now there will be one less team in the sport and that’s not good for the sport because the more teams the better. However with SHR a going away it opens the door for a new team to join the sport in the future.
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