NASCAR championship-winning team shutting down after 2024

Tony Stewart promised that there would be changes at Stewart-Haas Racing if the team continued to struggle for another season in 2024.

As those struggles continued, rumors emerged that the NASCAR Cup Series team may be looking to sell one or more of their four charters. Then they evolved into rumors that Stewart-Haas Racing could shut down entirely.

Now the Stewart and Gene Haas-owned organization, winners of the 2011 and 2014 Cup Series championships, have confirmed that they will indeed shut down at the end of the 2024 season.

The decision comes less than a year after the team wrapped up their first winless season since becoming Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009, when Stewart joined forces with Haas.

Stewart-Haas Racing shutting down after 16 years

Through the first 14 races of the 2024 season, none of their four drivers or cars are above the playoff cut line, and none of them managed to race their way into the All-Star Race.

This is a team that led the series in wins with 12 in 2018 and 10 in 2020. They have 69 victories total, most recently Kevin Harvick's final victory at Richmond Raceway in August 2022.

The decision brings to the forefront two major questions. First, where do their four charters go? And second, where do the four drivers go?

Front Row Motorsports, 23XI Racing, and Trackhouse Racing Team are said to be the frontrunners to acquire a Stewart-Haas Racing charter. Where the fourth one ends up remains to be seen. Regardless, four charters becoming available at once should effectively reset the charter market, to an extent, after years and years of skyrocketing prices.

As for the drivers, Josh Berry, Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson, and Ryan Preece are now looking for new rides. Berry and Gragson are both in their first year with Stewart-Haas Racing behind the wheel of the No. 4 Ford and No. 10 Ford, respectively. Briscoe is in his fourth season behind the wheel of the No. 14 Ford, and Preece is in his second season behind the wheel of the No. 41 Ford.

With Stewart-Haas Racing no longer competing in the NASCAR Cup Series after the 2024 season, that leaves only two four-car teams: Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. There are rumors that, aside from teams that are "grandfathered in", teams will no longer be allowed to own more than three charters under a new charter agreement.