For Stewart-Haas Racing, the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season marked the end of an era. Its all-time winningest driver in Kevin Harvick retired at season’s end, while Aric Almirola moved on to Joe Gibbs Racing’s NASCAR Xfinity Series program for 2024 after a six-year tenure in SHR’s No. 10 car.
Half the lineup has departed, and after SHR’s first-ever winless season in Cup, the team has to reinvent itself.
For while 2023 may be the end of era, 2024 is the chance to start a new one.
SHR began the new year on social media with a marketing campaign that culminated with the revelation of new logos and branding on Jan. 8.
But what the team has yet to reveal, however, is new sponsorship deals for incoming drivers Josh Berry and Noah Gragson.
Sponsorship for SHR in a post-Harvick world was a question mark from the moment that Harvick announced his retirement. As the 10th-winningest driver in Cup history, he had accumulated plenty of sponsors — sponsors that weren’t going to stick around once he hung up the helmet.
The first domino fell on July 11 of last year, as it was announced that Anheuser-Busch’s Busch Light sponsorship would move to Ross Chastain and Trackhouse Racing for 2024.
The second came a month ago when Hunt Brothers Pizza left SHR to enter a partnership with Joey Logano and Team Penske.
Co-owner Tony Stewart did not name any sponsors for the No. 4 car at the announcement of Berry’s signing on June 21, 2023, and the team has yet to name any sponsors for Berry on social media since the start of the offseason. In a recent photoshoot, equipment from the No. 4 team was still devoid of logos.
But there’s only 24 days left until the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. To outside observers, it’s a concerning to not have any deals announced by this point.
For the No. 10, Almirola’s departure meant his longtime sponsor in Smithfield left with him. The company sponsored 30 of the 36 points-paying Cup races last season, and that is a huge hole for SHR to fill in an era when full-season sponsorships have run dry.
A replacement still looks to be a work in progress for the No. 10 team. Gragson did his December SHR photoshoot in a black fire suit with no sponsors, and there hasn’t been any word since.
The one deal that SHR has announced over the…
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