Did You Notice? … At the end of 2024, Tony Stewart will no longer have an official role with any team or track operating within NASCAR’s top three series.
His looming departure from the sport became official with Tuesday’s (May 28) news his six-car Stewart-Haas Racing operation (four NASCAR Cup Series cars, two in the NASCAR Xfinity Series) will shut down effective the end of the season.
For Stewart, who was reportedly emotional as he broke the news to the 300-person strong operation, the writing has been on the wall for months. Stewart hasn’t been seen at the track other than the Daytona 500, the 53-year-old focused on his NHRA driving career and starting a family with wife Leah Pruett.
When SHR closes down effective at the end of the year, it will cap a phenomenal stock car racing career for Stewart. As a driver, he’s got 49 Cup wins, three Cup championships and two Brickyard 400 victories at his hometown track (Indianapolis Motor Speedway).
But Stewart, a NASCAR Hall of Famer, could also have qualified based on what he’s done as an owner. Since partnering with Gene Haas in 2009, the organization has won 69 races, two Cup championships (Stewart in 2011 & Kevin Harvick in 2014) and the 2017 Daytona 500 with Kurt Busch. They’re also in the books for the first victory after COVID-19 suspended racing in 2020, with Harvick emerging victorious in front of the empty grandstands at Darlington Raceway.
Let’s try and answer all the questions out there with as much information as we know.
Why Did Stewart and Gene Haas choose to shut down?
In their statement, the co-owners claimed, “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.”
On the surface, it’s really that simple. Stewart has had other priorities for several years now, dabbling with the SRX Racing project from 2021-23 while falling in love with, marrying and then committing to a family with drag racer Pruett. Haas, 71 years old, has been ill at times over the past year and turned his focus toward a Formula 1 program that has struggled to find its competitive footing.
One might say the seeds have been planted in other ways over the past few years. One by one, the team’s lost out on sponsors, a trend that accelerated this past offseason with the departure of Smithfield Foods…
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