NASCAR Cup Series
Toby's Take: When One Door Closes, Another Opens
May 31, 2024
While Stewart-Haas Racing will be no more at the conclusion of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, Gene Haas will remain a team owner in the sport. On Thursday, Haas announced that he will retain one of the four Charters from Stewart-Haas Racing to field a new entity named the Haas Factory Team.
In addition to the one-car NASCAR Cup Series program, the Haas Factory Team will also field two NASCAR Xfinity Series cars, and the organization has named Joe Custer, who is the current Chief Operating Officer of Stewart-Haas Racing, as its president. The new organization will run out of the current Stewart-Haas Racing shop in Kannapolis, North Carolina.
Haas, 71, says that he is still committed to the motorsports space, and loves the NASCAR Cup Series platform as a space to promote his Haas Automation company.
"My commitment to motorsports hasn't changed, just the scope of my involvement," Haas said in a press release. "Operating a four-car [NASCAR] Cup Series team has become too arduous but, at the same time, I still need a platform to promote Haas Automation and grow HaasTooling.com."
Haas continued, “Maintaining my presence in Cup allows Haas Automation to compete at NASCAR’s highest level, which is important to our customers and distributors. The Xfinity Series program provides a full weekend experience for our guests, and it delivers added depth and scale to our overall operation.”
While Haas announced his intentions to continue operating as a NASCAR Cup Series team owner in 2025, the release did not include any drivers, sponsorship partners or a manufacturer allegiance.
Prior to joining forces with Tony Stewart to form Stewart-Haas Racing heading into the 2009 NASCAR Cup Series season, Haas fielded the Haas CNC Racing team in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2002 until 2008.
In 284 starts, the Haas CNC team recorded one top-five finish and 14 top-10s.
From 2009 until now, Stewart-Haas Racing has amassed 69 victories and two championships in the NASCAR Cup Series. The organization also has 22 wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and Cole Custer took home the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship a year ago.
Photo Credit: Nigel Kinrade, NKP for Ford Performance
