KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — NASCAR team owner Gene Haas will remain in the top-tier Cup Series and field one car in 2025 in the wake of the decision to shutter the organization he owns with Tony Stewart at the end of this season.
Haas will keep one of the four charters that belong to Stewart-Haas Racing and will operate next season as the Haas Factory Team. He will also run a two-car team on NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series.
Haas did not name any drivers for next season.
“My commitment to motorsports hasn’t changed, just the scope of my involvement,” Haas said. “Operating a four-car 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.”
Stewart-Haas Racing is a two-time Cup Series championship team with 69 race victories since its 2009 formation. SHR this year fields Cup Series cars for Josh Berry, Chase Briscoe, Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece.
Front Row Motorsports said last month it purchased a charter that will expand the NASCAR team to three cars in the Cup Series in 2025. Front Row did not reveal the seller, but the announcement came one day after SHR said it would be shutting down.
NASCAR’s charter system guarantees entry into all 36 Cup Series races each season and thus guarantees revenue from the circuit’s television package through participation.
Haas founded Haas CNC Racing in 2002, and the California businessman lured Stewart in as a driver and co-owner ahead of the 2009 season. Stewart had won two Cup Series championships for Joe Gibbs Racing at the time, but couldn’t turn down an equity stake and opportunity to help a small team contend for titles.
Stewart in his 2009 debut season gave the rebranded team its first Cup Series victory — he won four races that year — and its first title in 2011. Kevin Harvick added the second championship for SHR in 2014.
Haas spends most of his time with his Formula 1 team and Stewart is driving a full NHRA schedule, making both absentee owners at NASCAR events. The 71-year-old Haas was also ill for much of last year.
The NASCAR team is primarily run by Joe Custer, the chief operating officer and longtime Haas confidant. His son, Cole Custer, won the Xfinity Series championship last year for SHR.
Custer will remain president of the Haas Factory Team, which will operate out of the existing SHR facility in Kannapolis.