After sixteen years of competitive racing, the championship triumph, and fond memories, Stewart Haas Racing decided to end its NASCAR chapter in 2024. Tony Stewart and Gene Haas mutually decided to part ways and sell their four charters. This announcement came early in the year, in May, and it did send shockwaves across the racing community.

There were a lot of talks about a comeback and redemption story from the SHR camp. Stewart was the one leading the charge, but once they announced the team’s departure, he became the target of criticism. One of the big complaints was the number of families affected by this decision. Close to 232 employees were reported to be laid off with the exit of SHR.

Fans on social media platforms criticized Smoke and questioned his commitment to NASCAR and his employees. However, he’s now come out and responded to those allegations and clarified why he came to that conclusion.

The final goodbye to the SHR employees wasn’t easy for Tony Stewart

NASCAR has seen a flurry of teams enter the sport, run for a few years, and leave after a few years. However, SHR wasn’t a backmarker team; they had the hunger and the vision to compete against the best, and that is what they did. During their tenure, they won two championships and bagged 70 Cup victories to their name. In a true sense, they were a powerhouse team of the last decade, but unfortunately, they couldn’t sustain and thrive in the changing landscape of the sport.

SHR had a fall from grace, and when the team decided to exit the sport, the fingers started to point at Tony Stewart and how he treated his team. His lack of involvement with the team and loss of jobs became big talking points. For the most part, Stewart refrained from addressing these accusations, but he’s now hit back at his critics and social media racing experts.

“There were a lot of reasons why we had to do this, and it’s not fun. It’s not fun when you have so many friendships in that building in SHR. Literally, there were people that I saw on Monday after Talladega that I will most likely never ever get a chance to see again, and that really hurts… I got so blamed for people losing their jobs, where there’s companies left and right that shut down.” Stewart said this to Bob Pockrass.

He also highlighted that almost 80% of employees working at SHR found a new home. And the ownership group took care of them with a severance package. “We did what we did to take care of our people, and we created great severance packages for them to take care of their families. The announcement was to give all these guys an opportunity throughout the season to secure new jobs for next year, and it was really successful, I would say. 80% of the employees that are at SHR have found homes for next year, and that was the goal.”

It looked like Stewart Haas Racing would bow out of NASCAR on a low with the early announcement. However, Chase Briscoe in Stewart’s famous #14 car made sure they had good memories to look back on from their last season.

Briscoe making the playoffs was a huge boost for SHR

Trending

Chevy Prodigy Loses NASCAR Seat, Fans Allege Ignorance to Kyle Busch’s Daytona Setback Behind It

Michael Jordan’s Opponent’s Warning Comes True as Roger Penske Shuts Down NASCAR’s Infiltration

Joey Logano Leaks NASCAR’s Threat to Kick Teams Out of Daytona 500 After Chevy’s Defiance to $400,000 Fine

NASCAR Rumor: Despite Lawsuit Uncertainty, Tony Stewart’s Veteran Eyeing FRM Switch After Noah Gragson’s Lead

Brad Keselowski’s Trump Card Move Could Be a Career-Altering Transfer for Tony Stewart’s Underwhelming Driver

With the departures of Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola, SHR was in need of a new leader who could overturn the team’s misfortunes on the track. With the addition of Noah Gragson and Josh Berry, the team certainly added more depth to the roster, but the responsibility fell on Chase Briscoe’s shoulders. For someone who’s shy and reserved, this was indeed a big undertaking in testing times, but he certainly delivered the goods.

He saved the best for the last as he clinched just his second Cup at the Southern 500, which was the regular season finale, and locked the #14 team in the playoffs. For a team that was desperate for a positive light, this was indeed a huge result. He did clear the first round of the playoffs, but a mechanical failure at Charlotte Roval ended his spirited run.

“Obviously the last couple of years have been a huge struggle in just trying to get the car in the winners circle. But to see Chase get that done at Darlington, win a crown jewel race in getting himself in the playoffs that was a huge boost for the building… That kid wears his emotions on his sleeves like I did but has driven his butt off to get where he got and just unfortunately didn’t payoff in the playoffs like we had hoped, but this is an end of an era,” Stewart added.

SHR fans can choose to support the single-car team, the Haas Factory Team, in the Cup Series. At the same time, his loyal fans would flock to NHRA Top Fuel and hope for another championship in a different discipline of motor racing.