Folks, it’s always upsetting to have veteran teams exit NASCAR. Recently, there have been quite a few who left, starting with BR Racing filing for bankruptcy in 2018. Co-owner Ron Devine was accused of allegedly fiddling with the team’s money for personal gains, leading to a lot of lawsuits and eventually their exit from the sport. Then there was Johnny Davis‘s JD Motorsports, the team that debuted in the Xfinity Series in the early ’80s. But in 2024, they had over $400,000 in debt. Then, the one that shook the NASCAR community the most was when last year, Stewart Haas Racing announced its closure. And folks, now another NASCAR team might be calling it quits!

But before we get to that, Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, in their joint statement, had said NASCAR needs “unwavering commitment and vast resources.” This is true; NASCAR is a capital-heavy sport. According to some reports, it takes $18 million-$20 million to run one team in the Cup Series per year. And SHR was running 4 teams at the time, so you can do the math. But SHR had the capital and the sponsors’ backing to a large extent. And they were a successful team, bagging three championships between 2002-2024. But for back-marker teams, such an amount is massive. And that’s probably the story of the next team in NASCAR to hang their helmet.

Mike Harmon Racing might be shutting down!

Look, we know MHR is a part-time Xfinity Series team, and they aren’t putting in $20 million each year. But still, for a backmarker team, always struggling to find sponsors, even a million dollars is huge! And the team that debuted in the Xfinity Series in 2007 has seen a lot of ups and downs. However, they could never really cement their place in the series. In 411 starts, including three this season so far, they have only bagged two top 10s. And there is no official confirmation of their shutdown. Thanks to their poor stats, there is a high possibility of this being true. And there’s also the deleted X post, making everyone even more suspicious.

Here’s what we know so far. ARCA Journalist Colby Evans posted on X, “#74 Dawson Cram has withdrawn from this weekends Xfinity Event at Bristol MHR Coming off 3 straight DNQs.” And to this, there was a reply, which now stands deleted. But a fan shocked by this tagged MHR’s official account and responded, “@MHR_racing74 please say this isn’t true.” To which MHR had a one-word reply: “Unfortunately.”

And then the X page ‘ARCA News Central’ was quick to pick it up. In their reply to MHR’s X post, they wrote,

“Unfortunately, the rumor is true. RIP Mark Harmon Racing. We will miss you.” And one other fan asked ANC about the ‘deleted reply’, to which they wrote, “Alex Malycke (part-time ARCA driver) stated that MHR was planning to shutdown in a week or something like that.” So, while we don’t have an official MHR press release, it seems to be true.

Also, look at their stats. They ran seven races last season, out of which 4 were DNFs. In 2022, 7 out of their 11 races were DNFs. Rather, the team, over the years, has had over 200 DNFs. That’s half the number of starts they have made. It was probably becoming tough to sustain, and the team took this call. And it’s sad that the option of shutting down has crossed their minds many times in the past. But there was always one man, Mike Harmon, who never stopped believing.

If you recall, the team owner, during their best years, had said,

“We’ve surprised everybody so far this year, and we’re not done, we’re not done.” It’s sad to see that they are probably done now. We won’t see that unwavering spirit on the race track anymore!

Remembering the best years of Mike Harmon Racing

It started in 2019. The team got their first top 20 finish after 5 years, the last came in 2013 before this. In 2019, it was Nicolas Hammann finishing 15th at Road America. And it was also their first top 15 finish ever! And entering 2020, MHR decided to field two full-time cars for the first time in a season. The team got 22 top 20s, with five top 15s. Naturally, Harmon was on the moon. For him, he had achieved what he had set out for. And for a backmarker team to be this consistent in a season was impressive.

Harmon, speaking on their runs in 2020, had said, “It says we know what we’re doing,. It just takes so much funding to have what you need to do it correctly and competitively. There’s a lot knowledge here. I’ve been racing all my life.” And the team was already having their best season in NASCAR, but then Kyle Weatherman gave them a P8 finish in Kentucky. And folks, if you recall the race, this was no fluke; it was actually a hard-fought top-10 finish. A well-deserved one!

And this was massive for the team’s morale. “It was real big because we beat some big-money cars, and that’s a good feeling to do that. That’s why we’re there. We’re competitive people, and we want to be competitive on the track. … We definitely won our race that day,” Harmon had said. And then the team also fielded two drivers for 2021. That year, Harmon himself also entered a race in the #74. And this also is the year Bayley Currey at the Phoenix Raceway got a P7, the team’s best finish to date. And if the rumor is true, this would be the team’s last top-10 performance as well.

Anyway, after 2021, MHR was reduced to only a part-time team. While the small wins were satisfying for Harmon, they probably weren’t for the sponsors, and without funding, you cannot run one full-time team, let alone two. And ever since then, the team hasn’t bounced back or shown any speed on the track. And now we probably would never see them.

Folks, what are your memories of MHR? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.