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Stewart-Haas Racing co-owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas announced Tuesday they will shut the team down at the end of the 2024 season, ceasing operations after over 20 years as a NASCAR Cup Series team and 16 in partnership together. The team will sell off its assets, including the four Cup Series charters it holds, and all of its drivers and crew members will become free agents.

News of Stewart-Haas Racing ceasing operations comes after several weeks after reports that its future as an organization was in doubt.

"Racing is a labor-intensive, humbling sport. It requires unwavering commitment and vast resources, with a 365-day mindset to be better than everyone else. It's part of what makes success so rewarding," read a joint statement from Stewart and Haas. "But 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."

Haas CNC Racing first entered NASCAR in 2002 and went full-time in Cup starting in 2003, but it wasn't until the organization lured Tony Stewart as both driver and co-owner that it reached the heights it eventually would. Stewart-Haas Racing would become one of NASCAR's most powerful teams in the 2010s, winning two Cup championships -- one with Stewart in 2011 and another with Kevin Harvick in 2014 -- to go with 69 wins, including the 2017 Daytona 500 with Kurt Busch, and many other achievements along the way. The team also won 26 times in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and last year's series championship with Cole Custer.

However, the performance of Stewart-Haas began to suffer in recent years, particularly as its leadership became less present while focusing on affairs in other racing series. While Gene Haas pursued Formula 1 ownership in fielding Haas F1 Team, Stewart became much more intimately involved with his NHRA team as both an owner and a driver. That correlated with SHR becoming less competitive, and the 2023 season saw their four cars fail to win a single Cup race.

According to Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports, the expectation is that three of Stewart-Haas' four charters will be acquired by Front Row Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing and 23XI Racing, respectively. Meanwhile, its four Cup drivers -- Josh Berry, Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece -- will all have to seek new rides for next season, along with Xfinity Series drivers Custer and Riley Herbst.