What’s Happening?

A bombshell report from Adam Stern on Tuesday says that industry sources anticipate that Stewart-Haas Racing could sell one or “multiple” charters. If that does happen, drivers will be let go, but, which ones are the most likely to go? We take a hard look at all 4 SHR drivers.

Stewart-Haas Racing May Be Selling Charters

• Stewart-Haas Racing has won two Cup Series Championships and 69 wins since Tony Stewart bought into the team as an owner-driver in 2009. Unfortunately, the team has not won a race since the summer of 2022. 2023 was their first winless season since Stewart bought into the team.
• Rumors of selling charters were further fueled when Jordan Bianchi reported in early March that SHR was likely to leave Ford. SHR is currently a “Tier One” Ford team, but Ford just brought Front Row Motorsports into the fray, leaving SHR’s status in question.
• Fans are already speculating about what selling charters looks like for SHR. For teams to expand, a charter is basically an unwritten requirement.

Chase Briscoe

Season	Starts	Wins	Top-5s	Top-10s	Laps Led	Avg. Finish	Points Position
2024	7	0	0	2	1	16.4	18th
SHR Totals/Averages	115	1	10	23	483	18.9	20.0

Chase Briscoe seems like the safest bet to stay at SHR. Of all current SHR drivers, he has the best statistical resume, including being the only driver who has won a Cup Series race. He is also a homegrown SHR prospect with significant funding from companies like Mahindra Tractors and HighPoint.com. It seems very unlikely that Briscoe will be cut loose from the team.

Noah Gragson

Season	Starts	Wins	Top-5s	Top-10s	Laps Led	Avg. Finish	Points Position
2024	7	0	0	2	5	20.4	30th
SHR Totals/Averages	7	0	0	2	5	20.4	30.0

Noah Gragson is an interesting case should SHR decide to sell multiple charters, but he’s safer than some might think. While Gragson does not bring as much funding as Briscoe does, he still managed to keep Black Rifle Coffee and bring in Bass Pro Shops for the 2024 season. Add to that a solid start to 2024, minus the penalty at Atlanta, and you have a young driver who oozes potential. That’s tough to walk away from, but again, funding might be a concern.

Josh Berry

Season	Starts	Wins	Top-5s	Top-10s	Laps Led	Avg. Finish	Points Position
2024	7	0	0	0	28	22.6	23rd
SHR Totals/Averages	7	0	0	0	28	22.6	23.0

Josh Berry is a tough one to figure out if SHR sells multiple charters. He’s still a Cup Series rookie, and he’s shown flashes of potential so far this season. It’s hard to cut ties with someone after just one season, but from a business perspective, it’s tough to see SHR getting more value out of Berry than Gragson. Berry is nearly 8 years older than Gragson, who’s currently outperforming Berry, and Berry brought no funding with him to SHR. If going against one or two young drivers with potential and funding behind them, Berry is likely the odd one out.

Ryan Preece

Season	Starts	Wins	Top-5s	Top-10s	Laps Led	Avg. Finish	Points Position
2024	7	0	0	0	0	21.4	31st
SHR Totals/Averages	43	0	1	2	149	20.9	27.0

Ryan Preece is easily the most vulnerable SHR driver currently. He’s the lowest of the quartet in the points standings, and he only has 2 top-10 finishes in 43 starts with the team. He also brings little funding with him as HaasTooling.com, owned by team co-owner Gene Haas, has sponsored 5 of the first 7 races of the 2024 season. From both a business perspective, a performance perspective, and even an age perspective (3 days younger than Josh Berry), Preece might be the easiest choice to get rid of.

Obviously, things can change drastically over a 36-race season, so, these drivers have plenty of time to either build or destroy their cases for staying. Still, some of these drivers have a larger hill to climb than others.