How Tony Stewart saved Haas CNC

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     Gene Haas and Tony Stewart, the owners of Stewart-Haas Racing, currently own one of today’s most successful race teams in the NASCAR Cup Series, but quite interestingly, it hasn’t always been that way. Let’s take a look into how 3 time NASCAR Cup Series Champion, Tony Stewart, built the power-house that is today “Stewart-Haas Racing”

In 2002, long before Tony Stewart ever had thoughts of ownership, Gene Haas started a race team called “Haas CNC”. That year Haas CNC would field the No. 60 Chevrolet, driven by Jack Sprague, and would obtain a technical alliance with one of the Cup Series’ biggest teams, Hendrick Motorsports. In 3 races that season, Sprague averaged a finish of 33rd. Not awful for a team’s first season. 

The following year Haas CNC would see an improvement in their average finish, as the team ran 35 of that season’s 36 races, with drivers Jack Sprague, John Andretti, Ward Burton, Jason Leffler. All in all the team garnered a 29th place average finish in the 2003 season.

As the time went onward, small improvements occurred with the team’s performance, but in a “one step forward, two steps back” fashion nothing really stuck. In 2007, Haas CNC expanded to become a two car team, with Jeff Green driving the No. 66, and Johnny Sauter and Jeremy Mayfield driving the No. 70. Despite this expansion, the then well established team, continued to, with only a single Top-5 from the two car team in the 2007 Nextel Cup Series season. 

Gene Haas’ race team seemed to sit stagnant, and against all odds, was underperforming. Around this time a quietly aging Tony Stewart was headed into his 9th season at powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing. While nothing was especially wrong at JGR with the No. 20 team, it was easily a winning team, no questions asked. Maybe it was too easy. Tony Stewart’s retirement was not yet close, but undoubtedly in sight, and with 10 years (at best) left in his career, Stewart made the decision to take a look at offers from other teams. Tony Stewart had won 2 Championships with Joe Gibbs Racing, and would eventually win 33 races with JGR, but his next major goal was to do something a little bigger than simply winning. He wanted to build a lasting legacy in the sport. That year Stewart told the press: “I think we’re stupid to not look at what’s being offered,” “It doesn’t cost a dime to listen, so we’re definitely interested in some of the offers that have come across.”. While rumors flew out of control from news sources and fans alike, little did anybody know that an Owner-Driver role at Haas CNC would be one of those offers.

The 2008 season of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was only salt in the open wound for Haas CNC, as their performance got even worse, not seeing even a Top-5 finish between either of their cars, and falling 5 positions to achieve an average finish of 33rd. It was clear that something had to change, and soon, otherwise the organization itself might be headed in a awful direction.

A much needed change came when NASCAR Cup Series Champion Tony Stewart told long time team owner, Joe Gibbs, that he would be leaving Joe Gibbs Racing to peruse a career as both an team owner and a driver. Stewart had officially accepted the offer to become a partial team owner of Haas CNC, which would eventually become what’s better known today as Stewart-Haas Racing. 

Surprisingly Tony Stewart was exactly what Haas needed. Haas CNC was a by now a very established team, but had lacked the talent and know-how to be successful with such equipment. Stewart, a proven driver, won 33 races prior to 2009. He knew what a good race car needed, and what it didn’t. Gene Haas had the tools necessary to bring Tony Stewart race cars, and for the first time in his racing career, Stewart would get to make the calls.

In 2009, team ownership lit a fire underneath Tony Stewart, as he would win a total of 4 races, improving on his prior season with Joe Gibbs Racing, where he had only won 1. Not only did Stewart win 4 races in the 2009 season, but they all came on drastically different tracks. The first came at Pocono Raceway, which is quite special for it’s triangular shape, the second at Daytona International Speedway, with the high superspeedway speeds, and most notably his 3rd win of the season at Watkins Glen International, a road course. It is safe to say, Stewart took a top-10 (at best) team, and brought them to a winning caliber. Following that 3rd win, Stewart would win that fall’s race at Kansas Speedway, a 1.5 mile intermediate track. Tony Stewart surely made a huge impression on Haas CNC with his ownership. 

As Haas CNC became “Stewart-Haas Racing” that season, it is sometimes forgotten that Tony Stewart was not the only race winning driver joining the team in 2009. Tony Stewart brought along fellow driver Ryan Newman to drive No. 39 Stewart-Haas Chevy Impala. While not nearly as good as Stewart, Newman would score five Top-5 finishes, and fifteen Top-10 finishes for the team in 2009, which still exceeded Haas CNC’s 2008 stats (which had only featured a single Top-10 finish). 

The team was finally (and very quickly) on the up and up. Tony Stewart would go on to win his 3rd and final NASCAR Cup Series Championship in 2011, where he brought the team five victories that season. Throughout the his time at Stewart-Haas Racing, Tony Stewart would in total bring the team 16 race wins, and 58 Top-5 finishes. Before retiring in 2016, Stewart would bring along drivers like Kurt Busch, Danica Patrick, and Kevin Harvick to the team. While Patrick (an IndyCar driver) had quite the lack luster NASCAR Career, and Kurt Busch would do pretty good, in only Kevin Harvick’s first season at Stewart-Haas Racing he would snag his first and (to this day) only NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Following Tony Stewart’s retirement, Clint Bowyer would fill the seat of the No. 14, and race winning drivers like Aric Almirola, and Cole Custer would join the team.

It’s hard to believe that Stewart-Haas Racing, who currently holds 65 NASCAR Cup Series victories was once a two car team (with so many drivers), struggling to simply get a single Top-5 finish per season. Drivers like Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, and most importantly Tony Stewart were the individuals who took Haas CNC, and made it a race winning organization. Tony Stewart had the expertise, first hand experience, and motivation to build a fast, innovative, and well respected team. It’s safe to say; had Gene Haas never partnered with Tony Stewart, the team that is now “Stewart-Haas Racing” might’ve not existed today. That is how Tony Stewart saved Haas CNC.