Remember the iconic number 8 of Dale Earnhardt Inc., whether it was the red Budweiser Chevy of Dale Earnhardt Jr. or the black US Army number 8 of Mark Martin running around the track dominating the field. After the death of Dale Earnhardt, it looked like Jr. along with his stepmother Teresa would carry on his legacy with DEI. But little did we know that a storm was brewing up behind the scenes that would result in Jr.’s departure after 2007.
“I’m not going to sit here and get personal about this. It’s upsetting as hell and unfortunate, but that’s just what happens sometimes,” Jr. said this about his decision, despite being involved in a feud with his step mother. Meanwhile, Teresa wasn’t too bothered about losing the team’s star driver and stated, “If Dale Jr. doesn’t want to stick around here we’ll make another Dale Jr.”
This wasn’t a wise call by the team owner as Jr. was the star driver and rightful heir to Dale Sr.’s race team. Not to forget, the iconic #8 car number wasn’t passed onto the Dale Jr. and it made things even worse. But, with just 1 win in his last two seasons at DEI driving the No. 8 car, it was a clear indication that the team wasn’t on the right trajectory. It was as if the writings were on the wall and long-time crew chief Tony Gibson knew had needed to make a move soon.
He was entrusted with the responsibility of leading the No. 8 team with Mark Martin at the helm, but he knew he had to make his move quickly. But, he didn’t want to leave his crew and team working with him on the #8 team in limbo and promised that he wouldn’t leave his guys behind. “I told them. Guys, I’ll take care of y’all. Yeah, like if I get a job, I’ll take you with me. I’ll take care of you, I promise,” said Tony Gibson while speaking on Dale Jr. Download.
Before Gibson could plan his moves, Tony Stewart reached out to him with a new opportunity. He was starting a new team with Gene Haas and wanted him to serve as the crew chief. Although we know that Gibson was successful in making the switch, Mark Martin also played a crucial role for him and his team to find a new opportunity at Stewart Haas Racing.
“Mark Martin’s the one who basically put the Army trust in us went to bat with us to make sure we had jobs. But we stayed together, as a group, and had a sponsor. It wasn’t probably a few weeks after that when Tony Stewart grabbed me at Talladega.” But despite the new beginning and his secret meeting with Smoke, Gibson laid out the condition on which he would join SHR, “I said yes but as long as my guys come.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr, Teresa Earnhardt
The cool story about this is that Gibson and his entire crew even made an appearance at the Stewart Haas Racing shop. Eddie Jarvis, Tony Stewart, and Joe Custer all were present at the shop and they accepted Gibson’s demands and onboarded the whole team. This is how Ryan Newman’s #39 team was created and eventually led this team to their first win in 2010 at Phoenix Raceway.
“[Tony] Stewart pushed to get it done and made it happen and we finished homestead on Sunday we started Monday morning with all my guys…it was another emotional roller coaster,” this move from Tony Stewart was proof of his passion for NASCAR racing and embark on an exciting journey. But after multiple championship triumphs and a decade-long domination with the No. 4 team, this dream came to a halt in 2024.
Stewart Haas Racing’s fall from grace led to their NASCAR exit
2011 was the first year when Tony Stewart won the first title for his own team, this time around he was the owner-driver of the No. 14 car. This sparked a new era of domination by a new team that had just started to rub shoulders with the titans like Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, and Joe Gibbs Racing. After this triumph, Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 team carried on their winning legacy and added another championship trophy to their collection.
This dominant run continued as Harvick and Childers notched 5 more championship race appearances. And this success was enough for them to become part of the Big 4 equation. However, this honeymoon period didn’t last long as Harvick’s peak years started to dwindle and SHR couldn’t adapt to new trends, especially in the Next Gen era. They brought in the likes of Chase Briscoe and Josh Berry to save the sinking ship but it was just too late. Without the owner’s active involvement and a clear vision, the losses mounted, and they fell out of favor in the NASCAR hierarchy.
And finally, they decided to make the heartbreaking call to close down the operations after the end of the 2024 season. “This is a time where things are drastically changing in the sport. You look at what’s going with 23XI and Front Row Motorsports right now and their battle with NASCAR and the direction that things are going, it’s not a direction that I want to be a part of.” Clearly, Smoke wasn’t a fan of NASCAR’s new charter agreement and saw his opportunity to pull the plug on NASCAR operations.
On the other hand, his partner Gene Haas decided to retain a charter for himself and launched a new team, the Haas Factory Team. But, from Tiny Gibson to Rodney Childers, SHR certainly left their mark on the sport.
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