Haas CNC Racing
Haas CNC Racing is now known as Stewart Haas Racing, with Gene Haas and Tony Stewart as joint owners.
Haas CNC Racing is based in Kannapolis, North Carolina and is currently a NASCAR racing team. Gene Haas owns the team as well as Haas Automation Company. There are two cars driven in the NEXTEL Cup series, that being #66 Best Buy Chevy, driven by Jeff Green and the #70 Yellow Transportion Chevy driven by Johnny Sauter. Hendrick Motorsports provides technical and engine support for the team.
The team was only formed in 2002 as part of the R&D team owned by Hendrick. The #60 Haas Chevy and the team had its debut in Kansas. The three races participated in saw the team stand 35th in Kansas, 35th at Rockingham and 30th at Homestead-Miami. The team continued to struggle and soon Sparague was switched for John Andretti who also did not have the best results. Later 5-time Cup winner, Ward Burton was assigned to drive #60.
Pontiac announced its move away from the sport, which meant the team had to move to Chevrolets. Burton gave the team their first top-ten finish at Rockingham, making them not only 9th there but also 9th as a team. These races were followed by a couple of bad races but they re-emerged in 10th place at the California Speedway. In October, another 10th place was made by Ward at the Talladega Superspeedway. Mike Bliss replaced Burton and finished 10th at Darlington ensuring a place for him in the 2005 season. Jeff Green drove #66 Best Buy Chevy in the 2006 NASCAR Nextel cup series where he finished 28th overall. Green will drive again for the team in 2007.
The Busch Series team debuted at Kansas with the #00 Haas Chevy and Jason Leffler as driver. The year 2004 was a good year with the team driving full-time. Leffler managed to grab a pole in California and won at Nashville. The win was not only Leffler’s first but also Haas’ first win; but despite that Leffler left the team and signed up with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Cup program for 2005. Leffler was replaced by Blake Feese but with no good results Haas had to finally merge with Labonte Motorsports for 2005.