Haas Factory Team came out and dropped the bombshell news of partnering with Hendrick Motorsports and moving away from Ford, and racing with Team Chevrolet for the 2026 NASCAR season. HFT will race with the Chevrolet chassis and engines in both the Cup Series and the Xfinity Series starting next year.Stewart-Haas Racing raced with Ford from 2017 until the end of the 2024 season, when the team was shut down. Tony Stewart's two charters were sold, whereas Haas kept one of the charters and founded the Haas Factory Team, which is racing in the current NASCAR season.HFT continued the previous alliance with Ford into the 2025 season, but has now announced a switch to Chevrolet, in alliance with Team Hendrick for the 2026 season. As the announcement was made, the President of HFT, Joe Custer, said,“First and foremost, we want to thank Ford for its partnership. Their support allowed us to establish Haas Factory Team and we remain dedicated to delivering results for them in Cup and Xfinity all the way through the season finale in Phoenix.”The partnership will provide Chevrolet engines built by Rick Hendrick's NASCAR team for Haas Factory Team’s single full-time NASCAR Cup Series entry, as well as the two Xfinity Series full-time entries (a series soon to be named NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series).It makes sense for Haas Factory Team to make a move to Chevrolet, as they have the most wins in the 2025 Cup Series season so far, with Toyota trailing them in P2, and Ford having the fewest victories.Haas Factory Team owner Gene Haas' long-standing history with Chevrolet The origins of HFT come from the team founded in 2002 by team owner Gene Haas, known as Haas CNC Racing. Haas partnered with NASCAR Legend Tony Stewart in 2009 to form Stewart-Haas Racing. SHR raced with the Chevrolet from 2009-2016, before the team partnered with Roush-Yates Engines starting in 2017 and switched to Ford engines.As Gene Haas' NASCAR team will go back to racing with Chevrolet in 2026, he came out and said,“Personally, I have a long history with Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports. Both helped in establishing not only my presence as a team owner in NASCAR, but also the presence of Haas Automation. Together, we were able to build a race team that competed for wins and championships while growing the use of Haas CNC machinery throughout the racing and manufacturing industries.”The HFT has only one full-time entry in 2025, with Cole Custer driving the #41 Ford, with the P4 finish at Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytime being his best result of the season so far.