MADISON, Ill. >> As he’s trying to race his way into the NASCAR Cup series playoffs, Chase Briscoe now faces a fresh challenge with the potential for his Stewart-Haas Racing team to deteriorate around him.

Owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas announced this week that the four-team garage would cease operations at the end of the season, leaving the future up in the air for Briscoe and teammates Josh Berry, Noah Gragson and Ryan Preece.

“It might really be hard for us just to even get cars to the race track,” Briscoe said during qualifying Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway. “You know, if people are leaving. It’s not like you’re going to get somebody to start coming to work there even on short-term basis.

“Once people leave, there’s nobody coming back. We already do it on way less people than the other four-car teams, so it is kind of scary just knowing the position that we’re in right now.”

Briscoe will enter the race Sunday 16th in the points standings, but just outside the 16-driver playoffs because Daniel Suárez has claimed a playoff spot with a victory at Atlanta. Berry is 19th and Gragson 21st.

“For my side of things, nothing’s really going to change, right? I mean, I’m going to keep racing hard and fighting and doing everything I can to stay racing at this level,” said Berry, a rookie.

Berry said he hopes to find a new home where he can stay with crew chief Rodney Childers and other members of his crew.

“Nothing’s really ever came that easy for me. So, you know, when I got this opportunity, I almost felt like it was too good to be true,” Berry said. “And here we are less than a year later dealing with all this, but we’re not going to quit. We’re going to keep digging.”

Amid the distractions, the team struggled on the track. For just the second time this season, none of the four drivers qualified in the top 20. The other time came on the road course at Circuit of the Americas.