Tony Stewart isn’t sugarcoating anything when it comes to expectations for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2024.
The Stewart-Haas Racing co-owner knows the last two years in the NASCAR Cup Series have been below expectation, a trend that needs to change this upcoming season. Speaking on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Tuesday, Stewart acknowledged he’s “tired of taking the blame from everybody on why the cars are not running good,” and needs to see the “needle moving the right direction.”
“God, I hope so,” Stewart said, via Kelly Crandall of RACER. “We’ve had two miserable years in a row. And I’m tired of taking the blame from everybody on why the cars are not running good. Think the fans need a reality check and reminder that I’m not the crew chief, [or] the engineer. I don’t dictate the setups on the cars. I give these guys the tools to do the job and we just haven’t got it done the last couple of years.
“I’m excited about the energy of the shop. We kind of had a rah-rah meeting, and I will say having four young drivers in the shop, as much as I was nervous about it, I’m excited about the energy that it’s brought to the shop. They’ve got all the guys fired up, and we will be on top of this. If we don’t come out of the box and do better, obviously Daytona being a restrictor plate track, we’re not going to hang our whole season on the Daytona 500.
Stewart-Haas Racing undergoes major changes to driver lineup
“. … We’re going to have to get some races into it. But if we’re not having the results we’re looking for, we’re going to start making some major changes. So, everybody knows that, everybody understands that. And it’s those guys at SHR to take what we have and make it better. … We need to see the needle moving in the right direction and make progress.”
The race team struggled in 2023, as only Kevin Harvick, who retired after the season, qualified for the playoffs. Harvick, however, failed to win a race. The trio of Chase Briscoe, Aric Almirola and Ryan Preece didn’t find their way to victory lane as well.
With Harvick and Almirola moving on from full-time competition, Stewart-Haas Racing saw an influx of youth into the team this offseason. Josh Berry is replacing Harvick in the No. 4. Noah Gragson is piloting the No. 10 in place of Almirola.
Stewart expressed optimism for the new crop of drivers while again, acknowledging that the results need to be better.
“Everyone in that building understands what we did the last two years isn’t acceptable anymore and that’s not the standard that we’ve been accustomed to. We’ve got a lot of banners that show we know how to do it right … So, it’s not that we don’t know how to do it, it’s putting it together,” Stewart said. “This new car has really been a struggle for our organization.”
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