“It Doesn’t Help”: Tony Stewart’s Ace Blames Lack of Results for Growing Uncertainty on NASCAR Future

Yes, Stewart-Haas Racing is up for sale in 2025. But there seems to be nothing left to do for those involved hoping to salvage a final hurrah for Tony Stewart’s NASCAR sweetheart. The race team’s eldest statesman by default, Chase Briscoe, also the last person not named Kevin Harvick to have won a race in an SHR car, is only averaging finishes of a meager 15.3 this season.

And quite unsurprisingly his averages bore the best among all his stablemates. Most would disagree those numbers are barely what one could expect from a two-time championship-winning race team. This throws a wrench into the plans of the drivers and their respective crews filling in their job applications for a place to work, come next season. Briscoe explained it best when he spoke to Bob Pockrass before his advance at the Sonoma Raceway.

Chase Briscoe’s market value dwindles with SHR’s struggles

The #14 driver will roll off the grid P23 for the Toyota/Save Mart 350. In his last five outings, he has finished inside the top 5 only once while finishing P17 or below in the rest of those races. Briscoe currently sits 15th in the points standings and, in theory, he might hold the best chances of securing a ride considering he is the only SHR driver with a race win on his resume.

However, the abundance of talent within the ranks of the top 3 NASCAR National Series’ in what is turning out to be an unprecedented 2025 silly season, coupled with the faltering form of Stewart-Haas for over a year almost, paints a concerning picture for all four of its drivers. In a recent interview with Bob Pockrass of FOX, Briscoe spoke about this predicament concerning another sub-par run in his final year driving for Tony Stewart & Gene Haas. 

On being asked for updates on ‘any movement for next year,’ the #14 driver chuckled and said, “Not really. But yeah, it doesn’t help with how bad we’ve been running lately. So yeah, I definitely need to have a good weekend this weekend. I feel like that obviously helps, anytime you can go and run good. I mean I have seen it at the lower levels when I would run good it would just advance talks for whatever you’re doing next year. So need to have a good couple of weeks these next couple weeks with just how important it is…” 

He stressed another peeking problem and his SHR teammates could be partly responsible for these woes, albeit without consent. “And you know it is just crazy with (how) the silly season is right now. You got to stand out over those other six, seven guys that are going to be in the same situation. So hopefully I can do that this weekend,” explained Briscoe. 

With the dissolution of SHR, all 4 of the race team’s charter spots, drivers, and about 300 employees brace for some uncertain times starting after the 2024 season’s conclusion. But barring Noah Gragson, Josh Berry & Ryan Preece, their longest-serving SHR teammate is most concerned about the personnel who tirelessly helped prepare his #14 Ford for the last three-and-a-half years.

Will the #14 crew stay together?

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Briscoe had some big shoes to fill in his debut NASCAR Cup Series season in 2021, those of a certain Clint Bowyer. Nevertheless, the current #14 driver was fortunate enough to call Clint’s current broadcast partner, who made sure Stewart-Haas’ iconic #4 tasted championship glory in 2014, Kevin Harvick, his teammate, and a mentor.

But once Happy Harvick hung up his racing helmet in 2023 after spending 9 years with his close friend Tony Stewart’s race team, everything crumbled and it did so fast. For instance, it wouldn’t take his former crew chief Rodney Childers more than 6 months to start looking for a new job alongside the driver brought in to replace Harvick, stepping in his first-ever full-time year in the highest division, Josh Berry.

It is safe to say, Childers has rookie Berry’s back. But in a show of solidarity, senior driver Briscoe emphasized the deeper problems plaguing the overlooked employees, or as some would call them, the real gears and pistons of Tony Stewart & Gene Haas’ disappearing organization. As he elaborated, “There’s a lot of guys on the 14 car that have been there for 15 plus years, so you know just the reality kind of setting in for them.” 

But talking to Pockrass this week, Briscoe seemed a little more optimistic about his specific #14 crew, and a chance to work together at another race team next year. Answering another question, Briscoe would state, “We’re all such a close-knit group, you know, I’ve been with this group for 4 years, literally. Every single person, we’ve never lost a single person on our deal, so I feel like those guys are like family to me.” He set these bonds in stone when he told Pockrass how his #14 crew “came to the gender reveal and they do a lot of family functions…” For those unfamiliar, Chase and his wife Marissa will be expecting a pair of twins shortly and the #14 crew were in on all the celebrations.

“So yeah I definitely wanna try to figure out a way to wherever I go try to get those guys an opportunity, because I really do feel like the #14 group is a top 5 group in the garage as far as the camaraderie, and just what they can bring to the table. Whatever team gets any of those guys are definitely getting a really good group,” concluded Chase Briscoe.