Kevin Harvick Sheds Light on Tony Stewart’s Worsening Challenges as a NASCAR Owner: “Pay Them as Much Money as You Want”

Stewart Haas Racing‘s announcement of their exit from NASCAR racing was the easy part. But to be able to keep hold of the team member until the end of the season, now that’s going to be the real challenge. Like the drivers, most of the employees at SHR are on a hunt for jobs, and given the circumstances, they might jump ships mid-season, leaving the race teams in shambles.

For all four SHR drivers to find themselves a seat next, season, they must have a strong finish to the season. However, going by the recent results, all four teams are already feeling the effect of SHR taking an exit door, and according to Kevin Harvick, they will find it more challenging to churn out decent performances as the season heads towards its business end.

Kevin Harvick has more bad news for SHR

Harvick’s former crew chief, Rodney Childers, who now works with Joss Berry on the No. 4 team, talked about the poaching scenario. Not just the drivers, but engineers, mechanics, pit crew, and road crew members are all on the radar of rival teams. Especially at a time when good-working professionals are hard to come by in NASCAR. Childers did send out a message that his team is sticking together in these turbulent times, but this just might not be possible, according to Kevin Harvick.

“I think you can talk about loyalty and you can talk about everybody wanting to stay together, but in the end, everybody needs to take care of their families, and you can try to pay them as much as you want, but the people have to have jobs when they get to the end of the year. They don’t want to be last in line,” Kevin Harvick said via the Happy Hour podcast.

Moreover, he even explained how difficult it will be for SHR to keep hold of team members who aren’t on contract. They would prioritize a new job and look after themselves as the owners did. “I would say if those employees aren’t under contract, you’re going to have a really tough time keeping them. And I would say you’re still going to have a tough time with the employees that are under contract. Just because of the fact that you got to look out for yourself at some point, as they did for their scenario.”

Surprisingly, the drivers are already feeling the effects of the nervous energy surrounding their futures in the Cup Series ever since the announcement about SHR’s exit was made public.

A sharp decline in the performance of SHR drivers

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The #4 team and Josh Berry, who were looking good for the most part of the season, are experiencing a sudden dip in performance. A tire failure at Gateway led to his first DNF finish of the season, and at Sonoma, he was involved in a huge pile. From two top-10 results to back-to-back DNF finishes, the #4 team is certainly feeling the aftereffects of SHR’s exit announcement.

Noah Gragson arguably has been the better of all four SHR drivers. But even his streak of consistent performances has taken a huge hit. After being involved in a wreck at the Coca-Cola 600, the former JRM driver just hasn’t been able to shake off the nervous energy. In his last three starts, Gragson has finished outside of the top 20. This marks his worst streak of results in 16 races this year. The only positive thing for him is that he still has the backing of Bass Pro Shop. Which could come in handy to secure a new ride next season.

Senior driver Chase Briscoe is facing a similar situation, as after his P5 finish at Darlington, he has failed to finish inside top 15 spots in his last three attempts. Not to forget, he also picked up his first DNF of the season at Sonoma. He was the only SHR driver inside the top 16 in the points standings, and he now finds himself in a sticky situation trying to make the playoffs on points. Meanwhile, there’s nothing significant in how Ryan Preece has performed these past few races.

Looking at the current trends, it is indeed hard to see any one of the four drivers make it to the final 16.