NASCAR Insider Blames Distracted Tony Stewart for Kevin Harvick’s Disastrous Farewell Season Amid Other Concerns

Out of the big teams, the one that has probably had the worst Cup Series season in 2023 is Stewart-Haas Racing. In only the second round of the playoffs, all of their drivers are out of contention for the Cup Series title. The team only managed to get one driver into the playoffs in the first place and that is someone who will not be a part of the team or the sport next season. 2023 is Kevin Harvick’s final season as a full-time driver, but he has not received the farewell that he would have wanted and not many people are happy about that or how much Tony Stewart has attended to his team this year.

Stewart is a legend in NASCAR. He had won three Cup Series titles as a driver and helped Harvick win his first and only one in his very first season with Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. SHR used to be one of the stronger teams on the grid, but the past couple of years have been tough for Tony Stewart’s camp. With no drivers left in the playoffs, the end of the season cannot come sooner as they will have to regroup and hopefully come back stronger next season.

Insider reveals confusion as SHR suffers poor form

It has not been a good season for the veteran racer who has failed to win even a single race in 2023. Despite a lot of points this season, the 47-year-old looked dejected and uninspired. But that has little to do with the fact that he will be retiring at the end of the season. He has always been a racer and has always been hungry to win races and championships.

It’s just that Stewart-Haas Racing’s car this year has not been the best when it comes to race pace. There have been times that the car has been competitive, like in the first race of the round of 16 at Darlington. But when the car is performing well, it is the crew that makes an error and that is exactly what cost Harvick back then. Perhaps the 47-year-old would have been a part of the round of 12 had things gone smoothly at Darlington.

Not a lot of people are happy with the car Harvick has had to drive in his final year in the sport. No one expected him to challenge for the title but to not win even one race so far into the season is quite disappointing for someone who has given so much to the sport. Tony Stewart has been the target of a lot of people’s frustrations, especially since he has been distracted from the Cup Series.

Despite retiring from stock car racing quite a while back, the two-time champion has not been able to resist the thrill of being a racer. He currently competes as a drag racer in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. While he might be having a lot of fun over there, his team in the Cup has suffered beyond measure this year. Prominent NASCAR journalist Bob Pockrass alluded to that in a recent interview with O’Reilly Auto Parts Pit Reporters.

“Yeah, I’m really surprised. After the strong run, you know, especially with Kevin and his championship. Just, I don’t know what happened, I’m not, well Tony’s busy racing drag racing and so I’m not so tight,” the NASCAR journalist said.

Tony Stewart, on the other hand, seems to be having the time of his life over at the NHRA. According to Autoweek, the veteran racer said that drag racing helped him rediscover his love for racing.

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Tony Stewart reveals he is finding racing ‘fun’ again

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The former Cup Series driver was full of praise for his team McPhillips Racing, as he credited them for making racing “fun” for him again. “I’ve raced over 44, 45 years now and you know really quick if it’s a group of people you enjoy working with. I knew I had that with them right out of the box. They’ve made racing fun again for me,” he said.

“I get to help work on a car. There’s two guys that are dedicated to my car. When we get done with a run, we come in, we get it up on jacks … I change into race clothes … and start on the left side of the motor. I couldn’t do that anywhere else. Now, I’m not doing anything that’s difficult. I’m doing stuff they can teach a primate to do in five-to-ten minutes, but somebody has to do it and it just saves time for those guys and lets them get a head start on their work,” the three-time Cup Series driver added.

But Stewart needs to realize that things are not looking good for SHR. It is not just Kevin Harvick who is leaving. The $110 billion sponsor that he had in Anheuser-Busch will also jump ship to Trackhouse Racing for Ross Chastain at, leaving SHR with a large gap, financially. How the team deals with all these issues next season will be interesting to see.

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