The Bass Pro Shops Night race at the half-a-mile Bristol track was more of a tragic tale for ardent Ford fans. Despite showing glimpses of respite from RFK Racing, the 2023 season’s playoff eliminator ended up with a double knockout for Fords.

Reigning Cup Series champion, Joey Logano and Tony Stewart’s only playoff hope ended their championship dreams miserably, drowning the community in deep sorrow. While 3 of Stewart-Haas Racing’s 4 cars could not make it into the playoffs, veteran Kevin Harvick—SHR fans’ only hope—met his match on Saturday, ending his last season on a sad note.

Following the awful series of performances from the Stewart-Haas Racing Fords, former NASCAR driver, and analyst gave his honest take on Stewart’s team’s tragic downfall as he indirectly took aim at the 3-time champion.

NASCAR “Mayor” puts Tony Stewart under a microscope, giving his take on SHR’s tragic downfall

For avid Tony Stewart fans and Ford enthusiasts, 2023 hasn’t been the best year. In fact, the current silly season is far from perfect. Stewart’s team has had a tough year with all 4 of its cars struggling to claim a win. Despite the veteran, Kevin “Happy” Harvick, giving a measure of hope to the fans and pointing himself into the playoff 16, the past race at Bristol finished it all off.

Rattled with inconsistency and bad luck holding them down, the team’s 2023 campaign looked nothing like its past seasons in NASCAR’s top-tier division. Four drivers, 29 races each: yet an SHR Ford is yet to enter victory lane this season. But more importantly, something looks far off in the team, all of their cars lack what is the most important of it all—speed.

While Harvick gave the community hope earlier, their worst fears became a reality when the #4 Ford crossed the finish line 29th, ending his bitter season on a sad note. Mentioning Team Penske‘s similar situation, NASCAR analyst, Jeff Burton elaborated his argument.

He said, “It’s really difficult to say because every manufacturer and team have a different relationship and clearly something is a miss you know. You haven’t seen the speed from Penskes, you haven’t seen the speed from Stewart-Haas.” The veteran then put on the critique’s robe, stating the obvious as he indirectly criticized Stewart. 

“Clearly there’s something that needs to improve and I’m not saying it’s just Fords you know it’s a complicated relationship between the manufacturers and the teams you know. Ford would look and say, hey look what RFK(Racing) is doing, look at (Michael) McDowell and his team are doing and that’s a legitimate argument,” pointed out the NBC commentator. 

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As mentioned above, SHR looked like it was on rough seas, especially with its inadequate equipment. One might as well put the blame on his drivers like Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece for not playing their part, and underperforming on multiple occasions. But the veteran drivers in the team also found it tough to get a win.

Following a dull short track race in Bristol, the 2014 Cup Series champion gave a blunt assessment. He said, “We’ve been like that all year, and we’ve been hit or miss, and tonight we just missed by a mile.” When the pit reporter mentioned that this would be his final race at Bristol, considering this is his final season, Harvick did not shy away from expressing his emotions.

“I’ve had some good days and bad days, but that’s definitely the worst one I’ve had with fenders on it.” Reflecting on his playoff hopes, the 47-year-old delivered a blow when he said, “I didn’t really have many expectations, you know, with this up and down year. It is what it is, and that’s probably about what we deserve.”

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