Stewart-Haas Racing had one of its worst runs in recent times in the 2023 Cup Series season. Despite fielding four strong Fords, they could manage to get just Kevin Harvick into the playoffs, with the other three drivers stumbling throughout the year. A poor season on the track behind them, Harvick’s retirement, and Aric Almirola’s departure undoubtedly put the team in further turmoil.

Now that 2024 is fast approaching, one could expect the team’s top man Tony Stewart to be putting all his focus on bringing the outfit back to the pinnacle of the Cup Series, where it belongs. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case entirely.

Tony Stewart’s increasing focus on NHRA is underlined by latest award

Days after Tony Stewart and his wife, Leah Pruett, came together to announce that he would be replacing her in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel class in 2024, he was voted to be the Top Alcohol Driver of the Year and Person of the Year. The award comes after he finished second in the championship race behind Julie Nataas. The Hall of Famer was a rookie in the series and yet finished just 21 points behind the champion.

According to Autoweek, when discussing his first year in the NHRA and his new challenge in the Fuel Class, he said, “I enjoyed my time in the Top Alcohol Dragster class. But to have an opportunity like this, where you have your wife, who’s also a driver, and the crew chief feels… I’m capable to come in and drive the car is very flattering. It’s an honor to be able to fill in for her until she’s ready to come back.”

The main reason behind the three-time Cup Series champion replacing his wife in the class was that they wanted to start a family which required Pruett’s complete focus. Lest Stewart forget, Stewart-Haas Racing’s current situation might require his complete focus too.

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The offseason challenges for Stewart-Haas Racing and Tony Stewart

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It is always a pleasure to watch NASCAR stars take up the wheels in other disciplines of racing and let their crafts out to the world. But in Tony Stewart’s case, even the initial checklist that needs to be ticked off before the 2024 season starts is a bit exhaustive. With the departures of Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola, their primary sponsors departed too. This put the team in a tough spot as far as sponsorship was concerned. So far, the team has found a good replacement for the No. 4 car by signing Josh Berry.

With a search going on for a new No. 10 driver, a striking cause for worry emerged when it was all but officially confirmed last week by Joe Gibbs that Almirola was moving to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing in Xfinity. Though Cole Custer, a SHR racer won the 2023 championship in the lower rung, Almirola being a contender in 2024 will not be a pleasing sight for Stewart. The gray clouds surrounding his team require quick and clinical action if scenes from 2023 aren’t to be repeated. New sponsors, drivers and agreements are matters that competitors had long put in their bags before the season ended.

Hopefully, Tony Stewart’s ventures outside NASCAR in NHRA as a driver don’t end up segregating his effectiveness as a leader at Stewart-Haas Racing.

Read More: Kevin Harvick Among the First to Bless Tony Stewart and Leah Pruett on Their Next Adventure in Life