Tony Stewart’s Playoff Ace on the Brink of Repeating Dreadful History at Bristol

When he looks back on his time as a team owner, Tony Stewart won’t look at the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season with a lot of fondness. To be honest, it has been a nightmare for the former Cup Series champion. Only one Stewart-Haas Racing driver was able to make it through to the last 16, and even he is on the brink of being eliminated, just like last year at the same track.

SHR has not been able to win a single race so far this year, and it looks unlikely that they will. But on-track problems are not the only thing that has Tony Stewart pulling out his hair. The former Cup Series winner lost a $110 billion sponsor in Anheuser-Busch to their rivals, Trackhouse Racing. They might still be in the playoffs, but at this point, Stewart will probably be hoping for the season to end as soon as possible so that they can regroup and hopefully come back stronger next year.

Tony Stewart Star Not Worried About Losing Round of 12 Spot

But the season is not over until it’s over, and with one driver in the playoffs, Tony Stewart is not someone who will give up, although that one driver might be knocked out of the playoffs at Bristol on Saturday. That would leave SHR with no one in the round of 12, essentially making their season null and void.

All hope rests with veteran racer and former Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick. 2023 is Harvick’s final year in the Cup, as he has already announced his retirement at the end of the season. He would have liked to go out with a bang, but he has just not been able to make it click.

The 47-year-old made it into the playoffs on points and is now sitting in the final spot of the round of 12 with just one race to go. He is 7 points ahead of the cutline, and his biggest threat, sitting in 13th place and 7 points behind the cutline, is another champion in Martin Truex Jr.

Last season, Harvick went into Bristol in a must-win situation if he wanted to make it into the last 12. He did not win the race and was eliminated. If there is one thing Harvick has learned during his time in NASCAR, it is to be patient, even in the toughest of situations. At the pre-race press conference at Bristol, the veteran racer said that he wasn’t worried about how close he was to the cutline and that he would race like he naturally does.

“It is what it is. You go race as hard as you can and where it falls it falls. It’s like Martin’s situation last year. There’s nothing you can do about some things and I don’t worry about those things anymore,” Harvick said as per Speedway Digest.

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The SHR star might have been eliminated at Bristol last year, but his record at the track is not unimpressive. In fact, he has been quite consistent at the track since he made his debut, which will perhaps give him the confidence needed to hold on to the final round of 12 and have a good race on Saturday.

SHR Man boasts three wins at Bristol

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Since 2001, Kevin Harvick has raced in a whopping 43 Cup Series races at Bristol. He has won three of them, the latest one coming as recently as 2020. Last season, despite being eliminated, he finished in the top 10, and the year before that, he finished in second place.

In the pre-race presser, Harvick was asked if there was one more fiery moment, one more moment of that brilliance that he brings to the track, left in the tank, to which the veteran had the most veteran-like response.

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“That stuff is not made up. Those moments happen naturally but you never know. It is in Bristol. You just never know what the day or night is going to bring,” Harvick said, as per Speedway Digest.

The veteran has a place in almost every NASCAR fan’s heart for being a consistent part of the sport for over two decades. He was brought in with the biggest shoes to fill as a replacement for Dale Earnhardt in 2001. 22 years later, he will leave as an absolute legend.