When Tony Stewart was posting updates on his drag racing endeavors while the NASCAR Cup Series playoff game was in full throttle, fans rebuked him, saying that he should sell his Cup team off to someone who actually cares about it. Indeed, it is natural for someone to feel that way, given that just one of Tony Stewart’s Cup cars was able to make it into the playoff rumble, and that too got ousted from playoff contention after the seasonal finale at Daytona. As things stand now, Tony Stewart should have no fight left in the driver championship battle.

However, he proved all the haters wrong. Tony Stewart stared straight into the eyes of the odds and declared that even though they were no longer in the playoff picture, they had not stopped fighting. And after Aric Almirola bagged his second pole win of the season on Saturday’s qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway, the #10 Ford Mustang icon obliterated all misconceptions regarding Tony Stewart’s Cup team.

Tony Stewart’s team is a lot more than just checking boxes

One might think that Tony Stewart is no longer a playoff contender, and hence, it does not really matter how well his cars fare in the postseason. But for Stewart-Haas Racing, things do not roll out that way. In or out, Tony Stewart strives to bring out everything they have up their sleeves on the track to prove their worth in the arena of stock car racing.

Aric Almirola gave Stewart Haas Racing their most-needed boost when he completed the qualifying laps for Sunday’s playoff race at Talladega with an impressive speed of 181.656 mph and a remarkable time of 52.715 seconds. With that, the 39-year-old seized the sixth pole win of his career.

During a post-qualifying interview, the driver of the No. 10 Ford Mustang admitted that he had a feeling beforehand that his team would have a good qualifying run. Aric Almirola also gave a shout-out to everyone behind the garage for their relentless efforts and dedication. Aric exclaimed, “It would be so easy at this point in the season where we’re at to just bring a car to the track and check the box, but that’s not who we are.”

“The men and women at our organization continue to wake up every day, going to the shop, figuring out how to make our race cars go fast and today is proof of that,” he added with pride.

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Nevertheless, Tony Stewart’s star driver Kevin Harvick perhaps walked out of Daytona with a heavy heart. On the verge of retiring from his Cup ride, that was not the end that Harvick was expecting.

NASCAR insider expressed how badly he wanted Harvick to make it into the playoffs

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The 2023 season has not been the best for Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick. It was not very ‘Harvicky’ for the 2014 Cup Series champion to qualify for the playoffs just based on points and without a single win. Kevin Harvick’s long and illustrious career will come to an end at Phoenix this year, and it would have been great had Kevin Harvick managed to bring an end to it while flaunting a win.

Unfortunately, that did not happen. Harvick was the only silver lining for Stewart-Haas Racing, but that too became as bleak as ever when he finished the race at Daytona in 29th place, 5 laps down.

Driver-turned- NBC analyst Kyle Petty spoke to Nate Ryan about how earnestly he wanted Kevin Harvick to make it into the playoffs this year. He said, “I want Kevin Harvick to make it to the Final 4 so bad, so freaking bad. I have become a huge Kevin Harvick fan, but SHR and Kevin Harvick has not shown me anything that lets me know that they’re going to make it out of the first round, and that’s a sad statement.”

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“I hate to say that, but I’m just, that’s my feeling. Now he’ll probably go all the way to Phoenix. Yes, I’ll be cheering for him when he gets there,” he added.