Stewart-Haas Racing entered the 2024 season under serious pressure to improve their Cup Series performance. The team did not win a single cup race during the 2023 season. While there were a few cup races in which it looked like Harvick might win, it just wasn’t in the cards for Stewart-Haas. To make matters worse, Harvick’s final season at Stewart-Haas was reminiscent of some of his seasons at Richard Childress Racing.
Kevin Harvick carrying Stewart Haas Racing over the years pic.twitter.com/dnrzkayHLN
— Christian Carver (@cc49ers) February 27, 2023
I think the X post shown above is worth 1000 words. You get the picture. Harvick carried RCR for years, and was carrying SHR in the final years of his career. 2023 was no different. With Harvick retiring from Cup Series racing many fans were concerned due to the lack of performance seen in the 10, 41, and 14 cars. To make matters worse, Aric Almirola also decided to step away from the Cup series. This meant that Chase Briscoe was going to be the veteran driver at Stewart-Haas Racing.
Kevin Harvick and the #4 team carrying the rest of Stewart-Haas pic.twitter.com/e1Fnu1o1P3
— GralaSZN (@Granola_ALT) March 27, 2023
Going into 2024, there were already rumors of charters being sold after the season. Chase Briscoe is a very capable driver, but I don’t think people thought he would be capable of carrying the team the way the previous top driver at SHR (Harvick) did. Noah Gragson was stepping into the 10 car. Meanwhile, Ryan Preece was in the middle of his second chance in the Cup Series. Finally, rookie Josh Berry was taking over the #4 car for the retiring legend. Expectations for Stewart-Haas in the 2024 Cup Series weren’t just low. They were underground.
Outperforming Expectations
It is true that Stewart-Haas Racing did not have high expectations coming into the 2024 Cup Series season. Still, I think it would be fair to say that both qualitatively and quantitatively, SHR has outperformed those expectations. I would say this is across the board as well. Early on, Noah Gragson was showing speed. Furthermore, Briscoe has been consistent and shown plenty of speed. Ryan Preece has some strong finishes as well. Finally, Josh Berry has performed well (especially on short tracks), despite not necessarily having the finishes to show for it.
Chase Briscoe
Chase Briscoe recently told motorsport.com that winning a race soon was a real possibility. While Ford has yet to take its new “Dark Horse” Mustang to victory lane in 2024, it is hard to disagree with him. Stewart-Haas has seriously outperformed the very low expectations that many fans and pundits had for them during the off-season. Yes, it is true that SHR is not having the type of season that Hendrick Motorsports is having. Still, Briscoe is one of the “Critical Security 5 Drivers to Watch” for the upcoming GEICO 500 at Talladega.
Through nine races, Briscoe has finished in the top 10 four times. He has an average starting position of 13.7 and an average finishing position of 14.6. Leading the way for SHR, Briscoe currently sits 12th in points.
Noah Gragson
Noah Gragson started the season out rather well. In two of the first three races he grabbed his two top 10 finishes, with a 9th place finish at Daytona and a 6th place finish at Las Vegas. Meanwhile, he finished 12th at both Phoenix and Richmond. While he has six top 20 finishes (four of which were top 15), he also has three finishes outside the top 30.
Though nine races, Gragson has an average starting position of 23.9 and an average finish position of 20.1. He currently sits 30th in points thanks to an L1 penalty the #10 car received at Atlanta for roof air deflectors. Still, given his performance at Legacy Motor Club in 2023, it is safe to say that Gragson is outperforming expectations, as well.
Ryan Preece
The #41 car was hit with the same L1 penalty as the #10 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Ergo, Preece’s position in the points ranking doesn’t exactly match his performance either. Preece currently sits 24th in points. He has one top 10 finish, which was a 9th place finish at Martinsville. Nine races into the season he has an average starting position of 24.6 and an average finishing position of 19.0.
Despite having only one top 10 finish, Preece has had some decent runs. He had a 16th place finish at Atlanta, and finished in the top 15 at Texas and Bristol. Preece has had some decent runs turn into mediocre finishes however.
Josh Berry
Arguably, Josh Berry had the highest expectations coming into the 2024 season. In just about every season, the #4 car was the strongest car for Stewart-Haas. Josh Berry had performed rather well as a fill-in driver during the 2023 season for both Hendrick Motorsports and Legacy Motor Club. Furthermore, Rodney Childers stayed on as crew chief for the #4 team.
If one forgets that Josh Berry is in his rookie season, it could easily be said that if a driver has under-performed from the Stewart-Haas stable, said driver would be Josh Berry. I don’t think that is fair. Not many drivers can hop into a legend’s car and win right away. Not every driver is Kevin Harvick. Still, Berry has shown strength, especially on the short tracks.
The highlight of Berry’s season thus far has been starting on the front row at Bristol. In that wild race, Berry would finish 12th. He also performed really well at Richmond despite finishing just outside the top 10 in 11th. Through nine races Berry has an average starting position of 22.3 and an average finishing position of 24.3. He sits 26th in points. Finally, he has led 28 laps, which is over three times as many as his closest teammate (Briscoe with 9 laps led).
Charter Rumors
I must be upfront with the reader here. First of all, I must state my own bias. Personally, I do not want to see any of the Stewart-Haas charters sold. I am a Stewart-Haas fan, and have been since finding out Harvick was going there in 2014 prior to the 2013 season. Berry, Briscoe, Gragson, and Preece are all drivers which I’d like to see stay with Stewart-Haas.
Still rumors of SHR Charter sales abound. Teams like RFK Racing, 23XI, Legacy Motor Club, JR Motorsports, and Trackhouse Racing have all been mentioned. While Denny Hamlin doesn’t appear to be interested and Legacy Motor Club needs to improve its current performance before expanding, I could easily see RFK Racing, JR Motorsports, and/or Trackhouse Racing buying a charter (or charters) from Stewart-Haas. Both RFK and Trackhouse are performing well enough to look at expanding. Meanwhile JR Motorsports has wanted to go cup racing for some time.
With numbers like $100 million dollars floating around, it would be hard not to sell. A sale would be very beneficial to SHR. The question becomes, which charters are sold. Given that the 14 and the 4 both have won championships for Stewart-Haas, I would imagine if Stewart-Haas were to downsize, then they would keep those two teams. I guess we will just have to wait and see.
