Stewart-Haas Racing puzzled by rough weekend at Martinsville
It’s a rare thing for all four cars from a top-tier team like Stewart-Haas Racing to have a bad day, but that’s exactly what happened Sunday in the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
No SHR driver finished higher than 20th, which sent a quick blow to the championship hopes of Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, the two NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup Round of 8 drivers in the team's stable.
Harvick finished 20th and his post-race interview clearly alluded to the fact that there were more questions than answers about their issues at the 0.526-mile short track.
"We were slow all weekend,” Harvick said. “We could just never get the handle on it.”
Busch echoed the same sentiments.
“We missed it,” Busch said in his post-race interview. “I don’t know where, how, why, we missed it. Even SHR as a group we didn’t perform well. That was not the day we needed…we just missed it.”
The SHR stable had trouble all weekend, outside of Tony Stewart’s sixth place qualifying effort, which was the only bright spot for the team this weekend. Stewart contended early before falling back in the field.
He finished 26th, two spots ahead of the fourth SHR driver, Danica Patrick, who finished 24th.
Harvick and Busch now have two races to climb out of their Chase holes of 16 and 18 points, respectively. Only Carl Edwards posted a worse finish among Chasers.
When asked how he’d rebound, Busch still didn't have any concrete answers.
“I have no idea, but we will figure something out,” Busch said. “We came all this way we won’t give up now.”
A win at Texas or Phoenix would be the easiest answer for the Stewart-Haas Chase drivers.
Harvick has his eye on Phoenix, where he's won eight times, including five of the past six.
For Busch, he hasn't been to Victory Lane at either track since he won at Texas in 2009. He's relied on consistency to overcome his lack of speed throughout the Chase, which isn't a feasible option when trailing in the standings.
It'll take a lot of effort for Stewart-Haas to get both drivers to the championship round, but it could happen if some other Chasers have issues and they put a car in Victory Lane.
