SHR's Rough Start

By Richard Tix

Week one is in the books on the NASCAR 2014 season. Daytona's Speedweeks is on of the longest race weeks of the season as fans gear up for the new season. During speedweeks NASCAR teams are also looking to get back up to speed and find there grove during the first race.

Well, 2014 didn't start out the way Stewart-Haas Racing would have liked. During the opening days of speedweeks Tony Stewart and Danica Patrick had to swap out engines after they both blew during practice. Under NASCAR rules both drivers had to fall to the back of the Budweiser Duels and the Daytona 500.

Then came the Daytona Duels where Danica, Kurt Busch, and Smoke both had there nights end in wrecks. Not the start SHR was looking for.  This trend just seemed to continue all week for the whole team.

Heading into the Daytona 500 on Sunday the team looked to turn things around but no such luck. Tony Stewart ran into trouble and seemed out of the race very early. He limped around the track for 174 of 200 laps after heading to the garage at one point and finished 35th.

Danica Partick didn't have an amazing run going, but was hanging around for awhile until she got caught up in a wreck. She only ran 145 of 200 laps finishing 40th, but did lead 2 laps during a pitting rotation. That's just the two members of SHR that were on the team in 2013, SHR also signed two new drivers for 2014.

Considering the first two drivers I mentions, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch had great days on Sunday (SHR Fresh Faces). Kurt Busch actually lead 15 laps during the Daytona 500 and ran up front for a good portion of the race. Kevin Harvick spent most of the day lurking in the field close to the front (never lead a lap) and waiting to pounce. Unfortunate for both there day ended before they had a chance at the win.

Kurt Busch ran into some bad luck down the stretch and after being involved in one wreck (That had his rear right quarter panel flapping in the wind) he also was caught up in the last lap wreck and finished 21st.  Kevin Harvick stuck around until the end and stayed out of the mess until the last crash that ended the race. Harvick still ended up finishing 13th (Which is better then last year when he was involved in an early wreck).

Considering all the hype around the new SHR team I don't think anyone expected the team to come out with an average finish of 27.25, zero top 10's and only one top 15. NASCAR runs a long season, so it is definitely no where close to too late to get going, but it is a small red flag.

Too many team finishes like this to start the season could set off all the personalities on this team so its a story worth watching. One thing's for sure, SHR is ready to put Daytona behind them.


What do you thing? Will SHR bounce back in Week 2? Who will be the first to speak up if they continue to struggle later this year? Lets hear it Twitter!

**Update 3/11/14- SHR's struggles have continued through the first three races. Kevin Harvick did break through with a dominate win at Phoenix, but that seems to be the lone bright spot for this team. This past week at Las Vegas Danica Patrick was the top finisher coming in at 21st. So far the team has dug a hole, but with the new points system it isn't too late to get out.**

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