It is safe to say that Stewart-Haas Racing drivers are struggling badly, in their own and the general standard, in the 2021 Cup Series season.
Kevin Harvick led the number of wins with nine last season. However, this time around, he is yet to register his first win of the season. He is the only driver within 25 positions in the Cup Series standings. Aric Almirola is having a disappointing season too. Cole Custer, in his second season in the Cup Series, is still adapting to the series and it’s only the debut season for Chase Briscoe in the Cup Series.
Briscoe shed light on the long team meeting that goes on within SHR these days.
“I felt like we covered a lot of different topics and items, just trying to figure out where we’re at — and I think, for us, we’re all just in four different places,” said Briscoe. I’m the rookie trying to figure it out. Cole is kind of somewhere in the middle. Aric was really good last year and kind of struggling this year, and obviously, Kevin is not where he wants to be and where he’s used to being; so us four are in different categories, you could say.”
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Rodney Childers, Harvick’s crew chief, argued earlier that the change in rules has affected the team’s performance. Also. he believes that Harvick has had a top-five car at most races but feels that it is not good enough.
In order to get back to their winning shape, Almirola said that the team is working “twice as hard”. The performance at Texas has left Briscoe with something to look forward to in the coming races.
“I felt like we tried something, and it made a huge difference for us,” Briscoe said. “Kevin, on the other hand, I think he acted like that was probably the worst car he’s had all year from a speed standpoint, so we’re just trying to figure out what we can take from each team. Like I said, for the 14 specifically, which is the one I can talk the most about, I feel like we made gains at Texas.
“Hopefully, going forward the mile-and-a-half stuff and the 550 package, you’ll start seeing us a little farther up the front now, but it’s hard to say. Time will tell. Every racetrack is different. Texas is obviously different from even a horsepower standpoint, so I don’t know.”
Briscoe is currently in the 26th position in the Series standings with only one top-10 finish so far this season.