Kevin Harvick spoke about the changes that will need to be made by the teams for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Stewart-Haas Racing is keeping the same drivers’ lineup of Harvick, Aric Almirola, Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe. It is the first time since 2016 that the team is keeping the same lineup for the consecutive season.
Harvick believes that this consistency will be good for the team for the upcoming season.
“I think it’s an interesting year,” he told Beyond the Flag. “I really think the model of what our teams will look like and how they function should be different as you go into the year next year. I think from a driver’s standpoint, that continuity would be good. I think, from personnel and how that structure is shaped, that is going to have to be different.”
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This has been a very disappointing year for SHR after a dominant season last season. They will certainly be looking to bounce back from this slump next season. Especially with Next Gen car, Harvick is of the opinion that there has to be a rethinking of the structure of the team.
“You can’t run a race team the way that’s it’s being run right now and function in the Next Gen world, in my opinion, because of the differences in not making parts and pieces and being able to buy body panels and things of that nature. You have to rethink the structure and where you put the focus of how you run the team. From an engineering side and detail side, those things are going to be different.
“But I think in saying that, you also have to understand how long it takes to put a car together and what you’re fighting. So as we go into starting to test the race cars over the next few weeks, I think you’ll have a better understanding of where the hot spots are, the buttons that you might want to push, and the things that you might want to focus on. From a driver’s standpoint, that’s really the easiest part of the equation. The hard part is what that new structure looks like from an organizational structure and layout.”
The No. 4 Ford driver is competing for his second Cup Series championship title. After a disappointing regular season, Harvick barely managed to get to the second round of the playoffs.