{"id":1558450,"date":"2023-04-20T11:56:22","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T15:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1558450"},"modified":"2023-04-20T11:56:23","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T15:56:23","slug":"stewart-haas-racing-recent-good-fortune-could-deceiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/stewart-haas-racing-recent-good-fortune-could-deceiving\/","title":{"rendered":"Stewart-Haas Racing's Recent Good Fortune Could Be Deceiving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stewart-Haas Racing<\/a> has lagged behind many of the other multi-car organizations in NASCAR<\/a> since the sanctioning body introduced the Next Gen car model in 2022, but it has begun to show signs of life at least on one particular type of track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SHR driver Ryan Preece won his first career Cup Series pole award last weekend at Martinsville Speedway<\/a> and proceeded to lead the first 135 laps of the 400-lap event Sunday at the 0.5-mile short track. He ultimately ended up 15th after a long grind back through the field from a pit-road speeding penalty he received during a caution period that began on Lap 134.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, his SHR teammates Kevin Harvick and Chase Briscoe combined to lead 129 of the final 265 circuits. Harvick got caught on an unfortunate pit cycle when a caution came out for a stray tire on the frontstretch with 96 laps to go. He ultimately finished 20th, but Briscoe held the lead after the caution and took home a fifth-place result with teammate Aric Almirola right behind in sixth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stewart-Haas Racing struggled mightily before recent short-track swing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Stewart-Haas
Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Ryan Preece during practice for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series NOCO 400 at Martinsville Speedway | Sean Gardner\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sunday was a superb day for an organization that had only two top-10 finishes from its three drivers not named Kevin Harvick<\/a>, who posted five top-10s through the first eight races of the season despite the organization-wide struggles to adapt to the Next Gen car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martinsville was also the second straight event SHR had placed two drivers inside the top 10. Briscoe finished fifth, and Harvick ran 10th in the dirt race at the high-banked, half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway. Preece ran inside the top five for much of the first half of the race before contact with Kyle Larson spun him, and he could recover only to 24th. Almirola also appeared near the front of the field early in the event before troubles left him 10 laps behind in 31st.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The short-track swing began a week prior at the 0.75-mile Richmond Raceway. Harvick led the way for SHR with a fifth-place finish, but Briscoe and Almirola finished 12th and 13th, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The speed from the Stewart-Haas Racing cars during the three races at short tracks, even though the Bristol race was on a dirt surface, is notable, given how absent the four SHR Fords have been at the front of the field since the beginning of the 2022 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Momentum is building. pic.twitter.com\/RrMamn6bJD<\/a><\/p>— Stewart-Haas Racing (@StewartHaasRcng) April 18, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>