CONCORD, N.C. — Stewart-Haas Racing assembled a scorching track record one year ago, claiming a third of the checkered flags in a fruitful Monster Energy Series season. The 2019 campaign has been a tougher encore to produce.
SHR’s four-driver roster — Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Daniel Suarez — have all posted top-five finishes this season, but the win column remains empty heading into Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 (6 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM). It’s a goose egg that’s prompted varying degrees of surprise from the SHR camp, especially Bowyer, who asked, “I mean, hell, aren’t we all?”
“We’ve had some really, really good runs and we’ve knocked on the door a lot for some wins here,” Bowyer said. “We’ve got to get that thing knocked through.”
At the 12-race mark of last season, Stewart-Haas had won half of the races, led by Harvick’s five-win burst out of the 2018 gates. Through 12 races this season, SHR drivers have won four Busch Pole Awards — three by Harvick — but Bowyer’s runner-up finish at Texas in March rates as the best result.
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This year, Joe Gibbs Racing (seven wins) and Team Penske (four wins) have dominated the tote board, with Chase Elliott contributing one win at Talladega for Hendrick Motorsports. While SHR has had to adjust to a new rules package and a new car model in the 2019 Ford Mustang, count Almirola among those surprised that the organization hasn’t elbowed its way onto the win list.
“Last year, we set a precedent winning … qualifying on a lot of poles and just being some of the cars to beat, week in and week out,” Almirola said. “So when you set that kind of precedent, it’s hard to live up to year after year. Right now, we’re going through some learning curves and that’s the beauty of being at Stewart-Haas Racing — I have all the confidence in the world that we’ve got all the smartest people and hardest-working people that we’ll figure it out and get our race cars to where we’ll be winning races before long.”
That time could come Sunday. Stewart-Haas occupies the upper portions of the 600-miler’s starting lineup after placing its four cars among the top eight in Thursday qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“Nothing surprises me in this sport,” said Harvick, a two-time Coca-Cola 600 winner. “We’ve been in this position before as a group, not having won a race. You just never know how a year is going to go. We’ve run well, really, for all the conditions and scrambling and all the things that we’ve had to do, we’ve run well. But the last couple weeks, we’ve led laps, and to me that’s more important than anything (for) getting into Victory Lane.”
Added Bowyer: “You keep your head down, you keep working hard, the guys in the shop. That’s the crazy thing about a company and an organization like Stewart-Haas Racing. There is no give-up. These men and women, they go to work, man. And I’m telling you, they’re some of the best in all of racing. If any organization can get in Victory Lane on a consistent basis, I can promise you, Gene Haas and Tony Stewart are the ones with their names on it.”