Stewart-Haas Racing this week made the shock announcement that they would switch from Chevrolet power to Ford for the 2017 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. As team co-owner Tony Stewart explained in a teleconference, the decision to switch from Chevy to Ford was made so SHR could do more fabrication in-house and be more successful going forward, but was it a bad idea? SportingNews.com’s Jeff Owens thinks so.
On the surface the SHR-Ford move seems logical. SHR currently buys their chassis and engines from Hendrick Motorsports, which is and always will be the No. 1 Chevy team in the eyes of General Motors. By moving to Ford, there’s a good chance SHR could be Ford’s new banner team alongside Team Penske, so they could begin to build their own chassis and other components in-house that, in theory, could be better than the customer components Hendrick would sell to fellow Chevy teams.
It also seems the relationship between SHR and Hendrick has somewhat deteriorated over the past year, if remarks made by Stewart are any indication. SHR has managed to outperform Hendrick while running their engines and chassis, so it would be no surprise if they were beginning to get a bit frustrated with the outcome of the partnership.
“I feel like our relationship with Hendrick has been changing a little bit over the last year,” Stewart said. “The technical side of it has changed quite a bit going into this season, so we’ve kind of been working in this direction.”
These reasons don’t justify the switch in the eyes of critics, however. Owens and others believe Chevy will shut out SHR over the next year so they don’t bring their data over to Ford, which would obviously have a negative affect on their performance in 2016. It will also take time for SHR to warm up to building their chassis, so success isn’t guaranteed out the gate. Don’t forget the legions of Chevy fans that will no longer root for Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Danica Patrick and Tony Stewart (who will be replaced by Clint bowyer in the No. 14 car next year) on Sunday.
Stewart isn’t worried, though. He believes the switch to Ford will have little impact on SHR’s performance in 2016 and wouldn’t have signed on with Ford if he wasn’t confident in his team’s ability while flying the Blue Oval banner.
“I don’t feel like it’s going to be a step backwards,” Stewart said. “We’re committed to Chevrolet this year and we’re committed to winning races and trying to contend for a championship again this year. They realize that. We’re still all-in this year with Chevrolet.”
Comments
Too soon to tell.
How is Ford going to treat SHR? Will they supplant Roush as number one see as Penske has been not play well with any Ford team. Could Roush get mad and make a move to Chevy? GM has ties to Jack too.
Keep in mind too that GM will start soon on a new car and SHR will have no date to share on the new car.
Was this move a company decision or a Carl Haas move that Tony Just had to accept as was the decision bringing Kurt Bush in?
To many unanswered questions.
SRE will get good engines and chassis but they will see an immediate decline in tech help would be my guess no matter what is said. That normally happens.
Seems to me that SHR could develop their own chassis….any chassis, even though all chassis are to a Nascar architectural formula, regardless of manufacturer….why not stay with chevy?
Seems to me SHR are already deep into Chevy engine development, even with Hendrick purchased/leased engines,
why switch and endure a steep learning curve?
Seems to me Haas made the announcement, without Smoke beside him, oh wait, Hass signs the checks.
Seems to me, presumably, Haas went fishing and Ford took the bait.
Seems to me Smoke’s tele-conference call was second-at-bat after announcement….lets remember Haas hired KB without Smoke’s knowledge, or approval….Haas signs the checks.
Seems to me maybe, prognosticating here, Haas called a meeting, told everyone this is the direction we are going, build a bridge and get over it…..Haas signs the checks.
Seems to me Smoke stated quite emphatically when he left Gibbs/Toyota “I’m a Chevy guy …. forever.”
Just sayin’.
Pretty comical all the theories? They (Gene Haas and Tony Stewart) are switching because Ford made them an offer they simply couldn’t refuse? They are taking the money! That’s what “……..this was a business decision ” means. Regardless of the outcome, they simply couldn’t refuse the big cash Ford was offering. Ford had to make a move, Roush, just like RCR for Chevy, is no longer a “top tier” operation.
Another reality that many GM/Chevy Nascar loyalists don’t seem to see or want to believe is…..Chevy is no longer the dominant force it was just a few years ago. After the July race last year @ Daytona, Toyota won 10 races, Ford 5 (all by Joey Logano) and Chevy 4. Times have changed. Toyota just totally dominated the Daytona 500 with the 4 JGR cars and Truex (was a Chevy team, now Toyota).
Plus one to you as that is the bottom line MONEY!
Money is tight is all racing and if Ford is willing to push a pile in front of them they will take it.
Loyalty goes a long way but a pile of money pays the bills and pays for development that they don’t have now. Hendrick is number one with Chevy and all other teams see less money. Same right now with Toyota and Gibbs. Just look at MWR and how fast they vanished once the owner pulled the plug after Toyota cut funding.
I think Ford knew with a new car coming that SHR was open as they had to do new cars anyways. Penske pretty much do their own thing and Roush right now is just out to lunch. Ford needed a team they could somewhat control and count on. They had money to spend so they did it.
Chevy is as dominate as any other team though. the restrictor plates change nearly every race to who has the best cars and on the other tracks GM still wins the MFG championship.
As for cup winners that is all BS anymore with the chase as being the best means nothing anymore just the one who wins a the right time.
You have Three really dominate teams. Gibbs, Hendrick and Penske. Time will tell if SHR figures out the Ford and they should.
Watch at Atlanta and you will find cars from all three mega teams dominate the non restrictor plate track.
By spring at Talladega Hendrick may be back to dominate as JR did last year. He really had the most power as his lap times were the fastest. In the race they made a mistake not to tune the car to handle in the draft and he never had any grip in the corners. Coming off 4 the car was so loose he finally lost it. Amelia will be back and will win more plate races. I can hear the Dynos running at there shop now testing heads.
I still think it was Gene Haas that took the money as he is the one paying the bills now. Tony may be loyal but Gene is open to who ever can bring in money.
How I see it, the Hendrick SHR relationship has soured a bit, Ford has one winning team, Penske. Over the last few Years Rousch has been an also ran. Ford saw an opportunity to bring on a possible “flag ship” team, and offered more support ($$) the Chevy was willing to give. BTW as far as ownership of SHR goes, it is a 50/50 split, which is unique to the sport.
As a past co-sponsor of a Busch Grand National car in the mid 1990’s I can tell you it cost to race every weekend. In 1992 for instance every time the #51 came in for a pit-stop for tires an gas … $900.00. And in this 21st Century NASCAR environment getting sponsorship is even harder. Switching to Ford? It could have just as easily been Toyota. The Toyota teams now have a current Toyota driving Champion in Kyle Bush, and Kyle’s teammate recently won in Daytona. I keep wondering when someone like Mercedes will get into NASCAR, don’t laugh their body styles would make for a great air-package for NASCAR racing. To me, the Super Trucks need to be phased out an what used to be called the Goody’s Dash Series brought back as it was in the 1990’s. Imagine Ford Focus, Chevy Cruz, Toyota Corolla, Nissan Altima, Hyundai Sonota, Mercedes C-Class racing side by side at Daytona. The Dash series allowed more lo-budget teams the ability to get out there an race using four cylinder engines an do very competitive racing.