SHR switching pit crews for Harvick, Stewart
Kannapolis, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Stewart-Haas Racing announced on Tuesday that it is swapping the pit crews for Kevin Harvick's No. 4 team and Tony Stewart's No. 14 team, beginning with this weekend's race at Chicagoland Speedway.
According to a news release from SHR, the No. 14 team's tire changers, tire carriers and jackmen will switch to the No. 4 team, and vice versa.
Chicagoland is the first round in the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. Harvick, in his first year driving for SHR, will start the playoffs in the sixth seed by virtue of his two victories during the regular season -- Phoenix and Darlington. Stewart did not make the Chase for the second year in a row.
The five crew members that moved from Stewart to Harvick were members of Stewart's team when they won the Sprint Cup Series championship in 2011.
'We made this change in the best interests of the entire organization,' SHR vice president of competition Greg Zipadelli said in a statement. 'Our primary goal is to win races and championships, and this pit crew swap provides championship experience to the No. 4 team and continued race-winning experience to the No. 14 team.'
Rodney Childers will remain Harvick's crew chief, and Chad Johnston will continue his role as crew chief for Stewart.
Harvick's team has been plagued by a series of mishaps on pit road this season.
'You've got to have faster pit stops,' Harvick said after his fifth-place finish this past Saturday at Richmond International Raceway. 'I don't really know where that problem lies. I know we have a lot of people that work on those things in the shop, and I know the guys building the race cars and everybody at the racetrack is doing what they have to do, and they've got to figure it out.'
Kurt Busch is the only other driver from SHR that qualified for the Chase. Busch won at Martinsville in the spring. He will begin the playoffs in the 10th seed.
Stewart-Haas Racing announced on Tuesday that it is swapping the pit crews for Kevin Harvick's No. 4 team and Tony Stewart's No. 14 team, beginning with this weekend's race at Chicagoland Speedway.
This year's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship will likely be more intense and pressure-filled than ever for those drivers competing in it, thanks to NASCAR's new playoff format for its premier series.
Brad Keselowski will start the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup championship from the first seed after he won Saturday night's Federated Auto Parts 400 with a near perfect performance at Richmond International Raceway.
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