NASCAR was rocked last week by the news that Stewart-Haas Racing would be changing affiliation from Chevy to Ford. Tony Stewart explained the switch as such, “The more we talked to the group at Ford, the more we realized that our passion and desire to win races and championships, and their approach is very much in line with how we approach it at Stewart-Haas Racing,” Stewart said, noting that talks with Ford officials began a little more than six months ago. “There wasn’t anything in this deal that was a disappointment from the Chevy side. We weren’t disappointed with what we were doing with Chevy, but we felt like when we got in conversations with the Ford group that it just really seemed like a partnership that made a lot of sense the further that we went into it. The longer the conversations went, the more excited that both sides were about making this a reality.”
The switch was totally out of the blue and caught virtually everyone off-guard. Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports with whom SHR has had a technical alliance was shocked, “With Tony’s relationship with GM all these years and Kevin Harvick’s, it definitely was a surprise to me to hear that. It was certainly a shock.” Even within Stewart-Haas Racing, the response was less than glowing. SHR’s Danica Patrick sounded less than enthusiastic about the move, “I trust the team and their decisions in what they want to do. Our only goal is to be successful and win.”
Co-Owner Gene Haas spoke of how he thinks Rick Hendrick would respond to the switch, “It’s just an opportunity we couldn’t pass up and it’s one of those things that it’s kind of like Rick would look at it like, ‘Well, this is something that you need to do.’ And I think he understands that. I know Rick and I actually think he probably would be quite happy about it and (is) saying ‘It’s good to see that you guys are gonna be a long-term player in NASCAR racing.’ And this is just the path we’re taking to get there.”
It should be noted that Stewart-Haas Racing was looking to become independent and not beholden to Hendrick which prompted SHR to accept Ford’s offer.
One still has to wonder how Tony Stewart influenced the decision to go away from the powerful Hendrick & Chevy alliance to Roush-Yates Racing (supplying SHR with Ford power) which has been less than stellar as of late.
Privately, Tony Stewart is one of NASCAR’s most philanthropic individuals from helping sick children and animals through his foundation to donating a private jet to Justin Wilson’s family so they could be with him before he died from injuries suffered in an IndyCar race.
But does Tony’s propensity to be rash and self destructive have something to do with this? Tony’s hot-headedness is well known, from his many clashes on the track, one connected to the death of a sprint car driver to his recent run-in with a spectator at the Chili Bowl. Plus, Tony continues to put himself at risk with running on dirt tracks and driving dune buggies, which lead to his current injury keeping him out, so far, of his final NASCAR season. One has to wonder if the decision to go from Chevy/Hendrick to Ford/Roush-Yates was one that was made in anger for some reason.
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