5 Points to Ponder: Should Stewart-Haas Racing Hit the Panic Button?

1. Did Kansas mean more than ‘Dega for 23X1?

You never forget the one that was first, and that’s usually true in racing. Kurt Busch‘s victory Sunday at Kansas wasn’t the first win for 23X1 Racing; that came last October in Talladega with Bubba Wallace‘s win.

As sweet as that was, especially for Wallace, you can easily make the case that while Sunday at Kansas was not the first win for Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan’s race team, it was the high point for this organization, so far.

Wallace winning a restrictor-plate race didn’t come out of nowhere. He had been a strong contender at Daytona and Talladega already, and you had to figure a checkered flag at either track was a foregone conclusion.

Sunday was different. Busch had what was among the best cars in the field following the first stage, and Wallace probably unofficially passed more cars than anyone else. It was very evident that the light was finally on, so to speak, for the first time this season for both Wallace and Busch. You can only wonder if it’d have been a 1-2 finish for both drivers had Wallace not had pit road issues, to put it lightly.

Both the 23 and 45 were among the top five cars. A day like Sunday was likely what was envisioned when this idea of 23X1 Racing began.

2. Is the All-Star Race still relevant?

Back in the 1980s, NASCAR entered uncharted territory with the institution of The Winston. It fired things up even more in 1992 when the stroke of genius from Bruton Smith and his team at Charlotte Motor Speedway and others opted to run the event under the lights.

Over time, for various reasons, that buzz has worn off. Between race formats and others incentives, efforts have been made to spice the race up. Although an anomaly, the 2020 version being run at Bristol was a nice departure from having a race on a 1.5-mile track and hoping the race was somehow exciting.

That path diverted back in the opposite direction last year, going from Charlotte indirectly to Texas. The racing was about like you’d see at any other track of its layout, not much different than seen elsewhere.

It’s a well-known and documented fact that running the 1992 edition under the lights was a move done out of concern for how useful the event is.

In a sport that has run one race at the Los Angeles Coliseum and turned one track into an infield road course at the ROVAL, that creativity is needed again.

Gimmicks like offering the race winner a million bucks were a great idea in the 1980s. But when bank accounts are a bit larger than that, offering a driver that amount of money as an incentive to win is an insult.

NASCAR has two moves with the All-Star Race: Either think very outside the box to make it relevant or give the teams an off week in the spring and not run it at all.

3. Is it panic time for SHR?

11th: That was the highest finishing position on Sunday for a Stewart-Haas Racing car.

The 2020 regular season where Kevin Harvick and Hamlin dominated the win column seems a distant memory not just for Harvick, but SHR as a whole.

Other than Chase Briscoe‘s win earlier this year, no other driver from that stable has a win. Harvick and Aric Almirola are among the drivers who’d have to fall back on points, but with the number of drivers having won this year, that may not be a good cushion to lean on.

Harvick’s fourth-place finish two races ago at Darlington snapped a four-race stretch of finishing outside the top five.

Somehow, someway, SHR is in need of a shot in the arm going into the summer.

If not, it’d lend more belief to wondering if Harvick’s 2020 postseason efforts were the changing from one era to another for Stewart-Haas Racing.

4. Should televising pre-race events be expendable?

On Sunday, race fans were shortchanged as the race ended. Other than a quick interview with Kurt Busch and Hamlin, there was no post-race coverage to speak of. This coming as a team co-owned by Michael Jordan, something that would have resonated with fans outside the sport, should have garnered lots of attention.

Nothing against the NHRA, but the story of Busch winning was a lot bigger.

If the time window of broadcasting is an issue, one of the sacred cows of NASCAR should be discussed: whether or not to televise pre-race ceremonies.

Times change in NASCAR. Growing up, fans were plainly told that NASCAR won’t race on Easter or Mother’s Day. It was an unwritten rule. But as we have seen this year, some things change.

If the TV networks are truly interested in getting more coverage on the broadcast, using that extra 10-15 minutes of pre-race coverage and moving that to the end for post-race interviews should be at least considered.

Various other sporting events go on the air and don’t air pre-race events. That does not mean they don’t happen, it just means that you don’t see it on TV.

If the TV networks really want to do right by the fans, every option for getting more post-race interviews in the broadcast needs to be considered, and that includes how much, if any, of the pre-race events should be televised.

5. Is the intermediate track problem solved?

There are still some faults that irk drivers and pit crews about the new car. One of them starts with T and ends with IRE.

There were, obviously, lots of goals with this new car. But if it did not do anything else, it has appeared to make the racing at intermediate tracks more compelling. Think about it. A good load of intermediate race chatter the past few years was about how bad the racing product was. Kansas was the latest example of that. Of course, the All-Star Race this week at Texas could straight-up prove me wrong, as can a 400-lap, 600-mile race at Charlotte.

But all of that is to be determined.

At present, the new car may have some things that are still in bad need of being fixed or rectified, but the racing on intermediate tracks is not one of them.

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