Amidst another season of challenges for Stewart-Haas Racing, and one with a lot of uncertainty for its future, three of its four drivers have formed a study group of sorts to prepare for each race weekend.
Noah Gragson earlier in the week detailed its genesis and purpose during a media availability at the NASCAR Productions building in Concord, North Carolina.
“Chase Briscoe, we have been preparing together. And this week, Josh Berry jumped in on us preparing with each other, so all three of us were preparing,” Gragson said. “Open invite for anyone who wants to come, but I felt like I needed to take the initiative.
“Chase and I communicate pretty close to the same on the cars, and our setups are close to the same. I was like, ‘Hey, man. We’ve got to figure it out and like would you be willing to prepare with me?’ And so we started doing that, and now Josh jumped on board, and it just helps us have an open dialogue and communication.
“They’ll say something, and I’ll be like, ‘I didn’t think of that,’ just having an open-minded conversation and being able to learn from what those guys are saying. We’re just helping each other out.”
On one hand, the study group looked good after qualifying on Saturday at Kansas Speedway with Gragson starting third, Briscoe starting 10th and Berry starting 17th in the Cup Series race on Sunday.
On the other hand, the obvious question becomes, what about Ryan Preece …
Study group that I wasn’t aware of 🤷🏻♂️
— Ryan Preece (@RyanPreece_) May 4, 2024
The optics aren’t great for Stewart-Haas on the whole after a shop mistake led to the car Preece drives catching on fire early in the race last weekend at Dover Motor Speedway. Drew Blickensderfer, who crew chiefs for Gragson and the No. 10 team, said it was an oversight that could have ultimately affected all four cars.
This in the midst of rumors that the organization may have, or still could, make their charters available for sale and it could extend all the way through the company down to the shop and equipment. The team also doesn’t have a manufacturer alliance for next season with Front Row Motorsports moving into a Tier 1 alliance with Ford and Team Penske instead.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.