What else is there for the Bunch of Racers to do but move forward for the remainder of the season?
Stewart-Haas Racing will officially shutter at the end of the season and there is a tremendous amount of uncertainty for what this means for all four cars that are still contracted through the charter system to race through November.
The team has sold at least three of its four charters, and one of its two buildings will either be sold or leased next season as well, but that is the least of the challenges for those who remain at the Kannapolis, North Carolina operation in real time.
Those who are not under contract, are free to look elsewhere and may even be permitted to sign contracts with new employers mid-season. Those who are under contract are being held to that commitment, but the lack of manpower will certainly make it more difficult to bring competitive cars to the race track each week.
There is still a lot for Stewart-Haas Racing to compete for.
Chase Briscoe is currently 16th in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings and on the playoff bubble. Josh Berry is 19th in the standings and Noah Gragson is 21st in the standings. All four drivers, including Ryan Preece, are potentially a victory away from racing for a championship.
Crew chiefs Richard Boswell, Rodney Childers, Drew Blickensderfer and Chad Johnston are trying to keep their teams in place but also do what it takes to be competitive.
Berry, who is in his rookie season in the No. 4 car with Childers, has said he feels like he is racing for his career but that’s also a familiar position for him to find himself in.
“From as far as I can remember, I’ve had to race for a job, right,” Berry said. “My dad didn’t pay for me to race. Like, I’ve had to work for every opportunity I’ve had.
“I’ve been thankful to have some amazing people in my life that have supported me and gave me opportunities to race. From my side, nothing is really going to change. I am going to keep racing hard and do everything that I can to stay racing at this level.”
Childers hand picked Berry to take over the No. 4 and has said ‘Josh Berry is not going to fail under my watch’ and that certainly will go a long way.
“It’s important to me that he races next year and he’s not a one-year wonder and he’s extremely good and he deserves to be in the Cup Series,” Childers said on Dirty Mo Media Reloaded this week. “That’s our priority the rest of the year.”
Briscoe has been linked to other Ford Performance teams, as he is well liked by the manufacturer and Gragson has both shown the propensity to win at the highest level but also has the means to bring a degree of funding and support to seal any potential deal if it comes to it.
Gragson has also shown a lot of leadership qualities this year and said that he and Blickensderfer brought their team together in the efforts to put their best feet forward.
“The message was ‘don’t burn a bridge and don’t say something out of spit or frustration, whatnot,” Gragson said. “It’s going to be a challenge every day and we knew how much this place meant to everyone.
“But the goal is to continue, to work hard, and the harder we work, the better opportunity we have to build stock as a team and have opportunities in the future. We need to put blinders on and keep focused on this weekend at Gateway, and next weekend at Sonoma, and not get caught up in the drama and different stuff because that’s how we earn the next opportunity we are all looking for.”
Ultimately, this did not come as a surprise to anyone as the rumors had ramped up and spread fast throughout the garage over the past two months that SHR was looking to sell and lease various assets.
“You see all the rumors, and you kind of hear different rumors and whatnot,” Gragson said. “If it just came out cold turkey and you didn’t hear anything about it, it would be like ‘Whoa!’
“But we kind of saw it coming a little bit, so it didn’t hit us as hard, but when you hear those words from Tony, it’s a little different from seeing it on social media—when it’s a reality.”
Briscoe echoed that sentiment too.
“It was a tough week for us,” he said. “We kind of knew it was coming the last couple of months but it was another thing to finally hear it and see the impact on people’s lives, people that are close to me.
“There are a lot of guys on the 14 car that have been there for 15 plus years. So, just the reality that is setting into them that they are not going to go to work here anymore at the end of the year. That’s a tough situation.
“Truthfully, it’s not going to be easy for these people to find a spot to land. Hopefully they can. These are incredible men and women over there. They deserve to find a great home in the sport and hopefully they can.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.