No, it's not Chad Johnston's fault for Tony Stewart's horrendous 2015, after all. The fault does like with the driver. For not getting rid of Johnston.
Sports Illustrated's Beyond the Flag is reporting that Stewart's disappointing, 28th-place finish at the Crown Royal 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend confirmed that the 44-year-old slumping driver has been loyal to a fault to his crew chief.
Crew chief Chad Johnston to blame for Tony Stewart's horrible performance at the Brickyard 400?
"Again, it's not actually his fault in the sense of what (Stewart) is doing behind the wheel," Beyond the Flag reasons. "Instead Stewart is to blame for the fact that Chad Johnston is still sitting atop of his pit box. In Indy, Johnston single-handedly took a top-five finish away from the No. 14 team. All race long Stewart and Harvick were basically on the same pit cycle until Johnston decided to deviate from the plan. The first time that Stewart pitted and Harvick stayed out it only cost him two spots on the track. After that the flurry of cautions came and Johnston brought Stewart to pit road every single time.
"Stewart had himself a top-five car that he barely managed to get inside of the top-30. Johnston is the reason that this team is where it is but Stewart is the one to blame because he continues to allow Johnston to run the show."
Tony Stewart babbling contradictions about porous 2015 season
If that is the case, Stewart's reluctance to make a change is subject to debate. Last year in October, Stewart-Haas changed crew chiefs between Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick.
This season, Busch is eighth in the standings with two race victories under his belt. Teammate Kevin Harvick, who won the Sprint Cup Series championship in 2014, sits atop the leaderboard again.
Patrick is 22nd while Stewart is languishing in 26th. Switching with Patrick might seem to be an option, but Stewart-Haas likely would be criticized roundly if Patrick were to fall further in the standings.
And if there were a better crew chief currently unemployed or available, wouldn't Stewart already have made inquiries?
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