With Tony Stewart not eligible for this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, Stewart-Haas Racing gave Kevin Harvick the crew from Stewart's 2011 championship. SHR hopes the swap will give Harvick a better chance of winning the title in his first year with the team.
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Harvick will enter the Chase on Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway tied for sixth in the standings. Despite his career-best 1,186 laps led, he only had two wins during the regular season and believes that is due to the track position he loses on pit road each race.
After finishing fifth in Saturday's season finale at Richmond International Raceway, Harvick said something needed to be changed if he wants to be competitive in the Chase and SHR obliged by giving him the No. 14 crew.
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"We made this change in the best interests of the entire organization," vice president of competition Greg Zipadelli said. "Our primary goal is to win races and championships, and this pit crew swap provides championship experience to the No. 4 team and continued race-winning experience to the No. 14 team."
Harvick's crew will now consist of tire changers Ira Jo Hussey and Daniel Smith, tire carriers Todd Darkulich and Mike Morneau and jackman Mike Casto. Stewart will get the No. 4 crew, which is in its first year as a team, which includes tire changers Bryan Jacobsen and Jonathan Sherman, tire carriers Brett Morrell and Josh Sobecki and jackman Getty Caffitt Jr.
Despite Stewart, the co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, being out of the running for the championship, the No. 4 crew is motivated to help him avoid the first winless season of his Cup career.
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